Edinburgh Folk Festival
The final item is a members' business debate on motion S1M-882, in the name of Roseanna Cunningham, on the Edinburgh Folk Festival. The debate will be concluded without any question being put after 30 minutes.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament notes with concern the demise of the Edinburgh Folk Festival as a result of lack of financial backing; further notes that during a meeting attended in April by musicians, former festival volunteers, members of the Adult Learning Project's Scots Music Group, members of Edinburgh Folk Club, the Wee Folk Club, Scottish Traditions of Dance Trust and others, concern was expressed about a perceived lack of political support for the traditional arts, and asks the Executive to recognise and encourage the important role of the traditional arts in its forthcoming National Cultural Strategy.
I have been a passionate advocate of Scotland's traditional arts and music for a long time, so this debate gives me great pleasure and an opportunity to put that advocacy on the record in Parliament.
To my knowledge, this is the first time that Scotland's traditional music has been the subject of a parliamentary debate in the UK. That is an extraordinary state of affairs, given that it is a unique and vital part of our culture. Arts and culture are rarely debated at Westminster and—as I recall—such debates tend to take place on election days, if at all. On such days, attendance in the chamber is—for obvious reasons—sparse. That merely reinforces the lack of any real parliamentary interest in culture.
We do things better here. However, debates on the arts, including the one that was held in the Scottish Parliament, have focused on the national companies—opera, ballet, orchestras and so on—almost to the exclusion of anything else, yet none of those cultural endeavours is unique to Scotland. However, Scotland's own music, song and dance are unique. If they stop evolving, are neglected or die out, something absolutely irreplaceable is gone from the world—not just from Scotland. They deserve the utmost recognition and support at every level. Although this might be the first debate on the subject, I promise the minister that it will not be the last.
At the material level, we should not forget the immense contribution that has been made to Scotland by the traditional art forms. The things that make people elsewhere in the world care about Scotland and that bring them to Scotland are the things that are unique to Scotland. A joint report by the Scottish Tourist Board and the Scottish Arts Council about increasing visitor access to traditional music is imminent. Research carried out as part of that project indicates that access to traditional music is a major factor in tourists' minds when they decide to come to Scotland.
The British Council does good work in taking performers overseas and there is a welcome new development called Celtic Fling that will take place in North America next year, which was helped along by Scottish Enterprise. Although there are large markets overseas for Scottish traditional music, all the activity in getting the music to those audiences tends to be driven from that end, rather than being pushed from this end. That seems remarkably short-sighted of us.
Initially, my motion was triggered by the demise of the Edinburgh Folk Festival. I know that there were issues particular to the running of the festival that gave rise to concern and that mean that its end might have come about for many different reasons. Goodness knows—folk festivals come and go for a variety of reasons. However, what has happened in Edinburgh has set off alarm bells in the traditional music community throughout Scotland and has helped to identify the need to push that art form up the cultural agenda.
I want to address some of the wider issues that are touched on by my motion and to record the huge amount of interest in the debate. I have had support from many people—too numerous to mention—including performers, promoters and teachers. They are people whose names are extremely well known—Arthur Cormack, Michael Marra, Ishbel MacAskill and Sheena Wellington. They are people of great standing in the community and they are all concerned about the priorities of the cultural agenda in Scotland.
It is also important to give recognition to some of the work that has been done in recent years by the individuals and organisations that have put in enormous amounts of time and effort, much of it on a voluntary basis. The Traditional Music and Song Association does valuable work and Celtic Connections in Glasgow has been a resounding success. A few local authorities, such as Fife Council, have made a commitment to traditional music that all local authorities should make. I should add to that list all the organisers of folk festivals and folk clubs the length and breadth of Scotland.
Much of the work has, quite rightly, gone into education. The fèis movement should be mentioned in that regard. I have enough material for a debate on that aspect of traditional music. Perhaps we will have that debate one day. Tonight, however, we should recognise the huge debt that we owe to the many people who are involved in the organisation of the 29 different fèisean that were held in Scotland in 1998-99. What is needed now is central funding to allow the fèisean and—separately—Fèisean nan Gàidheal to develop.
There are exciting developments in the teaching of traditional music in Scotland, particularly at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama—which runs what I believe is the only course of its kind in the UK or in Ireland—and at the Piping Centre in Glasgow. However, demand far outstrips supply. The example of the Easterhouse arts project in Glasgow is salutary, with more young people wanting to join the classes than could be supported. It is important that there should be equality of access to traditional music throughout the country and society, but that is not the case now. There are serious issues of social inclusion to address in this debate, as in many others.
We should remember Arthur Cormack's words: that traditional music does more than just keep tradition alive—it keeps social history alive. The work of Sheena Wellington and Gordeanna McCulloch makes us very aware of that. I suggest, therefore, that the minister take a long look at the apparently shelved report of the Scottish Consultative Council on the Curriculum, which includes a raft of recommendations in this area. The recommendations are—in the main—achievable with existing resources. I know that the matter might not be wholly within the remit of the Deputy Minister for Culture and Sport—it may be within the remit of the Minister for Children and Education—but it is relevant to what she is doing in relation to culture.
Things are much better now than they might have been, but there is still a perception that Scotland's traditional arts and music are something of a Cinderella when it comes to support, especially financial support. That is not difficult to understand when total Scottish Arts Council spending on traditional arts is not much more than £250,000 to £300,000. The national companies, by contrast, swallow up something in the region of £12.6 million. Even with lottery money, there remains a serious lack of infrastructure and core resources for the traditional arts in Scotland and one-off projects mean that there is no continuity.
The Scottish Arts Council now accepts that traditional arts require greater recognition. It would have cost only about £1 million to implement the recommendations of the council's report on traditional music in Scotland. Instead, only £53,000 is available. With that level of funding, the Scottish Arts Council will struggle to attain its published ideals.
With the advent of the Parliament, the time is right for greater recognition and support to be expressed politically. The minister has an excellent opportunity today and through the national cultural strategy to do that, and to affirm that Scotland's music will no longer be the poor relation in the cultural life of our country. I hope that she will take that opportunity.
In order to accommodate all the members who wish to speak, I ask members to keep their contributions to three minutes.
I should declare an interest in this issue—members will note my tee-shirt.
I would like to thank Roseanna Cunningham for bringing the issue before the chamber. I hope that the next time we debate it there will be more people here to listen to what we have to say.
Traditional music is about real people singing real songs with real voices, in their mither tongue. We must celebrate and support the traditional arts—whether song, story telling, music or dance. We must support education for all ages and I welcome the work that has been done in schools, to which Roseanna Cunningham referred. Folk such as Nancy Nicolson in Glasgow and Ewan McVicar in Fife are working with children in schools. If anyone is interested, they can go along to the national museum to see the result of some of that work. The community development and training unit in my area is seeking to promote Scots and is working at community level to promote active citizenship. Organisations such as the adult learning project are involved in the development of traditional music groups. Sang Schule in West Lothian involves people meeting to learn and share traditional music.
Given that we are concerned about the closure of one folk festival, will Cathy Peattie join me in recognising that Linlithgow folk festival—which started last year and at which, I understand, she performed—is one of the success stories that should be celebrated?
Absolutely.
It was a fine performance.
Last week I chaired a meeting that was aimed at setting up a traditional music centre in Edinburgh. All those who attended agreed that there is a need for such a centre, which could provide teaching rooms, performance space, rehearsal rooms, demo recording rooms, promotion and administrative support. I wish the group luck with that project. If traditional music is to flourish in Scotland, there must be real support for the movement and for up-and-coming young people who are interested in traditional music.
It is vital that the national cultural strategy recognises the importance of cultural heritage in Scotland, and I would like to sing a few lines by Hamish Henderson.
Sae come aa ye at hame wi freedom
Never heed whit the houdies croak for doom
In yer hous aa the bairns o Aidam
Will fin breid, barley-bree an paintit room
Parliament has the opportunity to ensure that all our bairns can participate in, enjoy and perform the traditional arts of Scotland.
When chairing meetings of the Parliament, Presiding Officers are often asked to turn a blind eye, but I have never before been asked to turn a blind ear.
If I were to burst into song, Presiding Officer, you would want to turn a blind ear. Cathy Peattie's singing was absolutely beautiful.
To look at me now, it is hard to imagine that I spent the second half of the 1960s yearning to be in San Francisco with flowers in my hair, spreading messages of peace and love in all directions and—more important, as I had by then just mastered the chords of C, G and D on the guitar—singing those messages. The trouble was that I was at least five years too young to aspire to hippiedom and, had I done so, I would no doubt have dispatched my parents to an early grave.
I had to find a way to relieve my largely imagined revolutionary frustrations. Thus it was that—when maturity at last allowed what was on my unshaven features to resemble a beard and I had persuaded my long-suffering mother to knit me the compulsory white Aran sweater—I aspired to become a folkie. I must say that I was very disappointed to read an e-mail this morning that said that the days of four pullovers with out-of-tune guitars singing "The Wild Rover" are long gone. I am sad, because when I did that I thought that I had reached my artistic peak. If nothing else, that says everything one might need to know about my performing capabilities.
The late 1960s and early 1970s was a great time to be involved, even in a small way, in the resurgence of Scotland's folk traditions. I mean not only the music, but the different languages, the story telling and the poetry—the whole gamut of the traditional heritage that is Scotland's culture. It is a special culture and one that we ignore at our peril.
I must admit that my knowledge of Scottish history is shamefully sketchy, but I can honestly say that before I got involved in folk music it was non-existent. It was through the songs, stories and poems, the camaraderie and what the Irish call the craic, that my ignorance began to be addressed. There is a huge educational benefit to be gained through investing in and promoting our Scottish culture, but not just in the obvious sense of making available the resources to teach those who want to take part in music. We can use that culture in all its forms to educate our young people about our history, our folklore and our heritage.
There are probably people—some in this chamber—who think it odd that I, as a lowland Scot, would have any relevance at all to this debate, but I contest that strongly. Our cultural heritage comes as much from Stranraer as from Stromness and as much from Glasgow as from Edinburgh. It is of national importance and that is why the situation behind tonight's motion is so important to everybody in Scotland. That is also why the Scottish Conservatives, in our submission to the national cultural strategy, have urged the Scottish Executive to recognise and encourage the importance of our traditional culture alongside such national institutions as Scottish Opera and Scottish Ballet.
I, of course, have nothing against those organisations, although I will live quite happily if I never have to see another ballet. However, I love opera—despite the fact that during a magnificent production of "The Pearl Fishers" that I once saw in Glasgow, Scottish Opera saw fit to smear copious amounts of white make-up on the tenor lead, who was obviously of African descent. The result was a sort of ghost-like grey, and it crossed my mind that the make-up department of Scottish Opera, at least, must be somewhat overfunded. Despite that lapse, I have always admitted the excellence of Scotland's classical institutions and companies and it is right that they should receive a level of funding that ensures that they can continue to do Scotland so much credit in the cultural world.
It is not right that Scotland's cultural world remains essentially unsupported and is—in the words of a correspondent of mine,
"encouraged, fostered and looked after by dedicated amateurs working with a small number of hugely talented but financially strapped professionals."
We must invest in our culture. I use the word "invest" deliberately. Through tourism and commercial activity, there are economic benefits to be gained for Scotland if the necessary strategic support is given.
I will finish by quoting another correspondent. He said:
"I want to thank you all for bringing traditional music to the debating chamber. As a musician, I feel that it is a great pity that I have to travel far from my own country to receive recognition for our own music."
It is within Parliament's or the Executive's power to correct that situation. That would be one of our most important and long-lasting achievements. I heartily commend the motion.
I cannot match Cathy Peattie for singing and I must confess that I am not a folkie, but I feel that the whole folk aspect of Scottish culture needs support and I am happy to speak in this debate.
There should be a bit of joined-up government—something we all speak about but do not practise very much. There is great value in developing what might be called a folk industry, as the Irish have done. Our tourism strategy and economic strategy should take that into account. It is regrettable that a lot of people who live abroad are much keener on Scottish folk and traditional culture than a lot of Scots are. Money could be brought into this aspect of our culture through activities other than arts funding.
We have to support the full range of Scottish traditional and folk culture. That goes from people such as me trying to teach foreigners strip-the-willow, to people such as Sheena Wellington singing, to the full range of storytelling and other aspects of culture. There is a tendency for little groups to get a bit precious. If their dancing is not quite the same as other people's dancing, Scots have a tendency to quarrel about that, rather than accept and support the whole range of culture. We also have a tendency to assume that folk dancing from Moravia must somehow be better than folk dancing from Scotland. It is a perverse part of our character. We have to get over that and accept that we have a lot of fine types of folk music and dancing that other people value and that we should value much more.
Points about the Highlands versus the Lowlands have already been raised. Whatever the difficulties of funding, the Gaelic group has got its act together to some extent. However, Scots who are not Gaelic or Highlanders are a bit confused as to who they are and a bit apologetic about Lowland Scottish culture, about which there is a great deal to be proud.
I am happy to support this debate, to welcome the motion and to hope that the Executive can find ways of supporting this cultural industry. It represents a good community-type of activity that is dear to my heart and to the hearts of my colleagues. It is a non-elitist, let's-get-our-act-together-locally type of activity, and it is especially welcome for that.
Unlike Donald Gorrie, I would like to state, "My name is Linda and I am a folkie." I would like to talk about funding for the traditional arts. Lack of funding is the primary reason for the demise of not only the Edinburgh Folk Festival but many such initiatives over the years. What has been lacking is a national framework for the development of our traditional arts, or a national strategy such as that operated in countries such as Spain and Ireland. In Ireland, the traditional culture, which is very similar to ours, has been cherished at all levels, resulting in a great pride in the country's indigenous music and dance, which is complementary to their wonderful poetry and prose tradition, both oral and written.
The national cultural strategy is out for consultation. Within that, I would like there to be active promotion of and a commitment to adequate funding for our traditional arts and recognition of their long-term advantages—advantages not only to our country's children, but to the economic value to its tourism, businesses and media.
I mention children because when I have attended any event where youngsters are introduced to the instruments, voices and dance steps of their heritage, they love it—every minute of it. It should not be a one-off, participatory event, but a continuing movement.
I have attended many events at which adults of all ages have participated for the first time in their own tradition and culture. Again—great enjoyment, which should be built upon. Some are trying. A growing number of local authorities have traditional musicians in residence. I was delighted to learn the other day that the local authority within whose area I live has its own traditional arts officer, who is actively encouraging appreciation in the area.
Small local initiatives, while admirable, are not sufficient. The raft of small purses of money available—lottery and new opportunities funding and so on—does not serve the purpose. No traditional arts organisation in this country is funded to anything like the level that would allow it adequately to carry out its core tasks, let alone to prepare the extensive and time-consuming applications required to secure partnership and sponsorship. The core tasks are what are important—that must be recognised and matched with core funding. Let the traditional arts administrators spend their time on what they do best: performing, teaching and passing on their art.
I very much enjoy ballet—if Alex Fergusson would like to accompany me some time, that would be nice—opera and classical music, but those art forms are less important to me than those of my own country: our music, song, dance and oral tradition. Why does the core funding for the municipal arts contribute substantially to the wages and fees of performers of those art forms while there is, at present, no direct and very little indirect support from the Scottish Arts Council for the performers of traditional music? Note the £3.4 million rescue package last year for Scottish Opera alone. It is quite clearly not fair.
Let the Parliament lead the way: support our traditions and arts while being respectful and appreciative of others. That would seem fair to me.
I have the advantage of having been born several years before Alex Fergusson and having been able to grow my hair down to my shoulders—to the despair of my parents. Those were the great days in the late 1950s and early 1960s of people such as Arthur Argo, who I stayed with in Aberdeen, the McCalmans, Paddie Bell, Doleena McLennan, the Corries, Hamish Imlach, Owen Hand, Matt McGinn, Ewan MacColl, Archie Fisher and many more. They did the circuit.
When I went to Fife to teach in 1964, there was a folk club in every second secondary school and every other little village. What has happened since then? Commercial pressures mean that fewer pubs give time over to folk singers. Timetable pressures and pressures on teachers mean that there is increasingly less folk music in schools.
In 1966, I had a meeting with Archie Fisher and others in Glasgow, where we discussed the possibility of trying to get folk music on to the school timetable in some official way. We concluded that it was not appropriate because we did not want to make it into an examinable subject.
With the new approach to examinations—especially in higher still—and to the primary school curriculum, there is room for the Executive to do everything it can to get our culture into primary and secondary schools. We could consider cross-curricular strategies involving dance, music, English, poetry, folklore and history, at primary level and perhaps at a higher level too.
We need more support for teachers, not just for folk music, but for every other extra-curricular activity to encourage them to get involved once again in such activities—especially, in the context of this debate, all aspects of our traditional culture. Education is partly the key to the expansion of our culture and should, at the start of this new millennium, start with this Parliament.
If I were writing a cultural strategy, I would focus on children and communities. It therefore follows that for our traditional arts to survive, they must be supported and developed by young people across Scotland. I want to talk briefly about probably the best example of what can be achieved by investing in traditional music activity for young people—the fèis movement.
As members will know, fèisean aim to maintain and develop Gaelic culture and language by providing opportunities for the learning and performance of traditional music, song and dance. The movement is significant, not just because of the numbers involved—there are an impressive 31 fèisean and approximately 3,500 young people taking part. Fèisean often provide a community's only opportunity for young people to take part in any cultural activity. Where possible, local people are passing on their skills to youngsters, which means that the issue is very much about social inclusion and integrating traditional music into community life.
At the basic level, fèisean provide fun, informal cultural education for all young people from all walks of life and contribute significantly to their personal and social development. Above all, they provide energetic young artists, all of whom have first-hand knowledge of the wealth of Scottish Gaelic culture and who undoubtedly add to the richness and diversity of communities throughout Scotland.
It is acknowledged that the improving standard of performance among young people at the Royal National Mod is directly attributable to the work of the fèisean. In fact, seven out of the first 10 graduates from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama's BA Scottish music course had had fèis involvement before enrolling. However, despite that, the fèis movement struggles for funding support and I echo Roseanna Cunningham's plea for the Scottish Executive to consider some central funding.
In Ruth Wishart's report "Scottish Arts in the 21st Century", the Scottish Arts Council's combined arts director described the fèis movement as
"bringing a celebration of shared history and sense of belonging which breeds a new generation of cultural innovators".
That is what we need for Scotland's traditional arts.
Like Roseanna Cunningham and Cathy Peattie, I have been a passionate supporter of traditional Scottish arts and music for many years. In fact, rather a long time ago, I was one of the founder members of the Dingwall folk club, as Mr Rob Gibson will confirm.
The motion for debate today talks about a perceived lack of political support for the traditional arts. I want to knock that very firmly on the head. Traditional music is now one of the Scottish Arts Council's four priorities for music, which I very much welcome. The organisation's music department has a policy of integrating its approach to its four key priorities for next year and traditional music will benefit from the development of all those priorities.
First, touring will bring greater access to traditional music. Secondly, recording is a source of perennial progress that should be aligned with audience development and access. Thirdly, in contemporary music—or musics—traditional musicians are increasingly experimenting with all sorts of new ideas and styles. We can see that in artists such as Shooglenifty and Martyn Bennett. The fourth priority is the traditional music of Scotland.
Other consistent themes touch on those four priorities. For example, members have mentioned the theme of education from the fèisean to the school curriculum—and, indeed, at all stages of life—reaffirming the place of music and song in a genuinely popular culture. The teaching of Scottish traditional music is firmly embedded in the music part of the five to 14 curriculum at standard grade and in post-16 national qualifications.
Traditional music already has a stronghold in the creative industries of recording, tourism attraction and event promotion. We need more investment to strengthen what has been described as the long-term potential of traditional music. Scotland's international profile has been mentioned. Scotland's music is probably the country's most distinctive and unique export—perhaps after whisky. A long-term programme of promotion, showcasing and overseas representation will lead to a greater artistic profile, employment and economic benefits through touring, recording and associated activities. Better resourced information services are required, embracing and common to all styles of music.
I will take a little time to give examples of the projects that are either already under way or being planned by the Scottish Arts Council, as the relevant arm of the Scottish Executive.
Roseanna Cunningham mentioned the project that is being funded jointly by the Scottish Arts Council and the Scottish Tourist Board. That is an exciting and innovative development under which pilot projects have examined the interface between tourism and traditional music during the past year. Within the next few weeks, I will launch a report on that area.
Traditional music development workers are co-funded by the Scottish Arts Council and local authorities in South Lanarkshire, Aberdeenshire and Skye, and funding is soon to be given for posts in the Borders. Development work forms part of Sheena Wellington's traditional arts brief in Fife. I was pleased to see Sheena in the public gallery earlier, although I do not know whether she managed to stay for the debate. I was happy to meet her to discuss traditional music in the national cultural strategy.
From October 2000, the Scottish Arts Council will fund a small pilot scheme for traditional musicians in schools, which is similar to the writers in Scotland scheme. The pilot scheme will bring school children into regular contact with musicians and singers. The Scottish Arts Council also funds a showcase, which I attended in January this year, of traditional music for overseas promoters. The showcase is funded jointly with the British Council and Scottish Trade International—that is another important investment.
All those projects are backed by significant resources, including £250,000 from the voted funds. Specific lottery funding for traditional music projects totalled over £1 million from 1997-98 to 1999-2000. Significant money is going into this area. The Scottish Executive is also supporting traditional music by establishing Scotland's first traditional music centre at Plockton High School, as announced earlier this year. The school will receive funding of £500,000 over three years and will offer tuition in piping, fiddle, clarsach, accordion, keyboard, whistle and singing.
I now come to the demise of Edinburgh Folk Festival and the deeply regrettable consequences of that for its creditors. I know that musicians as well as tradespeople are among the creditors. That is a matter for the board of the Edinburgh Folk Festival Society Ltd, in discussion with the City of Edinburgh Council and the Scottish Arts Council, although there are probably lessons to be learned from the situation.
The demise of Edinburgh Folk Festival may be an indication of the importance of proper marketing and of properly calculating box office potential when one is putting on events. The Scottish Arts Council worked alongside Edinburgh Folk Festival to assess the scope for averting the financial crisis. Unfortunately, the audience and revenue forecasts would not sustain a feasible recovery plan. The Scottish Arts Council's decision not to provide additional funding was based on objective criteria.
However, the Scottish Arts Council has ring-fenced funds allocated to Edinburgh Folk Festival in its current budget and it has specified that those funds be spent only on traditional music activities in Edinburgh. The Edinburgh harp festival in April has been given £3,000, and £3,000 has also been given to a new festival of traditional song, "Scotland's Voice", which is to take place at the end of June. The Scottish Arts Council has more than fulfilled its commitment to allocate funds to traditional music in Edinburgh.
As members know, the Executive has been carrying out a wide consultation on the first ever national cultural strategy for Scotland. We have had meetings the length and breadth of Scotland, from the Highlands and Islands to the Borders. We have also received hundreds of written and e-mailed responses. There is undoubtedly great support for traditional music, which I welcome.
We will publish our strategy later this summer. I can assure the Parliament that traditional music will form a core commitment within that national cultural strategy. This is an exciting time for Scotland, it is an exciting time for traditional arts as a whole and I look forward to many debates on traditional arts in this chamber.
Before I close this evening's debate, I can advise members that musicians will be playing in Mylne's Court as members leave.
Meeting closed at 19:01.