Highlands Cultural Assembly: free Inverness event on 16 September

Artists and cultural organisations from across the Highlands are being invited to help shape the region’s next arts and cultural strategy at its first Cultural Assembly. The free event will be held at the Drumossie Hotel in Inverness on Wednesday 16 September.

The gathering is intended for artists, creative practitioners, arts organisations and cultural bodies working across the region. Highland Council says anyone interested in participating can register their interest by emailing [email protected].

A permanent forum for the Highlands’ cultural sector

The Assembly will bring different parts of the Highlands’ creative community into one forum for collaboration, knowledge sharing and collective action. Organisers want it to represent the breadth and diversity of cultural work taking place across the region while giving the sector a stronger collective voice.

One of its first priorities will be developing a new arts and cultural strategy for the Highlands. That gives participants an opportunity to contribute their experience of working in urban, rural, coastal and island communities to a shared regional approach.

The Assembly is not being presented as a one-off event. It has been established as a permanent cultural forum and is designed to continue beyond the current Inverness-Highland bid to become UK City of Culture in 2029.

A Creative Highland board will support the forum and help turn discussion into action across the cultural sector.

Fiona Dalgetty named as the first Convener

Fiona Dalgetty, Chief Executive and Artistic Director of Fèis Rois, has been confirmed as the Assembly’s first Convener. She has encouraged people with new perspectives to come forward, arguing that artists’ voices should be central to the forum’s work.

Dalgetty also welcomed the availability of financial support for freelance creatives. Highland Council says limited funding is available to offset loss of earnings for full-time self-employed artists who attend.

The funding provision addresses a practical barrier for independent practitioners who would otherwise have to give up paid working time to participate. The source does not specify the value of the support, how many applicants can receive it or the process by which it will be allocated.

June meeting led to the new Assembly

The permanent forum follows the Cultural Conversation held at Strathpeffer in June. That earlier gathering formed part of Beò! 2029, the Inverness-Highland campaign for the UK City of Culture title.

Creative practitioners who attended the Strathpeffer event have been invited to the first Assembly. The invitation is also open more widely: anyone who believes they can contribute has been encouraged to register an interest.

The wider bid reached a milestone in August, when the Beò! 2029 team submitted its detailed proposal. Inverness-Highland is the competition’s only Scottish entry and the first bid to represent both a city and a wider region. Judges are expected to announce a shortlist of up to four locations in October.

How to register interest in attending

Attendance at the Highlands’ first Cultural Assembly is free. Interested artists, practitioners and representatives of arts or cultural organisations should contact [email protected] to register their interest.

The event announcement does not provide a start time, transport guidance or accessibility information. Anyone who needs those details should request them when registering. Full-time self-employed artists can also use that contact to ask about the limited funding intended to offset lost earnings.

Source: Highland Council