Artists in Shetland, Orkney and the Outer Hebrides are coming together to create #EvenHereEvenNow, a campaign to highlight island-based artists’ vital contribution to Scotland’s cultural landscape.
The campaign is supported by An Lanntair, Shetland Arts, the Pier Arts Centre in Orkney and Taigh Chearsabhagh in North Uist.
For updates, join the #EvenHereEvenNow mailing list.
In a turbulent year in the arts in Scotland, marked by protests over arts funding cuts and an imminent review by the Scottish government of Creative Scotland, #EvenHereEvenNow will platform artists who are often marginalised in a debate dominated by voices from the central belt.
The campaign will build on the work of Even Here, Even Now, a 2024 manifesto supported by Shetland Arts and jointly created by a group of artists living and working in Shetland, Orkney, Uist, and the Isle of Lewis.
Even Here, Even Now is a multi-island manifesto highlighting issues including:
- how the work of island-based artists is vital to the wellbeing and social cohesion of the rural communities in which they live.
- the high quality and distinctiveness of creative work made on the islands, rooted in the preservation and development of island-specific traditional skills, indigenous languages and intangible cultural heritage.
- islanders’ heightened awareness of, and engagement with, the climate crisis
- the significant additional challenges of limited public transport, severe weather, higher energy costs, a lack of digital connectivity, and the expense of connecting to mainland Scotland.
- islanders’ expertise, knowledge & resources frequently being enlisted without compensation.
The #EvenHereEvenNow campaign will build on the work of the manifesto with:
- a national media and advocacy campaign providing a platform for island-based artists to share their stories.
- a series of in-person and online events designed by four Artist Advocates, Bronwyn Mackenzie (Isle of Lewis), AJ Stockwell (Uist), Jane Matthews (Shetland), and Aine King (Orkney), that will provide island-based artists with further opportunities for their voices to be heard.
- new opportunities for artists to connect and collaborate between islands.
Join the #EvenHereEvenNow mailing list here.
Andrew Eaton-Lewis, Communications and Advocacy Lead for #EvenHereEvenNow, said: “Surviving as an artist anywhere in Scotland is increasingly precarious. With this campaign we are highlighting the additional challenges facing artists living in rural island communities through the stories of artists living in the Outer Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland. It is a call for recognition of the value of culture in parts of Scotland that are often left out of the national conversation, but where artists are often deeply embedded in the communities they live in, making a vital contribution to those communities – even here, even now – in a way that deserves wider recognition and support.”
The Even Here, Even Now manifesto‘s creators included Helen Robertson and Barry Nisbet from Shetland, Sandra Kennedy from the Western Isles, and Jamilla Garrett, Arwen Haselden and Niamh Haselden from Orkney. The manifesto project was managed by Kathryn Gordon, Creative Project Manager at Shetland Arts, with support from Carol Dunbar from Pier Arts Centre, in collaboration with An Lanntair and Taigh-Chearsabhagh. The project was made possible through funding from Culture Collective, a network of 26 participatory arts projects shaped by local communities alongside artists and creative organisations.
Kathryn Gordon said: “Even Here, Even Now sums up the spirit, resilience and creativity that define our island arts communities. This manifesto is about change and ensuring that island arts thrive and contribute fully to our cultural landscape.”
#EvenHereEvenNow will expand the scope of the manifesto to advocate for island-based artists on a bigger scale, both on the islands themselves and across Scotland.
Background information
In 2021 the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) conducted an extensive survey of artists in the Outer Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland. The survey, the most recent of its kind, found that:
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- 80% of respondents said they present, sell or export work nationally or internationally, highlighting the wide reach of island-based artists’ work.
- 61% of respondents said language was important to their work, highlighting the cultural importance of Gaelic language, as well as Orcadian and Shetland dialect.
- 90% of respondents said good digital connectivity was important to their work, with 51% saying they used social media to promote it, highlighting the need for rural internet provision.
- Almost 70% of respondents earned less than the Scottish average salary through their practice, with only 11.6% earning over £25K, and over 50% earning less than £10k, highlighting the precarity of many artists’ finances.
- 62% of respondents were working as sole traders, highlighting the importance of funds such as Creative Scotland’s recently closed (then reinstated) Open Fund for Individuals.
Find out more about #EvenHereEvenNow by joining the mailing list or contacting Andrew Eaton-Lewis at andrew@anlanntair.com