Hands Up for Trad’s Women in Music and Culture 2026 list has been announced to celebrate just some of the women working in Scotland.
Launched as part of International Women’s Day 2026, we shine the spotlight on 12 women who all contribute towards Scotland’s cultural landscape through their work. Read the 2026 list here.
We asked Kathleen Macinnes to tell us more about their work, influences and ambitions for the future.
How did you first get involved in the arts and who were your early influences?
My journey into the arts began in Garrynamonie Primary School in South Uist, where our inspirational Art Teacher, Domhnall Lachlann MacLean, would travel from Lewis to share his talents with us. He nurtured my love for drawing and sparked a creative path that I still follow today, from the art dept in the Nicolson Institute Stornoway and on to study Textiles and Print Design in Galashiels, Beyond the classroom my community upbringing was steeped in the rich living culture of the islands, deeply influenced by the local traditions of song and music, from hearing and singing hymns at church to training in Highland Dancing, taught to me by my Auntie Mary, Màiri Thormoid, Eriskay and Lena Steele North Boisdale I feel fortunate in my early years to have been surrounded by inspirational islanders and felt an instinctive pull towards the arts and song and more than anything else I was shaped by the island itself and the constant presence of the sea from the music to the landscape, you simply couldn’t get away from it, also this specific creativity was inherited from the generations of islanders from the Western Isles who came before me and for that I am grateful
In a time when many artists and creative professionals are facing significant challenges, how have you developed and evolved your creative practice over the past few years?
After over 35 years of working in the arts and performing, the current landscape sometimes feels unrecognisable, my practice over the last 20 years has been about real life, as I was busy being a mum raising our three sons Seumas, Francis and Christopher with my partner Tommy, I sometimes feel that I don’t belong in the new digital world and the requirement of constant digital presence, I do try but I feel more comfortable disappearing into a 300 year old song than trying to fit into an algorithm but I found that building a network and collective of singers and musicians turned the solo practice into more of a shared commitment, our voices are stronger when woven together to keep the songs, old and new, alive for the next generation.
Who or what interests you creatively?
I have enjoyed my recent research into the rhythmic and historical links between Gaelic song and textiles, exploring how those heritages intersect. People interest me and collaboration remains a constant inspiration, a recent work trip to a festival in Guanajuato, Mexico, was fascinating because the locals and the musicians didn’t hear a ‘strange’ language—they recognised the same pride they have in their own history and songs, an unexpected a second home for the Gaelic language, proving it isn’t just a local dialect, it’s a language of the land that finds an echo in any culture that values its roots, its pride, and its right to be heard.
What are your plans for the next year or so and/or what are your longer term creative ambitions?
I’m happy to continue to work alongside Scottish and International singers and musicians to enjoy and share songs, and to try to be open to the ever changing traditional music scene that I’m proud to be a part of, a bit more research on textiles and song, sing hymns and lots and lots of prayer for a more peaceful world.
Read the Hands Up for Trad’s Women in Music and Culture 2026 List
Hands Up for Trad are an organisation who work with Scottish traditional music, language and culture. If you would like to support our work you can donate here.