MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards 2016: Orkney Folk Festival

Congratulations to Orkney Folk Festival who have been nominated in Event of the Year sponsored by VisitScotland in the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards 2016. Vote now!

We asked Craig Corse of Orkney Folk Festival the following questions.

Tell us about yourself
Celebrating its 35th outing in 2017 – on the back of the most successful, in terms of both ticket sales and occupancy levels, year in 2016 – the Orkney Folk Festival is one of the most prolific events in the Scottish and UK folk calendars, and one of the highlights of Orkney’s diary of community events.

An entirely voluntary run event, the festival annually attracts artists from all corners of the folk world to Stromness, in Orkney’s West Mainland, for four days of concerts, ceilidhs, clubs, sessions, talks and craic each May. Audiences too come from all around – many block booking accommodation years ahead, long before any acts are announced.

It’s the Orkney community that provides the backbone and legendary welcoming atmosphere for the festival, though. Orcadian bands outnumber those visiting 2:1 each year, whilst the local audience continues to grow in tandem with those visiting, on a roughly 50/50 split.

Why are you involved in Scottish music?
Everyone who works on the festival – from the 15-strong year-round committee, to the hundreds (literally) of volunteers who bring the festival to life each May – is a volunteer, and do it for the love of it. Many for the music, many others for the atmosphere that the festival brings to Stromness and the isles each year.

As well as a great craic weekend, with the town of Stromness bursting at the seams, the festival provides a major economic boost to the town, and the wider Orkney community. When the event was established, in 1982, it was deliberately placed in late May to pull the start of the summer tourism season into the earlier ‘fringe’ months – and that remains the case today.

It may be folkies by nature, but the atmosphere that the festival brings to Stromness and Orkney – and even the thought of working on it, and building the festival across the dark winter months – is second to none. We love it.

Any particular career highlights?
Over the festival’s 34 years, we’ve amassed a very long list of artists who have blown audiences away – and often the committee, on their agreeing to attend in the the first instance! For many its their first visit to the isles, and we love being able to bring them to one of the most special parts of the country.

However, one of the festival’s major achievements – over the last five years – has been our Gathering project; a house band and guests formatted gig, showcasing the many different strands of Orkney’s own folk scene, from rising teenage stars to veteran stalwarts. Having debuted in 2012 as Orkney Folk: The Gathering, the project has taken on a few different guises – including Transatlantic, welcoming in stateside and Canadian visiting acts, backed by an Orcadian house band – and Northern Isles, in collaboration with the Shetland Folk Festival.

More than just an at-home project, though, the Gathering has toured to major festivals in Glasgow and Edinburgh (Celtic Connections and the Scots Fiddle Festival, in the Old Fruitmarket and Queen’s Hall, respectively) showcasing Orkney folk music, both traditional and contemporary, to new audiences. To be actively involved in the outward promotion of Orkney’s own traditions and culture is something we are immensely proud of, and will continue to do under the festival’s banner and profile.

What are your plans for the future?
That would be telling…! We generally only work one year at a time, however the 35th (May 25-28, 2017 – see you all there!) is shaping up very nicely indeed. We’ll announce the first few names in December, ahead of a main line-up release in January.

As the festival continues to grow in stature, on an increasingly international level, we will continue to cast our programming net further and wider – trying to convince some the best names in the scene to come up to Orkney for four days of festival craic, whilst very much keeping the community festival vibe strong and prevalent throughout the weekend.