SOCIAL, CIVIC & ECONOMIC VALUE
Community & social empowerment | Education & learning | Environment | Equality, diversity & inclusion | International engagement | Health & wellbeing | Older people | People with disabilities | Tourism | Young people
BUSINESS PARTNER BENEFITS
Brand awareness, marketing, image enhancement or PR | Corporate social responsibility | Creative development | Developing community links | Access to target audiences | Staff relations / Development
The project
The first SEALL Festival of Small Halls took place between 23 and 30 November 2018, bringing big music to small halls in and around the Isle of Skye. By engaging some of Scotland’s most remote rural communities in a celebration of the traditional music and heritage of the Highlands and Islands, the Festival focused on the importance of the community hall as a space in which to gather and unite.
The partnership
The Sligachan Hotel was one of a number of local businesses helping to fund and facilitate the Festival. Centrally positioned and offering a variety of performance spaces combined with an excellent reputation for food and hospitality, the hotel attracts visitors from around the world but is still very much a community-based enterprise.
With match funding from the C&BS Fund, SEALL could concentrate their limited budget on securing some of the very best artists in the Scottish traditional music scene.,The positive outcomes
1,544 people participated in the Festival, which engaged a total of 89 performers, volunteers and staff. Young people living in remote rural areas were able to experience a large-scale, community-led, traditional celebration as well as free musical workshops in 10 of the island’s schools.
The event encouraged inter-generational social cohesion and diversity, and strengthened community bonds through half-price tickets offered to under 26s and free tickets to those of school age and below.
