As my AHRC-funded Leadership Fellowship draws to a close (thank you UKRI!) I am still working away on drawing together the findings from more than 70 interviews with musicians, festival and venue organisers, police, local authority civil servants, music teachers, charity execs, luthiers and many more micro-enterprises across the Highlands and Islands.

The two key outputs from this research project are 1) an academic book delving deep into the topic of how best to support sustainable musical micro-enterprises across the rural creative economy and 2) a short-form, public report with recommendations about what the different stakeholders and people across Scotland can do to support rural music making, music education, music festivals, events, small venues, halls and manufacturers across the Highlands and Islands. As some of you know, there have been workshops and debates also which can all be linked to on the project homepage.

Join me, some luminaries from the music sector in the Highlands and Islands, and friends from The Touring Network, for the report debate and launch event in Inverness on Monday the 5th December. The day will comprise an earlier section dedicated to Touring Network meet up and AGM, a lunch and then panel debate about music in the rural creative economy at Eden Court, followed by a more informal report launch event in MacGregor’s bar in Inverness city centre. Free copies of the report will be available to take away and you can also register for just one or more parts of the day.

I’m delighted to say that the 2-3pm discussion panel on music in the rural creative economy will include the following key individuals from the sector:

Iain Hamilton (Creative Industries lead, Highlands and Islands Enterprise)

Claire Mackay (Co-Director, The Touring Network)

Norman Bolton (Head of Music Development, High Life Highland)

Joan Michael (Programme Manager, The Ceilidh Place, Ullapool)

You can sign up to any or all of these parts of the day here.

I hope to see some friends, colleagues and those who have contributed to the project there. A huge thank you goes out in particular to all of the interviewees for this project who gave up their time to answer questions about their lives, communities and musical endeavours across the Highlands and Islands–what a privilege! Watch this space for the book in the coming months. And if you’ve any questions–please, just get in touch with me.

Simon McKerrell.