Highland Council funding poses threat to Blas festival
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ONE of the biggest cultural festivals in the Highlands may not go ahead this year amid a funding wrangle with Highland Council.
In emails between Fèisean nan Gàidheal (FnG) head Arthur Cormack and Highland Council chief executive Donna Manson seen by the Inverness Courier, Mr Cormack says a delay in letting his organisation know what funding it will get from the council for 2019-20 means the Blas Festival cannot go ahead in September.
The festival provides a mix of traditional music and Gaelic workshops and concerts across the Highlands.
Events last year included the Oran Mor concert in Inverness’s Northern Meeting Park at which more than 500 young singers and musicians performed to an audience of thousands.
Mr Cormack said multiple requests for clarity over funding went unanswered until it finally emerged on May 3 that funding for one service delivery contract, for music tuition, was to be cut by 3.75 per cent while a separate contract for Blas was to be reduced by 7.4 per cent.
It is unclear how much these cuts represent in cash terms.
Both decisions, he said, took place “with no discussion or prior notice”.
While Blas is a Highland Council initiative, it is run by FnG and Mr Cormack said “urgent agreement” was needed if it was to happen this year.
According to Mr Cormack, even a March 1 meeting with council budget leader Alister Mackinnon was not helpful in clarifying the situation.
“Councillor MacKinnon made no commitment of any kind in relation to funding,” he said.
“When he left the meeting, he said he would be in touch ‘next week’. I wasn’t entirely sure why, but I heard nothing more from Cllr MacKinnon following the meeting.”
He only managed to get a response after lodging formal complaints with the local authority which prompted Mrs Manson to write to apologise.
“I recognise that the delay has caused concern and difficulty for your organisation, which I deeply regret,” she said.
Mr Cormack said: “It is important to recognise that FnG’s partnership with Highland Council is not all take and no give.
“In relation to the Blas Festival, an initiative of Highland Council, for every £1 the council puts in we generate another £2 just to run the festival – your festival.
“That rose to £4 last year due to our securing generous additional funding from EventScotland for the only Year of Young People signature event in the Highlands, the finale to Blas 2018.”
Mr Mackinnon said: “I am conscious of and totally support what Fèisean nan Gàidheal does with their work with the Gaelic language.
“Certainly the late informing of grants is not conducive to running an organisation, I accept that, but as budget leader this is funding that all comes from the same pot.
“There are other priorities as well, like schools and roads, so that also has to be taken into account.”
