Shaun’s brainchild has become a major event
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goEvents director Shaun Arnold
A DECADE on from its inception as a showcase for north bands, the goNorth Festival, which returns to Inverness on Thursday, is so much more.
As well as free live performances from around 50 acts from as far afield as Australia, the event will again include, film, fashion and tips from industry insiders.
The latter include former Undertone Feargal Sharkey, now head of UK Music, who follows such previous goNorth special guests as UK record moguls Tony Wilson and Alan McGee.
Watching over the busy programme is goEvents director Shaun Arnold (right), who is delighted with the way his baby has grown.
"The event is in continual flux and we work hard to develop goNorth year on year, introducing fresh ideas and looking to offer artists and businesses more opportunities," Arnold said.
"If I look at where we started and set that against the amazing year we had in 2010, the event has developed significantly. For example, we now offer more cross creative industry activity than ever before which is really exciting, and with the introduction of the Festival Tour, we are in a position to offer emerging artists some great platforms to develop their audience."
The Festival Tour replaces goNorth’s previous link-up with the RockNess Festival, which it overlaps next Friday. Instead of acts appearing at the Dores festival’s goNorth tent, they will now be given the opportunity to appear at one or more of a range of independent festivals, Belladrum and Loopallu in the Highlands, the Wizard Festival in Aberdeenshire and the Wickerman Festival in Kirkcudbrightshire.
"The key development for us is that we are now able to offer some really attractive opportunities to the artists who submit to showcase," Arnold said.
"From a single submission, goNorth offers artists a compact, industry targeted showcase platform and the opportunity to grow their audience significantly across the whole festival season.
"Having reached a milestone last year, we felt it was timely to re-explore our wider associations and fortunately Scotland boasts some of the most vibrant and diverse independent festivals you will find anywhere."
Arnold believes goNorth has now earned a significant spot in the cultural landscape of the Highlands,
"It’s a really important event in the context of creating an environment where locally based individuals and businesses can make connections and network with wider industry," he said.
"Also, goNorth attracts a significant transient population swell which feeds directly into the local economy.
"Concerning the music element, the wider cultural significance is huge, local artists get the opportunity to open up conversations with leading industry players and forge relationships with artists from around the world which opens up a number of possibilities."
Now firmly established on the music industry calendar, Arnold believes the other elements of goNorth are helping it to quickly generate a wider identity, reflecting the way the event will operate in the future.
"The screen and broadcast element now makes up half of the schedule and they have a world class programme of events in place this year," he said. "The response to the changes has been overwhelmingly positive; the Highlands and Islands are thriving creatively and it’s great to be part of an event which aims to consolidate and promote that to a global audience."
