CVH – Arts Programme
Craignish Village Hall has a long-standing history of offering high quality, carefully curated multi-genre arts programming across each year. Our Arts Manager (Rachel Rogers) and the General Hall Manager (Sarah Whittle) work together with volunteer committee members to deliver this diverse programming, which generates its own funding streams, and does not draw upon day-to-day hall revenue. Since 2021, the programme has been the grateful beneficiary of funding support from Creative Scotland, The Craignish Trust, The Touring Network, Argyll & Bute Council, Cinema for All, Film Hub Scotland as well as generous private supporting donors.
We are very privileged to have such high-quality arts performances taking place in our rural, fragile remote location, where many would otherwise have limited opportunities to experience the arts without significant travel. We are delighted that, contrary to the national trend, our audience numbers continue to grow. We regularly gather and analyse valuable audience and community feedback, and welcome all your suggestions and ideas for consideration, at all times, to help us with future planning.
We couldn’t run our events without the generous time offered by our brilliant volunteers, and can always find a role for everyone, so if you’d like to be more involved, then please do let us know!
CVH Arts – 2023
This year, 2023, we have been busy with a range of events including: Bought and Sold – Scotland, Jamaica and Slavery (literature), Fergus McCreadie (jazz), Esther Swift (contemporary harp), Two in a Barrel (kid’s theatre), Bea’s sculpture exhibition plus Sunday Sessions 5 & 6 – and we still have a lot more to come! We are currently awaiting some funding application outcomes before finalising our plans which will take us through until March 2024 – please keep an eye on the main CVH website calendar, posters on noticeboards (plus the Lunga skip!) and social media pages for what’s on next!
We are using this slightly quieter scheduling period to continue to develop our focus on some of the hidden bits of running an arts programme and to improve some key areas of importance to us, including becoming members of the Green Arts Initiative, exploring further ways in which we can reduce our climate impact. Additionally, we are revisiting our inclusion policies and ensuring that our programme is as accessible and open to all as possible, and ensuring that we remain fair work for fair pay employers and commissioners. We have established an arts access fund which is open to all who may be unable to attend our events if facing financial challenges – this can be accessed by emailing the Arts Manager (in strictest confidence) who will try to ensure a solution is found. We have also been developing our social media presence and now all upcoming events can be found by searching Craignish Village Hall on both Facebook and Instagram where you can view the regularly updated events calendar.
Emerging – 2021-2022
2021/22 was a very busy brilliant year for the CVH Arts programme, which built on strong positive pre-covid foundations.
Emerging from the pandemic, we scheduled two postponed events in October and November 2021, Grandmother’s Grimm (Some Kind of Theatre, theatre) and Rules to Live By/EIDOS (Suzi Cunningham, dance).
Recognising that we were facing some C19 related audience hesitancy in returning to community gatherings, we introduced a new initiative, organised and curated by Matt Walsh, called “Sunday Sessions” to help rebuild community confidence. These proved so popular that we hosted six sessions in 2022 and this initiative continues today. Sessions are free to attend, our musicians receive fair pay, and the sessions offer a platform for new, emerging and local established musical talent to deliver a short set of songs of their choice. Additionally, they provide a great informal and friendly space to hang out and catch up in with friends. We have been delighted to be able to support some very young local musicians, and have very much appreciated the nurturing, encouraging and friendly environment offered by our audiences, and the wonderful support offered by our more experienced musicians to our younger emerging artists.
In addition to The Sunday Sessions, 2022 also saw us host a brilliant range of diverse work including The Sea and Me (songwriter/stories), Scottish Opera – Highlights Tour, Like
Animals (Superfan, theatre), The Story Wagon (Luke Winters, stories, words, poetry), Make Up (Andy Moseley, theatre), Nevis Ensemble (live music), Speak Easy Circus & Cabin Fever (live music), Billy Bragg (live music), Kakatsitsi (drumming, dance, live music), 6 Feet 3 Shoes (Slanjayvah Danza, live music, dance), Downs With Love (Cutting Edge, theatre), Rocket Post (Constellation Points, kid’s theatre), President (film, live director Q&A) and Moonage Daydream (film).
Recent history pre-2021
The CVH Arts Programme promoted and hosted many fantastic theatre and dance events before the pandemic – with highlights including visits from Sonnet Youth, Shaper/Caper, Rob Heaslip, Paines Plough, Ellie Dubois, David Hughes Dance, Plutot la Vie, Mac Brew, Company of Wolves, Mull Theatre, The Flanagan Collective, Dogstar Theatre, Clod Ensemble, Yugen Puppet Theatre, Jenna Watt and many others.
Musical highlights in the run up to the first lockdown included Iona Fyfe, Nevis Ensemble, Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham, Hannah Rarity, Budapest Cafe Orchestra, Sophie Ramsay & Sarah Smout, Balter, Rosie Bans, Eduardo Niebla & Matthew Robinson, Dean Owens & the Whisky Hearts, Salsa Celtica, Shooglenifty, Scottish Opera Highlights, Mary Ann Kennedy, Mairi Campbell and Mike Vass, Dick Gaughan, Samson Sounds, Dougie Maclean and Cera Impala amongst others.
Banner images: Rosie Bans, GROWTH (Paines Plough), Within This Dust (Shaper/Caper), Aly Bain & Phil Cunningham
