Lerwick, Shetland, UK
Impact Report | March 2025
Key partner:
Shetland Arts
Local lead contact:
Graeme Howell, Chief Executive, Shetland Arts
and Bryan Peterson, Outreach and Learning Lead, Shetland Arts
General update
Shetland Arts has been awarded Creative Scotland funding for another five years – an above inflation uplift, as well as local funding from the Shetland Charitable Trust for another five years: a significant funder, supporting larger projects and organisations in the Shetlands.
There has been an uptick in the amount of live music in Shetland – new rock festival – volunteer led rock festival – all music festivals have had solid attendances.
A recent issue in Shetland has been a lack of security staff. Licenses lapsed during Covid – and the bar had been raised significantly in terms of requirements. Shetland Arts had money left over from its Tall Ships Race and managed to provide some per diems to local residents to undertake the training. This has unblocked a whole backlog of events that were waiting to take place.
Shetland Arts read the reports from every other participating city and found the wider research of interest with other applicable learnings.
Shetland Arts will be returning to the report later this year to look specifically at the specific recommendations included. Having this clearly defined conclusion to the report is helpful and provides traction to get others on board to implement actions.
There has been something of a honeymoon period in the wake of the Tall Ships Race which has positively affected the artistic and cultural community: with a lot of new bands formed, a new rock festival ‘Rising North’ and a new female rock festival starting, too.
Specific impact from MPRN
Shetland Arts was invited to meet with the Culture Team at the Scottish government as a result of the report, to feed into their new strategy. While this has so far not progressed, it is a boon to know they read the report and are aware of the work being undertaken.
One of the real benefits of this programme for Shetland Arts has been being able to say that they are part of the programme. It demonstrates the commitment to development, and the report is a tangible output, which clearly outlines the challenges, and proposes suggestions and solutions – it is a powerful tool to open policy conversations.
Ongoing engagement with MPRN:
Lerwick have stayed active in the network through this year via both the online platform and engagement in monthly masterclasses.