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Insider Solutions
Case Studies 2004 - Feis Alba
A residential project to provide tuition and professional development for 16 - 25 year olds who are at a upper intermediate or advanced level in traditional Gaelic music, song, and dance.
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What is the history of the organization?
In an attempt to reverse this trend, it was decided to hold a two-week event that would bring in a team of experienced tutors to lead local young people in participating in a range of activities, such as Gaelic song, fiddle, clàrsach and dance. This proved to be an outstanding success, and witnessing this, other communities adopted the model and today there are 33 community Fèisean all over Scotland. The national association of the Fèis movement, Fèisean nan Gàidheal was established in 1992.
Fèis Alba was set up as a company independent to Fèisean Nan Gàidheal with it's own board to include a variety of skills: artistic, existing Fèis organizing knowledge, and youth work/ community education. The board included Callum MacDonald from Runrig, Rita Hunter, Fèis Rois organizer, John MacDonald (chair) with a Community Education background, Kate Martin, Community Education lecturer and Dr Angus MacDonald, co-founder of Fèis Bharraigh. The independent status gave Fèis Alba the possibility of being seen as a separate organisation and allowed them to raise considerable funds for their work. The aim was to build on the success of the Fèis movement in Scotland and provide a platform for developing excellence for young people aged 16-25. The objective was to provide excellent tutoring at a week long residential and combine it with performances by traditional musicians in the evening. After the pilot residential it was found that the feasibility study estimate of 100 to 200 young people attending was not realistic and a new development plan was written to cover the next three years which estimated working with around 40 young people each year. The initial funding came from Skye and Lochalsh Enterprise Company (3 months development officer post), The development officer then raised money for the the pilot and following three years from Highlands and Islands Enterprise, the Arts Council New Directions lottery fund and various local enterprises. Budget Each residential costs in the region of £35,000 to £42,000.
How was it set up and structured?
The following disciplines were included in the first three programmes. Pipes, fiddle, guitar, clàrsach (harp), gaelic song, step dance, accordion, whistle / flute and gaelic language. Accommodation and catering The accommodation on Skye (for the first two residentials) was a whole hostel which was economical and had self catering facilities. Youth workers were employed for the whole week to informally supervise the 16 - 18 year olds in the evenings. The young people organized themselves into informal cooking groups. In both Ullapool and Stornaway the accommodation was bed and breakfast in large guesthouses. The guest houses provided an evening meal for the young people as well. This was not as ideal as it was less relaxed, less suitable for evening music sessions and cost more money. Structure The programme for the first four Fèis Alba residentials ran from Monday to Friday.
Working with a 16-25 age group was not always easy as the legalities are different and socially it is quite a wide group. E.g. 16 year olds cannot drink and so there had to be some level of supervision by youth workers. Although each place was subsidized and thought to be excellent value for money, young people who wanted to attend didn't necessarily find it easy to raise £100. This age range does not have a lot of spare money and also don't want to rely on their parents. For the 2001 residential this was solved with the introduction of the Independent Learning Account, which meant that anyone over 18 could access up to £150 for a training course, but this programme only ran for one year. It was found that the interpretation of 'excellent' was different from area to area e.g. a young musician that was considered to be excellent in one area might be at an upper intermediate level in another, depending on the level of tuition available locally. The young people did not all want to attend evening concerts, preferring to socialize and have informal group music sessions. The concerts were large-scale events, which were taking a lot of organization, time, and effort by the development worker. This part of the residential was costing up to £7,000 and although it also brought revenue it was not working for the benefit of the young people. It was decided that a professional development and playing in a group aspect to the course would be more productive for the young people. In year four the funds, which used for performances were redirected to bring in tutors from MIDAS (Music Industry development and support http://www.highland-music.com/). The new sessions included: Professional development: Understanding the Mechanical Copyright Recording Society (MCPS), and the Performing Rights Society (PRS). With a professional band manager acting as guest speaker highlighting the pitfalls of being a professional musician / recording artist. Self Employment (e.g. paying tax and national insurance) Working with PA equipment Stage presence. The programme now had 50% professional development and 50% focus on playing music in groups. There was also an opportunity for the young people to spend a day in a recording studio some time after the project. This was a useful opportunity for the young musicians to learn about the discipline of recording; the challenge of hitting the right note, and the short time in the studio against the large amount of time needed for rehearsal. The project was evaluated through questionnaires and a simple tracking exercise. As part of this final report process, a tracking exercise was completed, with names all of the individual young people who took part in the event 1998 - 2001, a total of 80 (1999 - 2001, 55). All former participants are still involved in their disciplines at an advanced level. Over and above that though, a good number are either full-time music students, semi, or full-time professional musicians, which demonstrates that the project attracted the 'excellent' participants that is was aimed at. From the tracking exercise, you can see that some former participants are now in bands with a national profile, such as Dòchas, Daimh, and Croft No. 5, plus others which have a local profile such as Catch 22 and Cluanas. As well as performing, a good number of former participants teach at Fèisean throughout the country. It is clear from this exercise that Fèis Alba was successful in attracting participants looking for tuition at the upper intermediate and advanced levels. After four years of running the project there was a pause for reflection to assess how to move forward. It was recognized that there was another gap in terms of younger musicians. The question was how to work with a younger intermediate group and how to entice teenagers into starting an instrument. A new development plan has now been put together with a focus on training for staff and tutors and supporting younger teenagers in the Fèis movement. The continuation of the residential Fèis Alba with the main focus on professional development, playing in groups, composition, and a recording opportunity at a later date. Local workshops for younger musicians across Scotland (open to secondary school pupils) Training for Fèis staff and tutors. The funding has been raised for this project to run for three years 27% from the lottery fund and up to 48% from the European Social Fund and the remainder from Sips, local enterprise companies and local authorities. Ideally the system would become self-supporting with young people who have taken part in the Fèis movement and professional trainings becoming the teachers of the future in their local areas. Key issues in setting up a project like this What would you need to think about to set up a project like this?
"Cairn Water" - mp3 format (click here) - to play, right click your mouse then save on your computer composed by prolific harp player and composer Wendy Stewart "Shadow Master" - mp3 format (click here) - to play, right click your mouse then save on your computer Dili o Iodalam (trad.); The Warlocks (trad.); Seallaibh Curaidh Eoghainn (trad.); The Goat Island Reel (Dougie Hunter) |
The Fèis movement has it's roots in the island of Barra, where the first ever Fèis took place in 1981. The local community recognised that many of the traditional Gaelic music, song and dance skills were disappearing, particularly amongst the young people. 
A feasibility study created by an external consultant which was published in spring of 1997 showed that there was a demand for specialist music tutoring for talented young traditional musicians in Scotland. It suggested that 100 to 200 young people would attend the residential each year. The study allowed initial funding to be gained for a development workers post. The new development worker set about raising funds to continue the post and support a yearly residential project.
Planning
Participants
Tutors
The project lost a little momentum by moving after the first two years in Portree and the hostel accommodation which was found to be ideal for the project was not available in other areas. Although the advantage of moving about was that young people from different areas attended as they had less traveling distance.