2013 - 2016: 800+ Workshops, 200+ Groups, 10,000+ Participants & 39 Employed
Thug 2016 cothrom dhomh coimhead siar air na tha mi air dèanamh bhon uair a ghluais mi a dh'Alba aig deireadh 2012, agus ged a bha an turas seo air a bhith fìor, fìor dhùbhlanach uaireannan, cha mhòr nach urrainn dhomh creidsinn na tha mi air coileanadh ann am beagan a' bharrachd air 4 bliadhna.
2016 provided an opportunity to collate data and figures to look back at what I've achieved since moving my practise and life from Belfast to Scotland in late 2012, and I have to admit, I did more than a double-take when I brought all the figures together. Though few things have worked out in any way as planned during the period of Research, Travel & Development afforded by the two original grants from inter-Gaelic collaboration development body, Iomairt Cholm Cille, these three years have seen me work right across the four corners of Scotland, with over 200 schools, communities, groups and festivals, almost entirely in Scotland, though including some in N.I. & Ireland as well. During this time, I've engaged with more than 10,000 children, young people and adults directly through workshops and projects, delivering over 800 workshops & performances, and engaging with countless thousands more during several large-scale street theatre & festival projects, including those for the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games Cultural festival.
This work also meant I facilitated paid employment for some 39 largely Scottish or Scottish-based artists across over 20 projects, and supported more than 80 businesses across Scotland and the UK. It has been a huge honour to facilitate this work, and particularly give nearly 10 young performers some of their first paid professional performance work.
2016 was also a significant year as an Australian couple, Kathryn & Gregg Brain, and their Gaelic-speaking son, Lachlann, faced serious threat of deportation from the Highlands. As the co-founder of Australia's first Scots Gaelic Summer & Autumn Schools, now going into their 20th year in 2017, and as a fluent Australian-born Gaelic speaker, I was grateful to be afforded space by one of Scotland's national daily newspapers, The National, to advocate in support of not just their case, but for Non-EU Diaspora Return Immigration Development in general, particularly for Clearances Descendants, for whom the threat of forcible removal from the land of their ancestors would inflict a double injustice. You can read the nearly 3 full pages of commentary and opinion from me printed by The National in 2016 here, here and here.
Although it was a very heavy burden to carry in addition to an extremely demanding schedule from August to October, when the opportunity came to make a submission to the Westminster Scottish Affairs Committee's Enquiry on the Demography of Scotland and Implications for Devolution, it was incumbant upon me to research the broader issues in detail and fulfill my solemn promise to wee Lachlann Brain to do what I could to help him and his family stay in Scotland. Thus I was very grateful, out of the 16 submissions on the matter officially accepted and published, mine was one of only four from private individuals. You can read the full 55-page submission here.