‘I am available, I am listening’: new arts director keen to make connections
Catriona Macdonald, a renowned fiddler, has returned home to Shetland after four decades to take up the new post of director of creativity and impact at Shetland Arts
“OVER THE last five months I’ve really been trying to research, find connections, find out what folk want,” says Shetland Arts’ new director of creativity and impact, Catriona Macdonald.
“I like people, I like to communicate, and I like to listen to what folk have got to say.”
It was back in December that the Shetlander, a well-known fiddler, took up the new post within the arts charity as she returned to the isles to live for the first time in 40 years.
When Shetland News meets her, we are chatting over coffee upstairs in Mareel. There is a hubbub of activity in the cafe downstairs, there are folk to the left of us on laptops, artwork displayed on the walls, a film or two likely being screened in the cinema, youngsters maybe receiving education in one of the learning rooms.
It is fair to say a lot has changed in the last 40 years, and Mareel – standing tall over Lerwick Harbour – is a pretty apt example of this. Macdonald, who says she is of the “North Star generation” when it comes to local cinema, reckons Shetland is “punching way above our weight” with an arts facility like it.
But what does the director of creativity and impact role involve? Macdonald, who has been working in higher education for many years, highlights three areas where her job is focused.
There is a strategic overview of the organisation, which includes programming, as well as education and outreach.
Finally, Macdonald says the reopening of Bonhoga Gallery in Wesidale is also on her agenda. It is set to relaunch later this year – but more on that later.
Macdonald’s own musical background may be in music – tutored by Dr Tom Anderson, she was a founding member of Blazin’ Fiddles and creator of the international super-group String Sisters – but she is keen to encompass all art forms.
“Everything that Shetland Arts does is underpinned by social outcomes,” she says, “which are really important for all parts of our community.
“To me an arts place up here shouldn’t be something that is not graspable, and certainly in my role I feel that’s one of things I can offer. I am available, I am listening – come and have a chat.”
She is keen to stress that point – the idea of consulting with the local arts communities. With a growing number of “multi-year funded groups”, Macdonald says she does not think Shetland Arts has to do everything.
“I think it’s important that we complement and align and have partnership across organisations,” she adds.
Macdonald is not able to give too much away in terms of programming, and says it could be a little while yet before her influence on events begins to show publicly.
She does say, however, that there are plans to run a cultural programme alongside Shetland Wool Week this year, while she has been working with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland on the topic of access to arts.
“There’s also ‘what do we as Shetlanders want to see here’? What’s a good night out?” she says. “What’s the thing as a creative practitioner that makes you go ‘wow, I want to go home and really skill up’?”
So what is a good night out for Catriona Macdonald? “All sorts of things for me,” she replies. “I’ve been an opera singer, I’ve been a trad fiddle player.
“Traditional music, certainly with a contemporary edge…I’m certainly interested in things that are based in traditions, but I’ve always been somebody that likes to push at the edges.”
One criticism that Shetland Arts has faced from some is the film (Screenplay) and literature (Wordplay) festivals coming to an end in recent years.
Although the Shetland Noir crime writing event has taken place in recent days, with folk from across the globe attending, Macdonald said the dormant festivals have “kind of reached a punctuation mark”.
“I am speaking with those communities, who are massively important,” she adds. “I understand the festival model was one of the things Shetland Arts has done in the past really successfully.
“But I think it’s okay to change the format of things, as long as we don’t lose the activity.”
The alternative, she says, is to thread activity – such as in film and literature – in the regular Shetland Arts programming.
Prior to taking up the Shetland Arts role, Macdonald was professor of practice and degree programme director for the BA in folk and traditional music course at Newcastle University.
An element of Mareel which can perhaps go under the radar is the education, with Shetland Arts delivering courses in partnership with UHI Shetland.
These range from part-time courses for school pupils through to degrees, covering topics such as music, film and audio.
Macdonald highlights in particular courses that can be taken on by pupils between secondary three and six, which complement the more usual school studies.
She says she has been watching young people who “may not have seen arts as a place to go for a career” having their eyes opened to new opportunities.
And then these youngsters might realise that “that you don’t have to go away”.
“That was me at 17,” Macdonald continues, referring to how she left Shetland in her late teens to pursue a career in the arts.
“I’ve also been that kid that needed to get away,” she adds, “and I’ve also been the person that wants to come home.”
Over at the Bonhoga Gallery in Weisdale, Shetland Arts’ visual arts and cafe space, refurbishment work has been ongoing since 2023.
It is still shut, but Macdonald says it should reopen its doors later this year, with “small but really effective changes”.
She praises research student Nina Price for her “meticulous” work on developing a plan for its reopening, which she says has involved collaboration with the visual art and craft community.
“It’s no surprise – folk just want Bonhoga back,” Macdonald says.
“Whether it’s just going to get a coffee, or whether it’s being inspired by something that they’ve seen in an exhibition, or buying a gift for someone’s birthday.
“That was nice to hear that it’s not a radical change folk want – it’s a very valued thing and we’re really looking forward to getting it back.”
One new element is enhancing the flexibility of the spaces in Bonhoga, with activities like children’s art workshops, book clubs and knitting raised as possible uses.
“But essentially it is a place for the visual arts and crafts community, and hopefully the tentacles that they have reaching out to other parts of our artistic community as well,” Macdonald adds.
As the coffee dries up, it is time to part ways, but it is an opportune moment to reflect on what the future might hold.
“I would like it to be for people to feel like it’s serving this community well,” she says when asked what she would like Shetland Arts to look like in five years time.
“At the end of the day, we’re here for folk in Shetland.”
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