Nairn’s festival brings Highland arts to life
While global festivals attract vast audiences, Nairn’s Book and Arts Festival thrives on close community ties. Artistic Director Tanera Bryden reveals the delicate balance of sustaining a small arts festival in the Highlands
Nairn Book and Arts Festival in Scotland was born in a bookshop in 2003, the brainchild of the local independent bookseller. He gathered a group of local arts and heritage enthusiasts to the cause, invited authors he knew well, and the town’s annual celebration of the arts sprang into being. It started small but mighty, with Nairn arts impresario Gordon Mcintyre staging Gilbert and Sullivan and classical concerts at his boutique hotel. At the same time, the late, great John Byrne, who then lived in the town, exhibited work at Nairn’s Blue Door studios. It grew organically, with the next generation quickly involved in the form of Symon Macintyre (now AD of Vision Mechanics in Edinburgh) organising pop-up theatre in High Street shops. Family ties and the close-knit community here are significant, connecting us with national and international creative partners. Symon Macintyre remains closely linked to the town, dedicated to bringing his ambitious productions to Nairn wherever possible. Local textile artist Susie Alexander exhibits often with the festival, and her daughter Ali Pretty runs international carnival arts organisation Kinetika, and we regularly work on flag projects with them.
The festival has evolved into a platform for established and emerging voices. It offers a nurturing environment for creatives seeking to break through, and features authors, musicians and artists – often linked to the area – who inspire and excite. Nairn provides rich seams of heritage and creative content, and it is immensely satisfying to winkle out “hidden gems” within our community. These hidden gems often take unexpected forms, bringing fresh and deeply local perspectives to the festival. A local man whose Nairn stories have entertained privately for years is persuaded to become a historical tour guide for festival week, and their tours sell out in days. The local newspaper editor is asked to reveal some tales behind the headlines of his historic publication and sells out our main venue. A formally trained local artist, whose work, though powerful, is uncommercial, creates our programme cover, and opens eyes.
I’d advise anyone launching an arts festival to begin at the grassroots. This means involving many local partners, venues and community groups, making sure that everyone feels heard, part of the process and invested in the event. This can be time consuming, but with the arts facing ever-increasing financial instability, it provides a safety net of support and goodwill which can’t be bought. It is also extraordinarily rewarding. Working with volunteers and committee members in a meaningful way means constant consultation, communication and adaptability. This way of working is admittedly not for everyone and can sometimes be at odds with a creative vision – which by its nature is often uncompromising – but with the right balance, everyone wins.
Scots and Scots Gaelic are now officially recognised as indigenous languages of Scotland. But for centuries, they have been an intrinsic part of our culture and community, forming our identity, and naming our places. Celebrating these languages through spoken word and song is not only obvious but essential for the festival. The Gaelic Books Council has been invaluable in helping us identify authors for the festival, particularly for schools, ensuring that children learning Gaelic have memorable experiences.
What I love about language is that it is constantly evolving, and we have talented young artists to help that process, such as Malin Lewis and Harry Josephine Giles, both at the forefront of their chosen field – music and poetry respectively – exploring the Scots language and how it is growing to encompass and embrace the LGBTQ+ community. I feel that it’s important for the festival to help preserve tradition, but also to support evolution.
Funding an arts festival from year to year is a challenge. Community support remains the foundation of festival survival and can prove crucial in times of crisis. However, a broad range of funders and fundraising sources is also vital – local business sponsors, grant funders, fundraising stalls at community events, and perhaps a low-maintenance Friends Scheme. Training trustees to make private sector funding applications and approach potential sponsors is hard work, but ultimately more sustainable in the long term, as well as providing valuable skills for volunteers looking for additional income or a change of career.
Community-driven festivals are part of the weft of our cultural landscape. At a time when daily life in the modern world can feed a sense of detachment, they remind us of our heritage, keep us connected to our roots, play a vital role in supporting and celebrating our unique traditional arts in forms both historical and contemporary, and reinforce our sense of identity and belonging.
Nairn Book and Arts Festival is an annual celebration of literature, art, music, drama and film in the Scottish Highlands. Staged in the historic seaside town of Nairn on the Moray Firth, the festival, now in its 22nd year, takes place from Saturday 30 August to Sunday 7 September 2025.
For more information, visit www.nairnfestival.co.uk
