Ullapool Dance Festival – The Concept
Below are our aims which we believe can touch or interest everybody in some way. You are welcome to contact us to establish your interest at this early stage.
Lydia Fiddes & Becky Thomson
Phone 01854 612575 Or email: ullapooldance@yahoo.co.uk
Vision
To establish a dance festival in the North West Highlands of Scotland which is attractive to both a wide range of local people as well as national and international enthusiasts; to provide this using a wide range of dance forms from around the world
Mission
To attract and engage the widest possible range of local people into experiencing dance as a route to happiness, fitness and social participation. To attract visitors to the area outwith the main tourist season utilising spare bedspace capacity and increasing job opportunities. To connect scattered and isolated communities with each other and make international connections using dance as the shared experience.
Festival Aims
- To make the experience of dance an attractive and easily accessible opportunity for all people in the North West Highlands.
- To develop awareness, and provide experience of, a variety of UK and International dance forms.
- To ensure the programme caters for adults attending with children of all ages.
- To focus visitor and media attention on the North West Highlands and Ullapool area.
- To encourage confidence building, social engagement and skills development in scattered communities.
- To involve and enthuse people who are not currently attracted to orthodox leisure provision and introduce new users to the leisure centre.
- To present dance both to the community and to healthcare and education professionals as a valuable contributor in combating depression, isolation and drink/drug-related problems.
- To encourage and celebrate community activity.
- To integrate with local authority plans and policies for dance in the Highlands.
Methods and Initial Actions
Market research will identify demand for the festival, the type of events to be provided and the viability of the costs and proposed dates.
Careful business and event planning will identify suitable resources to include venues, staffing, volunteers, accommodation and transport.
The event will be planned in communication and consultation with local communities and local authorities in the Highlands and Eilean Siar. This includes exploring methods of sharing plans and resources with neighbouring islands; strengthening Ullapool – Stornoway connections; incorporating Gaelic and Celtic culture in the programme.
Rigorous costings and cashflows will identify financial requirements. Funding and sponsorship will be sought using these figures alongside a thorough business and marketing plan and feasibility survey. The event shall only be instigated when full finance is achieved.
A follow-on programme from the festival will source sufficient funding and establish viability for provision of regular dance classes in scattered North West Highland communities including potential partnerships with other areas and the Western Isles. The successful Feis model will be examined in this context and also the possibility of peripatetic teachers travelling the area.
The business plan will establish the long-term sustainability of the festival as possibly an annual or bi-annual event. Costings will include a maintenance sum to carry the planning forward.
The successful and established Dancebase, National Centre for Dance, in Edinburgh provides many tried and tested models for community involvement in dance and their expertise is available to guide us.
Careful attention will be given at the earliest planning stages to means to involve sectors of the community least likely to normally consider involvement in dance e.g. isolated parents with pre-school children, teenage boys, older people or those with health problems which could be helped by exercise.
The festival will consider at all times provision for people who may not care to dance but are accompanying a friend or relative. A programme will be provided identifying alternative activities such as video filming or costume making or outdoors experiences such as walking or kayaking.
If there’s anything in the above which interests you or you would like to get involved in any way please contact us or join our mailing list.
