Last October Applied Arts Scotland held their first ‘Rural Spot’ in the Isle of Lewis as a partner in the EU Horizon’s CULTURALITY project. But what exactly did we do? Why did we do it and what is a ‘Rural Spot’?
One of the aims of the EU Horizons CULTURALITY project is to explore how creative industries in rural areas across Europe currently interact with tourism and how they could in the future. To determine the questions that people working within these areas need answers to, each partner-country involved in the project will host a series of research events over the next three years. The first series of these events are the ‘Rural Spots.’
To kick start this process, our CULTURALITY team of Carol Sinclair, Clare Waddle and Netty Sopata, held AAS’s first Rural Spot in one of the most stunning, but also harder-to-reach locations in Scotland – the Isle of Lewis. Not only was this the first Rural Spot for the whole CULTURALITY project, but we, and our colleagues from the University of St Andrews, were also hosting a consortium of the project partners from Spain, Portugal, Slovenia, Estonia, Sweden, Norway, Italy and Romania. This meant that after they had spent two days working through project paperwork and exploring the Isle of Lewis and Harris, we were also able to invite the consortium members to our research session. The partners were last altogether at the CULTURALITY Project Kick Off Meeting in Oviedo earlier n 2024.
Based in The Clan MacQuarrie Community Centre, Borgh, and later at Ness FC Social Club, the consortium were introduced to local creative practitioners; Sue Blair of Borgh Pottery, Boat Builder Mark Stockl, local chef Paul Moorby, Visual Artist Jon Macleod and ‘Rodican’ Martin, a melodeon player and representative of Taigh Dhonnchaidh. Stakeholders from local organisations across Lewis and Harris were also present. Keynote speakers Lorna Macaulay of The Harris Tweed Authority, Mark Davies and Marianne Campbell of Calanais Stones and Sarah Maclean of Outer Hebrides Tourism generated discussions by sharing information about their roles. The fifty plus attendees were then asked to use their experience, talent and insight to respond to questions, in short, to generate more questions!
From the beginning of the day there was a reassuring and energised buzz of conversation with many attendees reflecting upon how good it felt to be exchanging experiences again with peers from across Europe, whose cultures are all so different, and yet from a rural perspective are all so similar. How do we reduce rural depopulation? How do we generate sustainable rural tourism that does not damage or stagnate cultural identity? How can creative practitioners in food, music, craft, writing and design generate income from tourism whilst maintaining their artistic integrity? If indeed they want to generate income from tourism at all.
There were, of course, some stars of the daytime event; the delicious Hebridean banquet designed and produced by Rosemary at Onboard Hebrides and Alasdair Smith’s ‘Sgoth’ built by Mark Stockl. A Sgoth or Sgoth Niseach is a traditional type of clinker built skiff with a dipping lug rig, a Lateen style sail, built mainly in Ness in the Western Isles of Scotland. For more information on Sgoths visit Flamadair.
This Sgoth is based on measurements taken from Callicvol (built by John Murdo Macleod in the 1970s), but has been lengthened by a foot to create a proportional balance similar to the Jubilee.
The day also provided the opportunity for project partners from Open Virtual Worlds at the University of St Andrews to three-dimensionally scan the Sgoth for inclusion on the VERA Platform (Virtual European Rural Artisans). VERA is a three-dimensional digital archive being created by the University of St Andrews for CULTURALITY as an interactive cultural landscape of rural Europe. The Open Virtual Worlds team also visited Sue Blair at Borgh Pottery later that week and are planning to visit other practitioners across Scotland later this year. The opportunity to be involved in the Open Virtual Worlds visit(s) can be coordinated by signing up to the VERA Platform here.
After a day of discussing, eating and debating, it was time for some attendees to head home, whilst our European visitors were taken to Ness FC Social Club for another outstanding banquet designed and produced by Paddy Furey at Cross Stores, some Ceilidh dancing tuition and a performance by musicians Jane Hepburn Macmillan and Andy Yearley.
The best ideas are generated through a balance of work and play. Over the course of three days many areas of this four-year project were discussed, developed and shared to help it progress. Crucially, our first Rural Spot was a huge success, providing the AAS team with a core set of questions we are taking forward to discuss further at our Rural Spot II this September.
To amplify the voices from mainland Scotland, Rural Spot II will take the form of a 24-hour creative discussion event hosted in the Cairngorms National Park at the Dell of Abernethy. If you or someone you know would like to apply to take part, find out more here. The deadline to apply is 21 July 2025.
Read the CULTURALITY blog series.
