The BIG Gig - Local young songwriters create a BIG stir at The Sunart Centre

The Highland Council is pleased to announce that budding young songwriters from Ardnamurchan & Morvern will be performing brand new original songs as part of songwriting and music making project which has been supported by the Scottish Arts Council with an award of £25,826 from the Scottish Arts Council’s Youth Music Initiative.

The concert will be held in The Sunart Centre in Strontian on Saturday 16th August at 7:30pm, with tickets priced at £7 and £5, and will feature young local songwriters supported by a team of professional musicians in including Karine Polwart and Kim Edgar..

The BIG Tour and BIG Album project, led by The BIG Project in Broomhouse, Edinburgh, aims to build confidence, self-esteem, motivation and self-discipline through the process of music making, songwriting, rehearsals, performance and recording opportunities with workshops led by Edinburgh-based singer/songwriter Kim Edgar (www.kimedgar.com).

The first stage of the project has taken place, with six months of music making/songwriting opportunities for 10 – 15 year olds in Broomhouse, Edinburgh. In the second stage (currently underway), young people in Broomhouse, Livingston and Ardnamurchan & Morvern are taking part in 5intensive Songwriting Workshops. Four Music Trainee Volunteers from Edinburgh are helping to lead workshops, and have recently been awarded with an Inspiring Volunteer Award in the category of Innovation.

The songs written during these workshops will be performed during The BIG Tour, a three-date Scottish tour where young people in each location perform their original songs backed by a professional band including Karine Polwart, Kim Edgar, Mattie Foulds, MC Soom T and Future Pilot AKA.

Project leader Kim Edgar comments: “I’m really pleased that with the support of The Highland Council, these talented youngsters have the opportunity to share their songs by performing in the Sunart Centre. It will be a real treat to perform their moving, funny, and uplifting songs with them, and audiences will be surprised and enchanted by their achievements, as well as getting to hear songs from the fantastic artists who’re forming the BIG Band!”

Recordings of the Strontian performance and the Livingston and Edinburgh gigs will form The BIG Album - a compilation album that will be celebrated at the BIG Album Launchlaunched  in Edinburgh in October 2008 when the young people from all three projects will come together to celebrate and hear each other’s songs.

Commenting on the project David McDonald, Youth Music Manager at the Scottish Arts Council said: “‘The BIG Project presents a range of exciting opportunities for young people, from creative songwriting, working with professional musicians, performing and recording a CD, to providing young trainees with the opportunity to gain experience of the music industry. The BIG Tour will showcase the skills that these young people have learned through the project and promises to be an unmissable event for audiences of all ages.”

Eoghan Carmichael, manager of the Sunart Centre for The Highland Council, said: “This has proved a fantastic opportunity for the young of our remote communities and they have embraced it with enthusiasm. There is a huge amount of talent in our young people and it is wonderful for them to have this opening to express and develop their abilities. We are very grateful to the BIG Project for bringing this to our area and look forward to similar collaborations in the future.”

The BIG Project is funded jointly by the Scottish Arts Council’s Youth Music Initiative, the Scottish Arts Council (Lottery Funded), BBC Children in Need, Lloyds TSB foundation, and in Ardnamurchan by The Highland Council.

28 Jul 2008