NEW HEBCELT BASE TAKES CENTRE STAGE

News release
Hebridean Celtic Festival
Year of Homecoming 2014

• New festival office and shop opens in Stornoway
• Town centre presence will raise event profile
• HebCelt accredited to Green Arts Initiative

Hebridean Celtic Festival volunteers completed a four-day make-over challenge to get a bigger and more prominent festival shop in Stornoway town centre ready to open.

The new base in the former Wee W premises at 49 Cromwell Street opened its doors on Saturday and will open again from 10a.m. to 4p.m. this Saturday for ticket collection, bookings and sale of merchandise.

From 23 June it will be open Monday to Saturday from 10a.m. to 5p.m. During festival week (14-19 July) the shop hours will be 10a.m. to 6p.m. with late opening until 8p.m. on Wednesday 17 July.

The new premises are much larger than the previous base in Church Street and have been leased from Comhairle nan Eilean Siar.  The festival team set themselves a challenge of making it ready for the public in just four days and completed their efforts last week.

Caroline Maclennan, the festival director, said: “The new premises are about three times the size of the previous shop and are on a more prominent site in the centre of town. It means we are much more visible and accessible and can provide a better service to festival goers.

“We are very grateful to everyone who helped us get ready for opening and to the council for offering us the site. It is another example of the tremendous support they give to the festival.”

Meanwhile, HebCelt has become part of the Green Arts Initiative, run by Creative Carbon Scotland and Festivals Edinburgh to help Scottish arts organisations to be at the forefront of growing an environmentally sustainable Scotland.

The festival has already been hailed as one of the greenest in the world after being the only Scottish event to receive an Outstanding award from environmental campaign group A Greener Festival last year. In addition, it was shortlisted in the Greener Festival category in the UK Festival Awards.

The 19th HebCelt, from 16-19 July, will feature its biggest ever programme. It will be headlined by Levellers, Big Country and Donnie Munro and also include performances by Cara Dillon, Rachel Sermanni, Duncan Chisholm and Canadian outfit Gordie MacKeeman and His Rhythm Boys.

The festival has its two main stages in the spectacular setting in front of Lews Castle in Stornoway, and this year is introducing an acoustic stage for the first time. There will also be concerts in An Lanntair arts centre and in rural parts of Lewis and Harris.

The four-day festival is expected to attract an audience of about 16,000 – double the population of Stornoway – with more than half coming from outside the Hebrides and helping to generate around £1 million for the local economy.

NOTES TO EDITORS

This year HebCelt was selected as one of the top 10 UK summer festivals for the fourth year in succession by influential publication Songlines. It was also shortlisted in the Best Independent Festival category in the AIM Independent Music Awards in 2013.

In 2011 it was ranked Best Large Festival at the industry-sponsored Scottish Event Awards and it won Best Event of the Year award at the MG Alba Scots Trad Music Awards in 2004 and 2009.

For more information contact

John Ross
Lucid PR
01463 724593; 07730 099617
johnross@lucidmessages.com

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