PICTURE THIS – SHARING THE STAGE WITH HEBCELT HEADLINERS
News Release
Hebridean Celtic Festival
Year of Creative Scotland 2012
For use - immediate
- Chance to appear on festival stage
- Get your face on the big screen
- Family snaps to feature at island event
Festival goers are being given the chance to appear on stage at one of the country’s top summer events – and win a place at next year’s 18th birthday bash.
Organisers of the award-winning Hebridean Celtic Festival, based in Stornoway, are asking people attending the four-day gathering to send in pictures of friends and family to make a Festival Album.
The snaps will then be displayed on a big screen on the main festival stage during the event which runs from 11-14 July and will be headlined by The Waterboys, The Proclaimers and Kassidy.
Festival director Caroline MacLennan said: “HebCelt is very much a family-orientated event and our Festival Album feature will allow people to send in their favourite snaps which will then appear on the big screen.
“It could be photographs of people’s children, grandchildren or great grandchildren, even generations of one family, or maybe absent friends or a friend or family member who is no longer with us and this would be a .touching way to remember them.”
The photographs will all be put in a prize draw with the winners, chosen at random, winning tickets for a family of four to attend next year’s event when the festival turns 18.
Details of how to send in your photographs to the Family Album will appear on the HebCelt website - www.hebceltfest.com. - on Wednesday (4 July, a week before the festival opens).
HebCelt is to feature over 20 musical acts in a number of venues, but will also offer a wide range of other activities for all ages over the four days in both the main arena and in Stornoway itself. These include family concerts, street theatre, kids’ workshops, circus skills sessions, art classes, storytelling and a craft tent promoting local goods.
A Pirates Theme on Saturday will give kids of all ages the chance dress up and even learn how to be a pirate before searching for treasure; Jim the Magician will be appearing - and possibly disappearing - around the festival entertaining the audiences and the G Team will be encouraging locals to speak Gaelic and visitors to learn a few phrases in the language.
In addition, a series of walks are arranged through the grounds of Lews Castle, the backdrop to the festival, and there will be live radio drop in sessions from Wednesday to Friday.
As well as enhancing the islands’ musical and cultural heritage, HebCelt also provides a lasting economic legacy for the area.
Last year the event attracted an audience of 14,500, 46 per cent of whom were visitors to the area, and demand for tickets this year show that figure is on target to be matched despite widespread economic difficulties affecting other events.
For more information contact
John Ross
Lucid PR, Events and Marketing
01463 724593;07730 099617
johnross@lucidmessages.com
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. The 17th HebCelt takes place between 11th and 14th July 2012 and will, for the second year running, have two main stages on the Castle Green in front of the Lews Castle in Stornoway, as well as performances in An Lanntair and throughout the rural community.
2. This year it has been selected for the second year in succession as one of the top 10 UK summer festivals by music magazine Songlines. It emerged victorious as Best Large Festival at the industry-sponsored Scottish Event Awards 2011, in a three-way final with Edinburgh’s Hogmanay and Glasgow’s Celtic Connections.
3. HebCelt injects more than £1.5 million annually into the local economy.
4. It is regarded by critics, performers and festival-goers as one of the top Celtic music festivals in Europe.
5. The festival is made possible through the support of funders, advertisers and a vital and large volunteer workforce- http://www.hebceltfest.com/backstage/sponsors. It relies on scores of volunteer workers who clock up over 3,500 unpaid hours during the event.
6. HebCelt has twice won the Best Event of the Year award at the MG Alba Scots Trad Music Awards, which is voted for by the public.
7. HebCelt has been hailed as one of the UK’s top 50 festivals by the Daily Telegraph and one of the top five by The Scotsman.
8. A large quantity of children under 14 can attend concerts at the Festival Arena each night for free if accompanied by someone who is 18 or older.
9. This year’s headliners are The Waterboys, The Proclaimers and Kassidy. Other artists appearing include Julie Fowlis, Skerryvore, Admiral Fallow, Roddy Woomble, Niteworks, Mànran and Larkin Poe.
10 HebCelt has its own YouTube channel, Facebook and Twitter outlets.
http://www.youtube.com/user/hebceltfest
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hebridean-Celtic-Festival/70400006768?ref=ts
http://twitter.com/#!/hebcelt/
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