Supporting home-grown arts and culture in Highland communities

In On The Act is a dynamic new creative project between Eden Court and artists and partners from four Highland communities, producing original performances that reflect local people's experiences and hopes for the future.

Artists + Community Partners

LAIRG

David McNeish + Lairg and District Learning Centre

David McNeish is a disabled playwright, songwriter, poet and story maker. His most recent play, The Boy Who Thought He Could Swim, was commissioned by Unlimited and An Tobar and Mull Theatre and performed in May 2024. David’s debut album Weathering is due out in October 2024.

Lairg and District Learning Centre is a creative organisation focused on the delivery of community learning in the village of Lairg and beyond, with everything from Gaelic, upcycling and filmmaking to foraging, woodwork and patchwork.

BALMACARA

Daniel Cullen + Balmacara Community Trust

Daniel Cullen is a writer, actor, director and journalist from Skye. His play The Chariot, The Flag and the Empty, Empty Houses, which he wrote, directed and performed in, was created around conversations with communities on the Isle of Skye (through a project supported by SEALL through the Culture Collective). The play will tour in 2025.

Balmacara Community Trust lies by Balmacara Bay near Kyle of Lochalsh and is part of the National Trust for Scotland’s Balmacara Estate. The trust intends to create a community space by restoring the Old Mill Hall, a 200-year-old building which is a former sawmill.

MORVERN

Helen Woolston + Aukje Delnooz and Veronique Walraven

Helen Woolston is a multi-disciplinary artist working in animation, moving-image, puppet-making, photography and writing. Helen studied filmmaking in Bournemouth and animation in Estonia. Since 2021 she has worked in habitat restoration work and makes natural inks from foraged material.

Aukje and Veronique met at university, where they both read Theatre Studies, specialising in Dance and Drama respectively. Their combined experience includes intergenerational community arts and drama projects, location theatre and creative movement workshops for all ages. They are committed to creating more access to performance arts the Morvern community.

SKYE

Ailie Robertson + SEALL

Ailie is a multi-award winning composer and performer who has been commissioned by some of the world’s most prestigious cultural institutions, including the BBC Proms, the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Scottish Ensemble. Her composition work ranges writing concert music to film scores.

SEALL (meaning to look or to show in Gàidhlig and pronounced shàal) is a performing arts organisation based in Broadford on the Isle of Skye that aims to provide year-round access to world-leading arts and cultural events for its local communities, furthering arts education, heritage and cultural offering in the Skye, Raasay and Lochalsh region.

In On The Act is supported by Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, one of the UK’s largest independent funders whose key aims include nurturing creative, confident communities.