To celebrate Father’s Day, we caught up with a few of the dads that work here at Eden Court to find out a little about them, what they do here & what they love doing with their families.

Meet James Mackenzie-Blackman our Chief Executive.

I feel very lucky to be a Daddy. I grew up in a world where being a parent felt like something that would never be possible for me and so to get to celebrate Father’s Day (in our house Daddy and Papa’s Day) is super exciting and still feels somewhat surreal, but mostly a privilege. Life feels super tough at the moment, in most directions! Managing my job at Eden Court, and all the responsibilities that go with that, and trying to be the best Daddy possible to my five-year-old and two-year-old is hard. Being the best version of myself at home, and at work, for all the people who need me, feels like a big responsibility – but like I said before, mostly a privilege. My personal life and professional life colliding is increasingly a treat. I think my five-year-old saw our pantomime five times. He was almost word perfect on certain scenes. He loves his bike so Etape Loch Ness here at Eden Court was his version of Disneyland. Our two-year-old bouncing around the lawns and rolling down the banks and speeding up the paths towards Eden Court raises a big smile.

Meet Duncan our Engagement Programme Coordinator.

As the Engagement Programme Coordinator my job basically involves looking after Eden Court’s arts education work and supporting the Engagement teamin all their activities. This tends to mean spinning lots of plates and fielding some occasionally wacky requests - there’s never a dull day! The variety is really exciting and I’m passionate about the learning opportunities that we provide to young people, particularly through our qualification courses, as well as the wider community aspect of our studio programme. My son is a creative wee dude so finds the theatre pretty fascinating to visit, and the whole place feels like a bit of an extended family to us so he’s usually more than happy to come and hang out at work if he has to!

We’ve really enjoyed catching up with the dads and we hope you loved discovering a little bit about the people who make up this amazing place.

Happy Father’s Day from everyone at Eden Court and we hope you’re having a great day.