Shetland-Music.com

Shetland Arts recognises that for any development programme to be continually successful and sustainable, it must operate within a robust local and preferably national infrastructure.

The aim of the project is to develop music in a cultural, social and economic context. The first two of these are difficult to quantify in growth terms, but there benefits are clear and perhaps should be taken for granted. The economics of music are more clearly defined, if still complex to measure and open to interpretation and conjecture.

Recently Shetland's music industry has been valued at almost £2m per annum to the local economy and worth around £6m per annum when other related economic drivers are applied. It will be our aim to increase this figure still further in future by a range of means, including an increasingly professional approach and delivery. However this approach must be such that it complements rather than threatens our existing cultural infrastructure.

Any 'new' development must preferably be implemented with the agreement of, and in partnership with, community organisations and, most notably, the voluntary and commercial sectors. It should also adopt a community led approach that addresses population retention and attraction and, as such, this will demand a close working relationship with our local authority and other developmental bodies.

In this context Shetland Arts will remain active in the following areas and initiatives:

• Operate within the ethos of the Shetland Cultural Strategy and the Shetland 'brand'.
• Work as an integral component of the team planning the new cinema and music venue complex in Lerwick.
• Shetland Arts will seek to introduce a programme of higher and further education music courses in Shetland College in partnership with the college and other associated bodies.
• Continued support for school, outwith school and youth based initiatives
• The development of a local musicians co-operative
• The development of a technical skills and training initiative / small business start-up