"Mixter Maxter"

Community participation is a huge part of the St Magnus Festival. More will be said later about the volunteer force which makes SMF possible, plus the Festival Chorus.

But in this post I want to mention the long-standing participation with Orkney schools. For many Orcadians, the school involvement is at the heart of SMF. It would be very easy for Orkney residents to disregard SMF as being a minor invasion of "musos" - such is the reputation of modern classical music unfortunately.** But because many Orcadians, or their children, have taken part in performances when they were at school, SMF is transformed into something (potentially, at least) more accessible.

This year's big school participation projects is "Transform Orkney: Mixter Maxter", which the website describes thus:

National Theatre of Scotland returns to Orkney with an ambitious theatre project examining the ‘mixter-maxter' of contemporary Orcadian identity.

Young people from Kirkwall Grammar School along with local artists and community groups are collaborating with a creative team from the National Theatre of Scotland to devise enigmatic, site-specific performances and intimate storytelling encounters. This exciting theatre event involves elements of performance, movement, music, visual art and creative writing. Link

And they have their *own* blog, so I need say no more. Go here. (Thanks for the link Sweyn.)

** How can it be "modern classical" I hear you ask. I dunno, just couldn't think of any other phrase to describe it! I'm pretty wary of modern music myself to be honest. I really tried to find time to read my copy of "The Rest Is Noise" before this year's Festival, but I just couldn't manage it. I'll read it for next year, promise ;)