How HebCelt festival fights depopulation on Lewis and Harris

The Herald Scotland

6 hours ago

Ahead of this year's festivities, which will run between 16 and 19 July, I sat down with the team behind HebCelt's international success to find out what lies at the heart of this remarkable celebration of island culture.
Operations Coordinator Carol Ferguson has volunteered at the award-winning festival for the last ten summers, ever since she moved to the Isle of Lewis in 2014.
'I'm excited to see the festival family come back together again. We have volunteers from all over the world, and each year, they come back.
'There are still six weeks until the festival. This is when Stornoway starts to come alive, all the shops start decorating the windows, and there's that buzz that something is coming.'
Carol Ferguson is the Operations Coordinator for the festival. (Image: Supplied) Carol's enthusiasm is shared by festival chair Iain Macphail, who first volunteered at the festival 23 years ago.
'I first got involved in 2002 when I was 14,' Iain, who was born and bred in Stornoway, tells me. 'My cousin's mother dragged me along. I started tidying up and stewarding, and before long caught the festival bug. I worked as site security for a while, and then joined the board in 2018.
'I was voted in as chair of the board last September. It's been a new experience, I've been learning a lot.'
This year's lineup is chock-a-block with well-known Scots musicians. Tidelines, Skerryvore, and Lulu will headline; with Nina Nesbitt, Eddi Reader, Trail West, Kassidy, and Beluga Lagoon also appearing.
Thousands are expected to attend the four-day jamboree, which saw 18,000 people buy tickets last year.
In recent years, the festival has gone from strength to strength, generating millions of pounds in revenue for island businesses.
An aerial view of the festival. (Image: Supplied) Carol tells me: 'Our impact comes not just from the ticket sales, but our deep commitment to working with our local suppliers.
'So, everything that we can get locally, we absolutely procure locally to give that benefit back.'
Iain agrees, adding: 'The festival plays such a huge part in the annual calendar. It's huge. thing for the local economy and has such a positive economic impact.
'We brought in £4.1m for local businesses last year. We expect to have made a £40 million economic impact by our 30th anniversary in 2027, over the lifetime of the festival, which is a pretty incredible achievement, especially when it's run by volunteers.
The festival also creates space for island performers to share their music. Last year, 45% of performers during the four-day event hailed from Lewis and Harris.
Carol and Iain both point to Elias Alexander, the electro-Celtic artist who got his start volunteering on the tech team a decade ago. The up-and-coming musician is returning to the festival in 2025, this time as a performer on the island stage.
Iain says: 'The festival is great for finding local artists as well. It gives them the opportunity to experience what it's like to play at a festival. Elias was a volunteer in 2014, you know, working on the island stage and this year he's playing on it.'
Carol adds: 'He started out with us as a volunteer on the tech team, and he's now back on the stage here. And is that progression that we can afford to individuals.'
Elias Alexander is one of the performers. (Image: Supplied) HebCelt has led on a number of gender and climate pledges, becoming one of the first major festivals to ban plastic straws and insisting on a 50/50 gender balance for performers.
These commitments go beyond a tick box exercise, Carol says.
'Our commitment to gender equality is reflected behind the scenes as well. There is a lot of strong female influence behind the festival as well. But it's not just a tick box for us.
'So our voluntary board is five females and four male, our vice chair Eilidh is female, and our finance director and our music programmer are all females. And I myself as a coordinator.
'It's a value that guides how we program, plan, and operate the festival.'
Iain adds: 'We've stood the test of time. As a rural festival, we're really setting a lot of the standards when it comes to sustainability.
'We ran the production offices last year off solar and wind energy and battery storage. We've run the island stage for a period of time using a hydrogen generator which uses locally sourced clean hydrogen. So we're not afraid to try things.
'How can we lower our impact on the climate whilst helping improve things industry wide - because the data is then available for other people to look at.'
It's never easy to run a major festival, especially amidst a cost of living crisis. Yet, HebCelt is thriving, in part due to a three-year funding commitment from Creative Scotland.
'This allows for some breathing space. It's allowed us to plan for those three years and we know we have that. So that's been huge for us,' Carol tells me.
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Iain adds: 'This is really good because it allows us to plan positively for the next three years up to our 30th anniversary. So, you know, there's a lot of positives and goodwill and a lot of support helps make it happen.
'Everybody's experiencing the cost-of-living crisis. And we're looking at how we can support that, but at the same time we need to be able to afford to put things on.
'So, this year we've decided to keep the 2025 tickets at 2024 prices.
'We're doing things like that to try and help the wider community and make it more accessible for people.'
Asked about what she is looking forward to the most at the festival this year, Carol grins.
'Well there are some things I can't reveal now, but I'm really excited.
'This year's quite a special year. There will be a lot of special programs that are going on as we deepen our community roots and strengthen international partnerships, especially through things like Celtic connections and Showcase Scotland.'
Rock band Skerryvore will headline the festival. (Image: Supplied) Iain says he is looking forward to the "phenomenal" lineup.
'We have everything from local kids that are putting on a concert all the way to Lulu and Skerryvore. We've got Tidelines. We've got Beluga Lagoon.
'There's just such a huge variety of exceptional talent coming to play on the island and bless us all with their talent.'
HebCelt serves as an example of island excellence, sharing a message that is more important than ever amidst rising costs and depopulation.
Carol tells me: 'Depopulation is a real concern across the islands, especially amongst the younger generations. But we as an organization show that the islands can be a place of creativity and opportunity. We're aiming to inspire people to stay.'
'We're always shaped by our people and their belief that culture and connection transforms communities.'
Iain agrees, telling me: 'It really expresses what we're about and who we are, you know, as a people, I suppose. It showcases the island, and what can be done.
'We talk about it as the HebCelt family. People think about family as being really nice and warm and fuzzy and everybody's on side and they're working together.
'But it's deeper than that, because the relationships you make with your colleagues, the other volunteers, your colleagues, the other volunteers, the suppliers, your sponsors, they just go deeper.
'Everybody pulls together because they see the benefit that it has for the island and everybody's very, very proud of the island.'