We must all plan for the future and at HebCelt HQ it’s no different. The event is so important on many levels including the numerous positive social and economic impacts it has for our community at large.

Planning for what comes next has been a key part of the long term strategic aims of the Trust and we have carefully managed that process over the years. The team that drive the festival must evolve, grow and indeed adapt, to ensure the viability of the event.

In recent times key members who have moved on have been replaced by those they had been mentoring and that process of renewal continues as we welcomed Graham MacCallum into his role of Depute Festival Director in October last year.

Graham has taken an active role in planning for our #SurvivalSessions, a completely different way of presenting an event than we are familiar with, but the essence is similar, fabulous music, promoting our rich culture and heritage and connecting with you our global audience who make the festival what it is.

Having the opportunity to plan ahead and because we’ve had funding support, we’re really excited to be bringing audiences at home and abroad a real flavour of our normal ‘HebCelt’. Depending on restrictions we aim to invite a small number of people in to be part of the live audience. We’ll do all we can to try and make this possible, whilst ensuring we are adhering to all government guidelines, because having a live audience makes a huge difference.

The handover will continue over the coming months but Caroline, who has been at the helm for over 20 years, will step back next year after the 25th anniversary HebCelt and Graham as festival director will take us into the next phase in the development.

So we welcome Graham to his new position in the team and let us look forward positively to a fabulous four virtual days in July and importantly to the future of this amazing festival.