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CHAPTER FOUR THE EVENT PHASE - IMPLEMENTATION
4.1 Details regarding events funded by the Scottish Executive and which formed part of this evaluation are detailed in Table 4.1 below.
Table 4.1: Events at Tartan Week funded by the Scottish Executive
Event | Location and Lead Partner | Description |
|---|
"A Scottish Salon" | New York National Galleries of Scotland | - Public/private events held at Christie's
- @2,000 people attended public showings of 20 18 th century paintings including the "Skating Minister"
|
British Memorial Garden Reception | New York | - Public/private events to remember the 67 British people who died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks
- The Garden features Scottish stone
- The event was attended by Tom McCabe
|
Presence at World Curling Championships | Boston Royal Caledonian Curling | - No public events
- Held in Boston to coincide with Men's World Curling Championships in which America and Scotland were finalists
|
Finding Scotland in New York | Scottish National Photographic Centre | - 20 students from Parsons School of Design in New York took part in a photographic competition to find Scotland in New York
|
"Geordie" | New York Scottish Youth Theatre | - @500 people attended Scottish Youth Theatre performances of "Geordie" in New York
- Whilst there, SYT artistic staff involved over 350 young people in New York in a two week programme of drama activities
|
Scotland Run | New York New York Road Runners Club | - There has been an increase in runners and observers year on year since the Scottish Executive started to fund the event three years ago. This year @5,000 people ran the 10K with 3,000 observing the event
- The 10K Scotland Run is a qualifying event for the New York Marathon
|
Scotland on Film | New York Scottish Screen | - 495 people attended eight screenings of Scottish films such as Trainspotting, On a Clear Day, The Rosslyn Enigma and Local Hero
|
Scotland Village | New York VisitScotland | - Scotland Village is located within Grand Central Station in New York
- The Village featured eight zones with the Scottish Executive hosting one zone
- This year VisitScotland recorded 300,000 "engagements" 2 across all zones - an increase on the previous year
- The Scottish Executive's zone included the "Languages and Literacy Culture of Scotland" exhibit within the zone
|
Social Inclusion Programme | New York City of Edinburgh Council | - Seven teenagers from Broomhouse and Sighthill and part of the Video Diary Project travelled to New York to visit the Bronx Central Library to meet with teenagers there to discuss reading and to continue filming work
- The group also visited the Teen Central Library, visited the Bronx Library Center and had a workshop/interview session with Irvine Welsh
|
"Tartan Bites" | New York Scottish Book Trust | - Events held in premises of Barnes and Noble book shops
- 1,968 people attended ten events featuring Scottish authors
- Workshops held with a Public School in Harlem, New York
|
"The Scotland Conversations" | New York Joint Scottish Universities event and Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama | - Two evenings of discussions on how the Scottish Enlightenment helped fashion America
- Discussions were hosted by Tom Conti
- There were 261 attendees across the two evenings
- Targeted at alumni, academics and students
|
| William Wallace Exhibition | New York Stirling Council | "Braveheart" exhibition within the Scotland Village following on from the success of 2005 when the Council took William Wallace's sword to New York. |
4.2 Strathclyde Fire and Rescue Pipe Band and Inverclyde Juvenile Pipe Band do not appear in this table as they complemented other events rather than participating in stand-alone activities/events. Each event organiser who had a pipe band present at their events stated that a pipe band's presence was key to "stamping Scotland" on the event.
4.3 It was agreed by the majority of event organisers and Scottish Executive personnel that the Scotland 10K Run was a good way to launch Tartan Week and had provided the opportunity to distribute the programme of events to a broad New York audience. It was also felt that the Tartan Parade was a natural "close" to the week of activities and these two events had successfully "topped and tailed" Tartan Week.
4.4 Event organisers stated that they had been satisfied with the way in which their event(s) had gone during Tartan Week. The aspect of their events they were most likely to want to change was the venue/location. Whilst the National Galleries of Scotland were delighted with Christie's as the venue for their exhibition, the Scottish Book Trust felt that not all the Barnes and Noble venues were ideally situated to attract audiences. Some event organisers commented that the venues in which their events were presented were due to the fact that they were the only ones available to them given the lack of time they had to make arrangements once funding approval came through from the Scottish Executive.
4.5 Some organisers were more proactive than others in their approach to marketing and PR. One event organiser commented that having previously worked in New York he already had contacts within the New York media. The majority of event organisers benefited from their collaborations with organisations based in New York. For instance, The Scottish Youth Theatre in partnership with a youth theatre in New York was able to source printers and print/publicity distributors as well as prepare posters, flyers and an e-flyer campaign. The Scottish Book Trust produced 50,000 programmes which they distributed primarily through Barnes and Noble and the Joint Universities promoted their events via the educational institutions in which their events took place (Hunter College and The New School).
4.6 The Inverclyde Juvenile Pipe Band and Strathclyde Fire and Rescue Pipe Band were active throughout Tartan Week participating in events such as the Scotland Run, the Memorial Garden Reception and the Tartan Day Parade. Young people from the Scottish Youth Theatre were also present at events such as the Scotland Run, the Scotland Village and the Tartan Parade. For the majority of event organisers, however, their time in New York was spent managing their own events/activities and they had little interaction with other event organisers from Scotland. For some, this created a sense of isolation from Tartan Week and they would have welcomed the opportunity to have contact information with other event organisers and Scottish Executive personnel to discuss any issues or how their own event was progressing.
"Once I was in New York I had no idea how to contact someone from the Executive and I really needed to know if a Minister was going to come along to our event."
Event organiser
4.7 A few event organisers had media contacts within New York but the majority were unaware of whom to contact - either at the Scottish Executive or within the media - about potential media coverage. It was noted that PR opportunities had been missed to exploit the presence of key individuals at the Tartan Week activities, such as Tom Conti who hosted "The Scotland Conversations" events.
"We didn't know who to contact about the press and media whilst at Tartan Week. That would have been helpful."
Event organiser
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