Joel Mason Houck from Edinburgh has been appointed as Playwright for Cromarty 2007 and will begin his residency in early February and be based with Cromarty Arts Trust at Ardyne until early summer.

The idea for a playwright in residence grew out of a community consultation exercise, which was responding to a call for ideas from the Cromarty community events organisers of the Highland 2007 Year of Culture.

Many ideas came back from the community but one of the strongest of them was the idea of a theatre piece, or series of vignettes for local people to perform in.

Cromarty is legendary for its stories and its storytellers – past and present. What is not so well-known is that the town is full of budding actors and performers, from all sectors of the community, who are keen to get the opportunity to perform. Likewise there are many people, with a wealth of stories, oral history tales, urban myths old or new, true or apocryphal, who would not dream that they have the skills to write. Many of these people are not those who normally get involved in arts events and who have little experience of working with professional artists.

Joel will be expected to research ideas in consultation with the local community and to work collaboratively with groups and individuals to develop new work from this research. Groups interested in working with an artist include Cromarty Fourways Club, Cromarty History Society, Cromarty 2007 and the wider local community in general. The work will be located in Cromarty and its environs. He will also spend fifty per cent of the time developing his own work as required by the Scottish Arts Council.

Joel says: I can’t express how much I am looking forward to spending time in Cromarty and getting to know people who live and work there. I grew up just outside a small town in rural North America where the postmaster knew everyone so I think this will be a little like coming home.”

Joel has 15 years experience of working with communities and sees his role as a writer, teacher, director and community arts facilitator. He has worked with the MacRoberts Centre in Stirling, Collusion Theatre in Glasgow and is an associate practitioner with the Centre for Community Arts Research and Practice where he has taught workshops and worked on special projects.

The residency is funded by Scottish Arts Council pARTners Programme for Highland 2007, and supported by Cromarty 2007.

For further information please contact: Jelica Gavrilovic, Arts Development Manager, Cromarty Arts Trust. Tel: 01381 600354. Email: info@cromartyartstrust.org.uk