We, at Solas Festival, feel strongly that the decisions by Radio Scotland to axe Mary Ann Kennedy’s Global Gathering and the Janice Forsyth Show are insular, inward-looking and short-sighted.
Solas Festival is proudly Scottish and proudly international. One of our aims is to provide a platform for up-and-coming artists, writers and musicians.
As an independent arts festival, we ask those making the decision why they are removing two of the very few broadcast outlets in Scotland where independent grass-roots music can have a voice: where quality rather than commerce is what matters? Why they are, in effect, removing an important feeding ground for young musicians?
And we ask how else Scottish audiences will hear the best music from Scotland and all around the world?
We believe that Scottish musicians have worked hard to become part of an international community, and that removing programmes such as Global Gathering from the airwaves is knocking the ground from under their feet.
Add your support to the campaigns to save the Janice Forsyth Show here, and Mary Ann Kennedy’s Global gathering here.
You can also write to the BBC directly to express your dissatisfaction.