Welcome to the 2018 Spotlight review of the year! And what a year it’s been on our creative little Island - you’ve given me plenty to talk about and this selection of best bits doesn’t nearly cover all the great conversations we’ve had through 2018 so if I don’t play your favourite today, don’t panic, you can find every single episode of Spotlight from this year as a downloadable podcast on the Manx Radio website.
We begin with Erika Rushton at this year’s Islexpo - Erika is the brains behind the Baltic Triangle in Liverpool and the Beautiful Ideas Company - projects which have transformed communities in spectacular ways. We caught up for a fire-side chat where I managed to catch more than a few pearls of wisdom.
Now we look back at Saltmother, an exhibition at the Hodgson-Loom Gallery which took place in March of this year. Carola Colley was one of the key artists exhibiting in this group show and wasn’t it lovely to have her work back on the Island.
February saw the first (hopefully of many) Folkestra Workshop with fabulously-talented multi-instrumentalists Joe Broughton and Tom Chapman, brought to the Island by Culture Vannin. Musicians from all over the Island congregated in St Johns to throw out the scores and experiment with sound.
Early in the summer, Spotlight went to the world premiere of the Isle of Man Wind Orchestra’s commissioned piece, Five Manx Romances, by composer, Dr Martin Ellerby. We were lucky enough to catch up with the man himself, and discover the magic behind the music.
September brought with it the Manx Litfest which is always a highlight in our calendars. I was lucky enough to speak to author of ‘Folk’, Zoe Gilbert about this debut novel which we all have a rather special connection to.
Now a little something from The Bookshop Band who shared the stage with Zoe Gilbert during LitFest and treated us to some glorious creations inspired by by literature. He’s a piece called ‘Room for Three’ which they were commissioned to write about Philip Pullman’s most recent book, ‘La Belle Sauvage’.
And our very own Howard Caine was crowned King of the Poetry Slam with this beautiful little number, 'The door that went ‘quack’'.
We now look back on our conversation with Textile Conservator Jacqueline Hyman who has been working with Manx National Heritage to bring her textiles expertise to the Manx Museum’s collection of Napoleonic Military Uniforms which are now on permanent display.
And we finish with a lovely little something from Aalish Kilgallon at Shennaghys Jiu earlier this year!
And with that, it’s time to say Nollick Ghennal as Blein Vie Noa to you all, Spotlight will be back on Wednesday January the 9th with more creative news from around the Island. Until then, you can listen back to any episode of Spotlight on our website, or subscribe via iTunes, Spotify and Google Podcasts. So stay tuned to Manx Radio throughout the festive period as there is just so much exciting, original content, including Seasonal poems and music on Christmas eve, the year in mistakes with Howard Caine, comedy fresh from the newsroom with IM3 and on Boxing Day Woman On Man, a comedy penned by Rhian Evans. Find the full schedule and our listen again feature at manxradio.com, Merry Christmas!
