Workshop on Gaelic Awareness for Heritage Organisations

The Scottish Community Heritage Alliance (SCHA) has organised a free half-day workshop for all its members on Gaelic Awareness for Grassroots Heritage Organisations. It will take place on Tuesday 25th February, 1-4:30 on Zoom, led by Brian Ó hEadhra. If you would like to attend, please email scottishcommunityheritage@gmail.com and a link will be sent out closer to the time. Membership of SCHA is free, so if you are not a member already, please first join via our website https://www.scottishcommunityheritagealliance.org/.

The half-day engagement session will look at Gaelic heritage across Scotland, tailored towards increasing awareness and understanding for professionals and volunteers in the community heritage sector. It will include as background an overview of Gaelic history through the ages, the contemporary context, with insights to the language itself throughout, enabling participants to be more confident in their use of spoken Gaelic. The session will provide a range of specific examples of Gaelic heritage in action at a grassroots level, including from museums, community groups, and heritage centres. This will also lead onto a look at existing resources for Gaelic culture and heritage which participants may or may not already be familiar with.

Participants will come away from the session being better informed about Gaelic language and culture in general, and with ideas for the many ways in which they can use and support Gaelic through their own community-focused work. It will also help build connections between groups.

Brian Ó hEadhra (pron. Breean Ohara) is a cultural advocate, educator, and Director of the Traditional Music Forum with over 30 years of experience in Scotland’s Gaelic and traditional arts sectors. A professional singer/musician and Highland tour guide, he has worked in Gaelic arts and community development with Bòrd na Gàidhlig and Creative Scotland, promoting greater awareness of Scotland’s rich heritage.

The workshop is part of Seachdain na Gàidhlig 2025, a week of Gaelic activities across Scotland. Funding for the workshop has kindly been provided by Seachdain na Gàidhlig’s Small Grants Fund with support from Bòrd na Gàidhlig, The National Lottery Heritage Fund and Historic Environment Scotland.