Moral of the Story

By Marie Christie , Head of Development - Events Industry, VisitScotland

I love stories and have always thought the best stories are about people.

So, I couldn’t believe my luck last year when I had the fantastic privilege of leading a whole year dedicated to sharing and showcasing all sorts of stories inspired by, created or written in Scotland. And, people were at the heart of every part of it.

2022 was our Year of Stories, the latest in Scotland’s series of Themed Years. There was a huge programme of activity designed to support the nation’s tourism, events and related sectors. It aimed to bring our contemporary and traditional cultures to life and ensure that the full diversity of our stories – in all their richness and forms - reached the widest audiences, generating a range of benefits across the country.

Earlier this week you could say we told the story of the Year of Stories with the release of the evaluation report . This lays out in detail the huge impact and engagement that was achieved. And, what is really clear is that this level of success was only possible due to hundreds of people and their organisations coming together and utilising the shared Themed Year platform and support that was developed.

Creating a Themed Year in the first place is all about people and partnerships. We drew together a fantastic expert Steering Group that shaped the strategic plan and set the direction for the whole Year. Their input and ongoing advice was invaluable and created the conditions for success. The Steering Group was supported by an active and engaged Working Group that helped co-ordinate and promote the Year at a delivery level. In total 32 amazing agencies and organisations worked alongside VisitScotland across these two key groups. But that’s only the start of it.

Creating a rich and varied events programme is central to the Themed Year approach. Events bring stories to life. They also animate our places and spaces and provide exciting new hooks for media as well reasons for people to participate and engage. We worked with 21 fantastic organisations to deliver our larger events as part of the programme. ?These organisations were full of passionate, talented people who developed stories, old and new to share with visitors and communities alike. From stories of Dennis the Menace in Dundee to ‘Yoyo & the Little Auk’, a new tale from RSNO about our similarities and differences, there were so many people involved in telling Scotland’s stories. But it didn’t stop there.

Ensuring Scotland’s communities got the chance to share the stories that mattered to them was strong ambition from the outset. Absolutely central to the success in achieving this was the creation of the Community Stories Programme. This brand new initiative was delivered in partnership with the wonderful team at Museums Galleries Scotland with generous support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund and Scottish Government. The programme was specifically created to engage diverse communities across Scotland, providing broader opportunities for participation, engagement, and skills development. More than 180 community groups and organisations were supported to share their stories. The impacts were significant, ranging from simply bringing communities together and audience development to creating new partnerships and funding opportunities. It was a huge programme delivered in a tight timescale and the only reason it happened at this scale was because of the brilliant people in our partner organisations that saw the opportunity with us and made it happen. As a result, even more people across Scotland shared their stories, making the Year even richer.

Of course events only make sense if people turn up and have a good time. Across the 201 funded Year of Stories events a huge 1.4 million people came along and took part. The feedback was fantastic, but the research also tells us that as a result of coming along attendees were more aware of the wealth and diversity of Scotland’s stories and more likely to visit places connected with stories in the future. Many also said that they were more inspired to share their own stories.

Alongside the events programme, many people across the tourism, heritage and cultural sectors worked together to create all sorts of partnerships, projects and campaigns in celebration of the Year. From Historic Environment Scotland, Scottish Book Trust and Scottish Storytelling Forum collaborating to create a storytelling competition for children to The Real Mary Kings Close and Edinburgh Gin creating new tasting tours together, the theme provided the inspiration for many new stories to be shared.

So many people had a role in the success of the Year but at the core of the project was a tiny, dedicated team. They worked tirelessly in partnership with hundreds of organisations all over Scotland and were supported by a huge team effort across the wider VisitScotland family. A huge thanks from me to my fantastic team and to all the colleagues and partners across Scotland that made 2022 a story to remember.

So, what’s the moral of this story? Well, the Year may have ended but the story continues because, like all the best stories, at its heart are amazing, talented, inspirational people. And, I for one can’t wait to see what the next chapter brings.?