More than 100 artists, cultural organisations, creative practitioners and community representatives have come together for the first Highland Cultural Assembly.

The gathering at the Drumossie Hotel in Inverness on Wednesday 16 September brought voices from Caithness, Sutherland, Skye, Lochaber, Badenoch, Nairn, Ross shire and elsewhere across the Highland Council area into the same room.

The Assembly has been established as a permanent forum where the cultural sector can collaborate, share knowledge and develop a stronger collective voice.

It will also have an important role in helping to shape a new arts and cultural strategy for the Highlands.

The idea emerged through Beò! 2029, the Inverness Highland bid to become UK City of Culture, but organisers intend the Assembly to continue regardless of the outcome of that competition.

The first gathering opened with a performance by Gaelic poet Ceitidh Campbell before a series of short visual presentations demonstrated the remarkable breadth of cultural activity already taking place across the Highlands.

Those presentations led into open discussions where participants were able to identify the opportunities and difficulties facing creative life across the region.

Fiona Dalgetty, Chief Executive and Artistic Director of Fèis Rois, convened the first Assembly and described her ambition for it as a “civic ceilidh”.

She said:

“My hope for the Assembly is that it becomes a civic ceilidh: a space where knowledge is shared, ideas emerge, connections are made and everyone leaves feeling they have not only contributed, but have been heard.

“The atmosphere throughout the day was overwhelmingly positive.

“It felt like a genuine gathering of cultural voices from across the Highlands.

“The agenda was set by the room, and everyone had the opportunity to raise the issues that mattered most to them.

“We want this to become a democratic forum for cultural life in the Highlands.

“There was a real appetite from attendees to work together, strengthen relationships and find creative solutions to the opportunities and challenges facing our communities.”

Several clear priorities emerged, including investment in cultural spaces and infrastructure, better sharing of resources and stronger collaboration between organisations spread across a vast geographical area.

Participants also identified the need to give young people greater opportunities not simply to access cultural activities, but to shape and lead them.

Highland Council Leader Raymond Bremner said:

“Our culture is not something that sits apart from everyday life.

“It is part of our DNA, woven through the people, places, languages and traditions of the Highlands.”

The Assembly now moves from its first gathering towards establishing what its permanent role should look like and which priorities should be taken forward.

That work will continue alongside the Beò! 2029 campaign, which has submitted its final application to become UK City of Culture and expects to discover in October whether Inverness and the Highlands have made the shortlist.

Whatever happens with that bid, one of its legacies is already taking shape.

For the first time, cultural voices from across the Highlands have a permanent table around which they can gather.