TRACS (Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland) is looking for a Digital Marketing & Communications Officer (0.6 FTE, fixed term 12 months) to join our team dedicated to championing our shared living heritage of traditional music, song, storytelling, dance, crafts, customs and local languages. Reporting to the Marketing & Communications Manager, the Digital Marketing & Communications … Continued

Review by Catherine Coutts  Many readers will be aware of UNESCO’s involvement in world heritage through the seven sites in Scotland, including St Kilda, the Forth Bridge and the Antonine Wall. But did you know that for many years, UNESCO has promoted intangible cultural heritage such as traditional dancing? Scots will soon be invited to … Continued

2025 was another successful year for the Pomegranates Festival, which ran from 25th to 30th April. The packed five-day programme of traditional dance, saw ticket sales up by 40% on 2024; a sold-out Ceilidh Plus event mixing Scottish, Hungarian and Polish social dancing; and a packed house for Charlotte McLean’s new not for glory dance … Continued

Exhibition Review by Catherine Coutts     Do I really want to go to see an exhibition about masks? At the start of the decade, masks (the ugly type with elastic bands, which cannot be recycled and were often to be found littering almost everywhere) were a topic of significant discussion. How effective and necessary were … Continued

TRACS (Traditional Arts & Culture Scotland) is looking for a committed, dynamic and experienced Chair to lead its Board of Trustees from Autumn 2025. TRACS is a co-operative network which champions our shared traditions of music, song, storytelling, dance, crafts, customs and local languages. We have recently been awarded Multi-Year Funding from Creative Scotland to … Continued

Initiated and curated by us at the Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland, the Pomegranates Festival of world trad dance is produced through collaboration. In particular, our major academic partner, Moray House School of Education and Sport at the University of Edinburgh. Since its inaugural edition in spring 2022 until its current fourth iteration in 2025, … Continued

The opening night of this year’s Pomegranates Festival of international traditional dance (25-30 April 2025), kicks off with a packed programme of ten short films celebrating traditional dance on screen. Traditional dance is rarely presented through the genre of screen dance, and this exclusively curated programme aims to fill in this gap. It honours multiple … Continued

Everyone is talking about “Intangible Cultural Heritage”, but what is it and why is it important? We’ve put together a Wee Guide to Intangible Cultural Heritage to answer some of the frequently asked questions. A Wee Guide to Intangible Cultural Heritage What is Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)? Simply put, you might know it as “tradition”. … Continued

We are delighted to announce Masks – this year’s Pomegranates Festival exhibition, which features over 20 hand-crafted Venetian and world dance masks created by Edinburgh-based artist Lorraine Pritchard. The exhibition is complemented by a new documentary film by Franzis Sánchez from this year’s Venice Carnival. The exhibition reflects the dual focus of our Pomegranates Festival … Continued

In the lead-up to this year’s Pomegranates Festival of traditional dance (25-30 April 2025), we, at the Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland are celebrating Scottish traditional dance alongside world traditional dance practised by New Scots and cultural migrant communities across Scotland, with two more Ceilidh Plus nights on 21 March and 26 April in Edinburgh. … Continued