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Highland 2007 in New York 1st - 8th April

28th March 2006

Highland 2007, the year Scotland celebrates Highland culture, is taking its message to New York for Tartan Week (1-8 April).

Highland 2007 will be the main theme for VisitScotland's Scottish Village at Grand Central Terminal bringing the Highland's vibrant contemporary culture and bold heritage to Americans.

Highland 2007's key message for the anticipated 250,000 visitors will be that the Highlands of Scotland are a great place to live and to visit.

Within the Scottish Village Highland 2007 will be displaying and promoting some of the best arts, crafts, music and activities the Highlands has to offer.

Included in the artefacts and exhibits on display will be the Camanachd Cup, which is leaving the shores of Scotland for the first time ever. In 2007 the 100th Camanachd Cup final will be contested in Inverness when the game will be one of the highlights of Highland 2007.

Representatives from The National Trust for Scotland are also attending Tartan Week, with Culloden Battlefield featuring in the Highland 2007 display. The re-dedication of Culloden Battlefield and the opening of their new visitor centre in 2007 are both major events in the Highland 2007 programme.

Artefacts from the National Museums of Scotland, the National Galleries of Scotland and the National Library of Scotland representing Fonn 's Duthchas, the national exhibition celebrating Highland culture in 2007, are also being brought to New York for display. These include brooches and a replica 19th century jewellery casket.

As well as the traditional jewellery on display, contemporary jewellery and crafts will showcase the vibrant arts scene in the Highlands.

Local artists whose work is being exhibited in New York include: Beth Legg (contemporary jewellery); Eileen Gatt (brooches and silver/gilt beakers); Lucy Woodley (a Gecko kilt pin, necklaces (some of which will represent Highland culture in the National Exhibition Fonn 's Duthchas) and a silver salt spoons set in pebbles with fish); Alan Baillie (the Luckenbooth silver Quaich, kilt pins and a silver tumble cup with gilt interior); Jennifer Cantwell (limited edition and one-off contemporary sporrans, including her latest feature - vegan sporrans); Karen Livingstone (currently working on a commission for Louis Vuitton: Tartan & tweed handbags); Linda Soos (woven and felted scarves) and Rachel Skene (woven silk scarves).

The Scottish Village also provides a platform for the best music and dance talent Scotland has to offer.

Representing the Highlands at the event are singers, Morven MacLeod and Fiona Mackenzie. Morven is a past winner of the Silver Pendant at the Royal National Mod and member of the Inverness Gaelic Choir, as well as being project officer with Highland 2007. Fiona Mackenzie, won the 2005 An Comunn Gaidhealach Gold Medal for Gaelic singing at the Royal National Mod and is the Mairi Mhor Gaelic Song Fellow for The Highland Council.

Highland musicians playing at the Scottish Village include clarsach player, Katie Mackenzie, a second year student at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow and the Gentlemen's Tea Party consisting of Christopher Waite, Colin Masterton, Sean Gray, Neil Ewart, who all attend The National Centre of Excellence in Traditional Music, based at Plockton High School.

Highland dancers Kirsty McConnell and Sara Ann Cull will also be performing on the stage.

Outwith the Scottish Village, Highland 2007 will take part in the Tartan Day Parade and has sponsored two runners in the Scotland 10K run through Central Park. The two runners sponsored by Highland 2007 were the winning Highland based male and female participants in the Baxters Loch Ness 10k in Scotland last autumn.

Fiona Hampton, director of Highland 2007 said: "We are delighted to be the main theme at such a well attended and prestigious event. We are really excited to be able to take such gifted performers to New York who represent the amazing talent we have in the Highlands.

"The arts and crafts we are taking with us also provide people overseas with the opportunity to see and experience the vibrancy of the cultural scene within the Highlands - we want people to see the Highlands as an exciting, lively and creative place to live and to visit."

For More on Highland 2007 See www.highland2007.com