The Centre for Cultural Policy Research at the University of Glasgow has produced a report entitled 'Same but Different, Rural Arts Touring in Scotland: The Case of Theatre' which examines touring theatre in rural areas in Scotland.

As a result of field research involving interviewing promoters, theatre companies, and policy makers across rural Scotland and undertaking focus groups with audiences, the research looks at touring in the Highlands and Islands, Dumfries and Galloway, and the northeast of Scotland.

It shows that the pattern of rural touring established by 7:84 Theatre Company's tour of John McGrath's 'The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black Black Oil', thirty years ago, still survives today.

The research found that theatre was at the heart of the very diverse and challenging arts programmes offered in village halls and small theatres. A network of people in villages and small towns all over Scotland choose productions, raise the funds, publicise events and attract a local audience, all on a voluntary basis. The report concludes that the local voluntary promoter is committed to developing a new audience for theatre and is extremely knowledgeable about theatre in Scotland and beyond.

The researchers involved in the report talked to theatre companies who toured rural areas and concluded that their motivation, in most cases, was to reach new audiences and, in particular, to be regarded as a company which worked nationally across Scotland.

Most of the theatre which tours to rural areas is generated in the central belt but there is some signs of a strengthening rural theatre network in the Highlands and Islands.

Researchers found that rural Scotland was far from being a cultural desert. The promotion of theatre and other arts activity in rural Scotland is just one of the many events happening in rural areas, often fitting into a busy schedule of other events in the village halls or amateur shows in theatres.

The report concludes that touring theatre makes an important contribution to rural life and contributes to a sense of community. The research offers a view of culture in rural areas, as to how it is developed and promoted, which will make a useful contribution to the debate around culture in the context of the First Minister's Cultural Commission.

Media Relations Office (media@gla.ac.uk)

For further details please contact Christine Hamilton, Director of the Centre for Cultural Policy Research on 0141 330 3558.

Publication details ? Christine Hamilton and Adrienne Scullion, The Same, But Different: Rural arts touring in Scotland, the case of theatre (Stroud: Comedia, 2004). ISBN 1 873667 87 6. ?10 Pb.

First published: 22 September 2004