The New Hampshire School of Scottish Arts

Thanks to the remarkable efforts of our School community over these past ten years, we have been able to provide our students with:

• superb teachers for all of the Scottish performing arts,
• frequent workshops with renowned instructors in Highland dance, Highland pipes, small pipes and fiddle,
• extensive, indoor festival competitions in the spring and fall, drawing competitors from much of the eastern United States and giving our students a chance to gauge their progress,
• regular exams in Highland dance and piping,
• two pipe and drum bands that compete at grade 4 and 5, perform in concerts, and march in parades,
• concerts and performances by faculty and staff,
• our Bagpipe Lending Library, a tremendous resource of instruments, recordings, books, and music for students, faculty, and visiting instructors, and
• grants, scholarships, and awards from the School and from the New Hampshire Arts Council, the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, the Bean Foundation, the St. Andrews Societies of New Hampshire and Massachusetts, the Scottish Scholarship Foundation, and Clan Munroe.

Thanks to their hard work and dedication to their art,

• six Highland dance instructors have passed teaching exams and two more expect to do so this coming year,
• piping faculty and students have passed a wide array of exams in theory, practical knowledge, and teaching,
• student competitors have succeeded in every class of Highland dance and in every grade of piping,
• some students have excelled to the point of becoming teachers themselves,
• many students are studying more than one Scottish art form, and
• five students have been awarded Apprenticeships from the New Hampshire Arts Council.

We have accomplished all the goals we set for ourselves ten years ago. We see so much bright potential in front of us now. To take the School and its students to the next level, we must

• find a new home for the School – one that can meet our students’ needs for the future,
• hire a person to help manage the School, conduct fund-raising activities, write grant applications, and keep the books,
• equip the School with the technology necessary to produce and archive the hundreds of hours of workshop and competition recordings made available to our students and instructors at the Bagpipe Lending Library,
• repair instruments donated to the Bagpipe Lending Library, so that students and faculty can use the pipes and make the most of the donors’ generosity, and
• offer travel stipends to encourage our student competitors and faculty to travel farther, compete at the highest levels, and broaden their experiences.

At the same time, we will continue doing what we have been doing successfully for the last ten years – provide the New Hampshire community with

• excellence in teaching by our dedicated faculty,
• warm camaraderie from our students and teachers,
• fun and challenge at state and regional competitions,
• master-level training at our specialty workshops,
• focused exams sanctioned by the Piping and Drumming Qualifications Board,
• inspiring performances by our renowned teachers, and
• the preservation of Scottish culture across the generations.

Mission Statement

It is the purpose of the New Hampshire School of Scottish Arts (NHSSA) to foster and expand the spirit of Scottish Performing and Cultural arts in New Hampshire. Students at the School are afforded the opportunity to take lessons to sequentially improve their skills; to explore their Scottish heritage; to participate in organized performances and competitions; and to train to become future instructors in the Scottish Arts.

Philosophy

It is the belief of the New Hampshire School of Scottish Arts that by creating a forum for the presentation of a variety of related arts, students will have the opportunity to participate in a "college" of the Scottish Arts. Students are to be provided with a broad array of instructors, courses and related arts activities from which to broaden their cultural experiences. In the School's endeavor to promote the intergenerational preservation of the Scottish Arts, students of all ages and backgrounds are brought together to participate in lessons and may also explore their cultural heritage.

NHSSA purports that by enabling students to collectively join together, they will be supported in their efforts to participate in bands or other regional groups and to compete in local or regional events. Students will also be given the opportunity to attain the standards necessary to become instructors of the Scottish Arts.

Goals

The New Hampshire School of Scottish Arts was organized in September, 1998 in order to:

• Establish a "college" of the Scottish Arts
• Provide classroom environments geared to the specific Scottish arts being taught
• Recruit a core of experienced instructors in order to promote excellence in the level of instruction
• Institute Master level classes and workshops to expose students to the performance standards of Master Pipers/Dancers/Fiddlers
• Provide instructors in the Scottish Arts with the opportunity to share common expenses, venue, advertising and promotion
• Promote a series of events to showcase the talents of the instructors and students
• Train several prospective students to work as instructors at the school in future years
• Subsidize multiple lessons for families