THE organisation responsible for the Wigtown Book Festival has appointed two new trustees to its board, including a columnist from The National.
Writer and commentator Gerry Hassan and cultural activist and consultant Cathy Agnew have joined the Wigtown Festival Company (WFC).
The organisation runs an ever-growing programme of events year-round, including the Big Bang science festival and the Big DoG family book festival, normally staged in Dumfries.
It makes a significant contribution to the community, culture and economy of Dumfries and Galloway – and across Scotland. It is also being supported by EventScotland to run a whole series of projects for Scotland’s Year of Stories 2022.
Sandra Mcdowall, WFC chair, said: “This is an enormously important moment in the history of Wigtown Festival Company as we look to the future – and how to recover from the impact of the ongoing pandemic.”
READ MORE: Scotland's literary history to be showcased with Year of Stories 2022
Agnew is known for her role in founding CatStrand arts and visitor centre, in New Galloway, and the Moat Brae national centre for children’s literature and storytelling. She is also the long-serving chair of DGU, a charity that champions and supports the arts.
She said: “What’s exciting to me is not just the annual book festival, but the huge amount of other activities that take place throughout the year which bring an energy and vibrancy both to the local community and the whole of the region.”
Hassan is a professor of social change at Glasgow Caledonian University and has written and edited 30 books on political, constitutional and social issues, He said: “In the coming years I look forward to the festival putting Wigtown and Dumfries and Galloway even more on the map as a place where interesting ideas, exchanges and connections happen.”
The new appointments are part of a continuing process that will see the WFC board increase in size and diversity.
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