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The need to preserve and promote this unique and diverse cultural heritage brought community groups together to envision a facility which would be appropriate for the performance, production, and training requirements of the region. The result is Strathspey Place, located at the Allan J. MacEachen International Academic & Cultural Centre along with Dalbrae Academy.
By the 1980’s, the number of Cape Bretoners who claimed Gaelic as their first language had shrunk from the 75,000 reported at the beginning of the century, to less than 1,000. This decline coincided, ironically, with a growing interest worldwide in genealogy and a renewed appreciation of cultural heritage. Forty million Americans claimed Celtic roots with similar percentages cited for the British Isles, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The
realization that a distinctive Gaelic culture was in danger of
extinction mobilized community leaders, teachers and parents and
resulted in a revival of interest in the language and its inclusion as a
high school course in Mabou Consolidated School - the first of its kind
in North America. At the same time, the emergence of Celtic music stars
such as the Rankin Family, John Allan Cameron, Natalie MacMaster, Ashley
MacIsaac, and Buddy MacMaster focused the world’s attention on this
region of Nova Scotia as the source of rich Scottish culture.
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Website by Cheryl Smith - OutFront Productions Inc. |
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Strathspey
Place is located on the Ceilidh Trail on western Cape Breton Island
nestled among the rolling hills of Inverness County. The area was
settled some 300 years ago by emigrants from Scotland who brought their
music, their dance, and their ancient language, known locally as “The
Gaelic”, to the region. The descendants of these original Highland
settlers have kept the culture alive and still speak the authentic
Scottish Gaelic of their ancestors.
