PROGRAMME 2022

Fire on the Amazon, fire in the Arctic. Orkney’s rocks forming in an ancient lake. Dinosaurs with wings. The origins of the potato, and the origins of Orkney’s own grain. The days of early radio. The Caithness genius who invented the fax machine, and

You can access many events online. The past two years have been a time of discovery for us, developing online delivery and finding out that we have been able to reach many people who would not otherwise have been able to access us. We

We’ve a rich harvest of stories, among them the account of one of the great voyages, six men in an open boat through Antarctic seas on a rescue mission through blizzards, ice and mountainous waves. We will hear about the Orkney connections developed

Among the exhibitions, art meets geology in The Rock Cycle, and it meets poetry and natural history in When the Grass Dances, with a film too. Other films include island elements of Orkney and a filmed composition of drawing, painting and sound from the Ness of Brodgar excavations, evoking the physical existence of the dig, in a flow of voices and images.

There’s a rich mixture of themes in this year’s exhibitions. Art meets geology in The Rock Cycle at the Pier Arts Centre, Stromness, and just along the street Orkney’s Neolithic past is the theme of After Orcadia at the Northlight Gallery. A little further

The programme will include two concerts in St Magnus Cathedral. For one of them we’ll go back to the 17th century and hear music by Humfrey and Handel, Monteverdi and Vincenzo Galilei. There will be Buxtehude and Judith Weir too; and the music of

Here is an opportunity for outdoor activity during the Festival. Orkney wildlife guide Megan Taylor of Wild Orkney Walks has put together a special programme of walks in varied parts of Orkney, to provide a range of hill views and coastal scenes.

We’re going out into the fresh air on various occasions this year, covering topics ranging from energy to archaeology. You can learn about wave and tidal power, see fuel cells, seek out a site where earls feasted, walk a route of rocks and sea

The Family Day is back, at Kirkwall Grammar School with astronomical events including a planetarium from Dynamic Earth, energy activities from Glasgow Science Centre, and there's the Scottish Dolphin Centre and numerous other groups. And at other times and venues, what about trying a

There are several special occasions in the Festival that are parts of a true Orkney experience. On Broad Street in Kirkwall, in front of St Magnus Cathedral, on the Saturday afternoon there’s the Vintage Rally, where you can see cars and engines and tractors

The third of three discussions over tea/coffee/biscuits with Daniel Kenning, co-founder of the concept of Transition Engineering. Its aim: to provide us with methods to systematically solve problems and plan for a better future. Today he looks at how such a new vision can be developed.

Calling all Molecule Hunters! The Hunt is back this year, in actual or virtual format. You can go to the shop window or you can go online. And if you’d like to try making a model wind turbine, this is the time to do