My Creative Fort William

THE IDEA: Imagine a High Street full of art + cultural experiences, with wonderfully unique things to buy for yourself or as gifts for others ...

THE IDEA: Imagine a High Street full of art + cultural experiences, with wonderfully unique things to buy for yourself or as gifts for others ...

THE CREATIVES: Our area has a wealth of creative talent; designing, making, singing, playing, painting and writing unique and wonderful things. My Creative Fort William offers a platform to bring them all into one place, to share their creative ideas and products with you. We like to think that we’re picking up where the High Street drops off. We give these extremely creative, skilled artists and craftspeople an opportunity to showcase their talents.

We give you access buy directly from this fabulous and unique collection of local talent. Original paintings and prints, wonderful artisan crafts, photography, clothing and jewellery, all handmade, all individual, and all from our own creative Fort William.

CULTURE & HISTORY: Fort William and Lochaber is a unique place. Most of us know only a fraction of the varied and interesting history surrounding the area. Through the website, we’re attempting to address this with some surprising facts about the places and people that played a part in shaping Fort William. We want to share creative and cultural events that take place in the area. Want to know where the galleries are, when the next craft fair is on, and who’s exhibiting where? ... now you know where to look.

THE STREET: Ah the High Street. Like most towns, Fort William’s High Street is in a state of change. What a wonderful place it could be, if the creatives we represent were in the High Street. At the moment, that’s not possible. So while there are many great businesses in our street, we like to think we’re extending it just that little bit further for you.

Well, where to begin explaining why My Creative Fort William was born ... A long time ago, in a far of galaxy ... nope, that's not right ... It was a dark and stormy night ... more appropriate perhaps, but still not what I'm trying to say ...

OK, here we go ... for real this time ... Like most small towns at the moment, Fort William's High Street is suffering. There are a number if negative influences, none of which we have time to go into in details here, but suffice to say, things are not looking particularly pretty.

However, two things struck us while pondering these issues; one, there are still a few great businesses trading in the High Street that we have to support, and two, there is an abundance of vibrant, high quality creative businesses thriving in the area, and three ( oops, I meant to say there were three things ), erm three, the majority of people do not know anything about these exciting businesses trading outwith the high street - if they did, it might just paint a slightly different picture of our Creative Fort William and Lochaber.

A solution, if we may be so bold ... My Creative Fort William is attempting to bridge several gaps ( gaps being the three points above, keep up ) with one solution ( bold, eh ? ). We are trying to promote the creative businesses we are lucky enough to have around us, and to give everyone access to buy their wonderful goods items, products, creations, gifts ... stuff. We like to think that we helping to extend the High Street just that little bit further.

Another wee note on Creativity ( said while climbing onto a slightly wobbly creative soapbox, and preparing to be knocked off ) ... We all want to see a vibrant and thriving High Street, one that we can all be proud of. It's our firm belief that taking a creative approach to the economic and social hurdles that we face, and tackling them with fresh eye's, is our best chance of making a change for the better. Yes, we need look to other areas to see what has worked and what has not, but we must remember that we live in a unique area, with strengths and weaknesses all of our own. Let use our Creative strengths, folks - time to start doing something and forcing a change for the better.

We need to develop creative solution and ideas, but most importantly, we need to implement them. Time to start doing something rather than watching the decline.