GRTHM 2020

Crystal’s Vardo is a theatre production which uses dance, drama humour and music to share the rich culture and diverse histories of the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities.

No Less A Traveller is a series of podcasts in which people from the Gypsy/Traveller community in Scotland talk about their lives and experiences.

A film by Peter E Ross

Nawken is a term used by Scottish Gypsy/Travellers to refer to themselves.

Get Tickets

An excerpt from the Sharing Stories project which was created by MECOPP to collect stories and poems from the community of Gypsy/Traveller carers and their families that they engage with. The collection will be published later this year.

In acknowledgement and celebration of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month this photographic exhibition focuses on the berry picking season in Perthshire.

Who Are We?

No Less A Traveller is a series of podcasts in which people from the Gypsy/Traveller community in Scotland talk about their lives and experiences.

Join Wee Bessie Townsley on her travels as she lives her unconventional life with her family and faithful dog Ricky, while longing for the herald of spring.

The late Alec Williamson was one of the last of the old-style Highland Travellers, with a vast repertoire of stories, songs riddles, jokes and anecdotes. In 2009, during the Year of Homecoming celebrations, Alec took a road-trip from Strathpeffer to Ullapool, along part of the seasonal routes his family once travelled.

Pour yourself a drink, put your feet up and listen to Jess Smith and Lynne Tammi in conversation about Jess’s books and and her campaigning work – with a bit of ‘putting the world to rights’ thrown in.

The Perth Bridge [Smeaton’s Bridge] is being lit up in yellow to mark Gypsy, Roma, Traveller History Month from the 19th – 21st June.

John and Edith look back to earlier times when they travelled the roads and lanes of Scotland.

Join us in dialogue with Gypsy, Roma & Traveller advocates as we discuss the intersections of marginalisation. Exploring insights into the lived reality of intersectionality; good practice in challenging intersectional inequality; and how we can better recognise intersectionality and build alliances between communities.

Here he tells some of that story to photographer and Gypsy/Traveller activist, Shannon MacDonald.

Shamus McPhee, a Scottish Traveller, artist and activist from Pitlochry takes us on a virtual tour of Historic Gypsy/Traveller Sites in Highland Perthshire on behalf of the Rajpot Project.

Here we offer some facts to dispel common myths and stereotypes. Click on a statement to reveal the facts.

Paige is a young Traveller based in Argyll. She loves drawing and spends a lot of her free time creating her artwork.

Article 12 in Scotland’s Young Gypsy/Traveller Lives Project and the Nairn Book and Arts Festival worked with the Gypsy/Traveller community in Inverness to produce a ‘portrait gallery’ for inclusion in the 2019 festival. The sketches were produced by local artists Helen Wright and William Mather.

Professor Donald Bloxham discusses the history of the Porajmos, the Romani name for the Holocaust. His talk guides us on the journey from its origins in historical prejudice and stereotyping through the arrests, deportations and killings during the war period and into the post-war period when many of the prejudices continued.

Sutherland traveller Essie Stewart builds a bough tent from scratch, for the last time.

Due to the coronavirus crisis, a joint event for Gypsy, Traveller Roma History Month planned by RAJPOT, our arts and history engagement project and Mangin’ Manushis, a newly formed group run by Gypsy/Traveller women aiming to focus on social and welfare issues at grassroots level [both Perthshire based], has been sadly cancelled. The following document presents a flavour of this work.

Stacey Hilton is a young artist from the Gypsy/Traveller community. She has contributed to a number of exhibitions and in last year’s GRTHM had her work The Storyteller’s Jacket on show at the AK Bell Library in Perth and at the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood.

Bings o chaetrie in Scottish museums, means lots of Gypsy/Traveller objects in Scottish museums.

Richard O’Neill, a Romany storyteller and writer based in Manchester, and Pitlochry based, Nacken artist, Shamus McPhee are currently working together to create a children’s book.

A reading by Lynne Tammi of John McCreadie’s ‘Til Doomsday in the Afternoon’.

loanida Costache is a violinist, videographer, and Roma activist. Currently, she is a PhD candidate in ethno/musicology at Stanford University.