Latest News

A community engagement exercise is due to get underway this month on future plans for the UNESCO Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site.

The Visual Artists and Craft Makers (VACMA) Award is now open for applications by Orkney artists, for the thirteenth year running, to help develop new directions and deepen skills.

Orkney Islands Council is inviting applications for its Culture Fund – a scheme aimed at supporting cultural activity in Orkney.

Orkney Islands Council is excited to share an event celebrating the Orkney dialect, taking place at Kirbuster Farm Museum, on Saturday 25 July from 2:00-3:30pm.

Orkney Islands Council is delighted to invite the public to a special open day at Kirbuster Farm Museum on Saturday 11 July, 11am to 4pm, celebrating ‘Sooans’, a traditional heritage food made from oats that was once a dietary staple in Orkney homes.

A new art exhibition exploring Orkney's historical connections to the transatlantic slave trade goes on display in Orkney Museum’s recently transformed exhibition room and runs from Saturday 4 July until Saturday 26 September 2026. 

Orkney Islands Council's Resettlement team, in partnership with the Pier Arts Centre, has organised a new exhibition by Ukrainian refugees now living in Orkney which compares the similarities between Scottish and Ukrainian folklore.

Routine survey work is due to take place on the Kirkwall Town Hall this Sunday 9 March - weather permitting.

The Orkney Museum will present a timely new exhibition, "Unnatural Arrivals - The Stoat Crisis in Orkney", opening on 9 May and running until 20 June 2026. The exhibition is a collaboration between a selection of Orkney-based artists and the Orkney Native Wildlife Project, responding to the ecological impact of the recent arrival of stoats in the islands.

On Saturday 4 April, Orkney Museum will open ‘Lines of Light, Letters of George Mackay Brown’, a new exhibition by artist Ian Charles Scott celebrating his creative relationship with the poet.