From Skye to Unama’ki: Brìghde Chaimbeul Marks Lùnasa with Two Island Performances

From sunset on the west coast to the stone walls of St. Patrick’s, two immersive gatherings carry ancient sounds into new terrain, tracing the living relationship between practice and place.

SYDNEY, N.S. — Internationally acclaimed Scottish smallpipes player Brìghde Chaimbeul will bring her unique blend of ancient tradition and contemporary experimentation to Unama’ki, Cape Breton Island, for two special performances celebrating the beginning of Lùnasa, the Gàidhlig harvest season.

Presented by Eltuek Arts Centre and Wild Lots event series, in partnership with the Inverness County Centre for the Arts (ICCA), the performances will take place on both the west and east coasts of the island, offering audiences two distinct opportunities to experience one of Scotland’s most compelling contemporary musicians.

These events are part of New Dawn’s 50th anniversary celebrations, marking five decades of community building and cultural leadership. Throughout 2026, New Dawn is celebrating the connections that shape communities while looking ahead to the next 50 years.

“Islands are essential. They hold languages, stories and ways of knowing the world that cannot be remade elsewhere. They carry memory, but they are also places of reinvention. For 50 years, we have worked with community in that same spirit, making and remaking what is needed here. These performances bring the Hebrides and Unama’ki into conversation — across generations and through living traditions — with the future still ours to make together,” says Christie MacNeil, Vice President, Arts & Community at New Dawn.

Hailing from the Isle of Skye, Chaimbeul first gained recognition as a prodigy of traditional Scottish music before forging an internationally celebrated career that has expanded the possibilities of the smallpipes. Rooted in Gàidhlig musical traditions while embracing drone, minimalism and experimental sound, her work has earned acclaim for honouring living traditions while charting bold new artistic territory.

Opening both evenings is PIT PONY, a collaboration between local musicians Devon Morrison and Bradley Murphy blending tape, noise and field recordings into an immersive soundscape shaped by cultural resilience in a post-industrial community.

“The idea for PIT PONY came from a Gaelic song titled ‘Òran A’ Mhèinneadair’ (Song of the Miner) sung by Dan MacNeil of Benacadie Pond and held in the collections of the Beaton Institute. The song is written from the perspective of the pit pony, whose heart is heavy hauling coal,” says Murphy.

“It is common in Gaelic song tradition to give voice to animals, helping us to better empathize with them. Many of the steel workers and coal miners who laboured in Cape Breton were Gaels. Their language is part of the bedrock of our island’s musical pulse. PIT PONY is unearthing the songs, bringing them into the light, and reclaiming them after generations of colonial cultural suppression.”

As part of New Dawn’s 50th anniversary celebrations, the musical gatherings in Sydney and Inverness this summer reflect the organization’s longstanding commitment to fostering creativity, preserving cultural knowledge, and creating spaces where artists and communities can come together to share stories across generations.

The first performance takes place Tuesday, July 28 on the outdoor stage at ICCA with PIT PONY performing at 7:15 p.m., followed by Brìghde Chaimbeul at approximately 8 p.m., timed to coincide with the sunset over the Atlantic Ocean.

The second performance takes place Thursday, July 30 at St. Patrick’s Church Museum in Sydney, where the historic space will provide an intimate setting enhanced by projections and immersive sound.

EVENT DETAILS

Tuesday, July 28, 2026
Inverness County Centre for the Arts
16080 Nova Scotia Trunk 19, Inverness

• Doors: 6:30 p.m.
• PIT PONY: 7:15 p.m.
• Brìghde Chaimbeul: approximately 8:00 p.m. (aligned with sunset)
• Tickets: $20 in advance; $25 at the door (cash only)
• Rain or shine. Please bring a lawn chair or blanket for outdoor seating.
• All ages welcome. Licensed bar available for adults 19+.
• Donations support the Inverness County Centre for the Arts.

Thursday, July 30, 2026
St. Patrick’s Church Museum
87 Esplanade, Sydney

• Show: 8:00 p.m.
• Tickets: $20 in advance; $25 at the door (subject to availability, limited number left)
• General admission; seating is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. Tickets do not guarantee a seat. The performance includes loud sounds and interior projections. As St. Patrick’s is a historic building, the space can be humid and damp, even in summer.

Advance tickets for both performances are available online through Eltuek Arts Centre at eltuek.ca.

These performances are made possible with support from New Dawn Enterprises, Arts Nova Scotia, Destination Cape Breton Association, and the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency.

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ABOUT NEW DAWN

New Dawn is Canada’s oldest Community Development Corporation. Since 1976, we’ve been working to create a more just, healthy, and self-determined community by responding to local needs and driving long-term, systems-level change. Today, New Dawn continues to focus on local leadership, resilience, shared prosperity, and community-led transformation. Every day, we engage thousands of community members and employ over 150 Cape Bretoners through programs and services that are practical, creative, and grounded in care. Our work spans health and social care, housing, the arts, youth and family services, immigration, and community development. Some of these services generate revenue, which we reinvest into our organization — fueling sustainability and deepening community impact.

ABOUT ELTUEK ARTS CENTRE

Eltuek (el·du·ehg) is a Mi’kmaw word that means “We are making (it) together.” The (it) refers to whatever it is (we) decide to make – a meal, a conversation, a painting, or a poem. Art, community, social change. We do it together. The name, Eltuek, was shared by the Eltuek Elder Advisors, with the intent that Eltuek Arts Centre is accessible, inclusive, and continuous.

Eltuek Arts Centre is an artist-led creative arts hub in North End Sydney that features private artist studios, an Open Studio for shared artist workspaces, gallery and exhibition space, Cafe Marie and Meals on Wheels, arts and community organizations, and creative gathering and event spaces for the community.

Eltuek Arts Centre is a non-profit arts organization that is owned and operated by New Dawn Enterprises. New Dawn is a private, not-for-profit, volunteer-directed social enterprise dedicated to community building. We are the oldest Community Development Corporation in Canada and a founding member of the Canadian Community Economic Development Network. Our Mission, to engage the community to create a culture of self-reliance, is as relevant today as it was when the organization was founded back in 1976.

Eltuek Arts Centre opened in February 2020 in the former Holy Angels Convent, ca. 1885. New Dawn Enterprises purchased it in 2013, and the 130-year-old heritage building is the largest adaptive reuse of built heritage in Unama’ki, Cape Breton Island. The building stands as a symbol of hope and renewal for a community that has struggled for more than 40 years to reinvent itself after the decline of the coal and steel industries.

ABOUT WILD LOTS

Wild Lots is a curious and irregular event and object series occurring in and around post-industrial Unama’ki, Cape Breton Island. Each program is purpose-built for its particular artists, place and moment — bringing together contemporary sound and visions, community, curiosity, experimentation and play. What grows goes; the definition expands with each event, finding new ways to weave people, practices and places together.