Jennifer Means Business With Her Music

24th February 2005

A young Sutherland musician has returned to her home village and set up business thanks to assistance from her local enterprise company.

Jennifer Port from Golspie is to receive start up assistance of £3,600 from Caithness and Sutherland Enterprise (CASE) towards establishing her business, where she will combine her skills as both a performance artist and a musical tutor.

An accomplished musician with several instruments, Jennifer is best known for playing the clarsach - the Scottish harp. Her most notable performances were at Madonna's wedding, and at various high profile venues and occasions, including an hour long performance of her own composition for the Celtic Connections festival in the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow.

She returned to Golspie following her studies at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD) in Glasgow, where she achieved a BA (Hons) degree in Scottish Music.

Considered by many to be one of Scotland's top talents in her chosen field of clarsach playing, Jennifer is keen to develop a business based on her own performance skills as well as providing musical tuition for groups and individuals throughout Caithness and Sutherland.

In addition to learning to play the piano at eight years of age, she has also learnt how to play the oboe, guitar, cor anglais and won awards at the 2004 National Mod for both clarsach and singing. While studying at the RSAMD, Jennifer made many journeys back to her native Golspie to help Feis Chataibh with its clarsach workshops. Feis Chataibh is a voluntary group set up to encourage youngsters to learn more about the Gaelic culture in music and language.

Jennifer said: "I am really grateful to CASE for the assistance in setting up my business. It is a great opportunity for me to be able to base myself in Sutherland and perform in the north of Scotland as well as in the rest of the UK and abroad. I am also delighted to have established some regular music tuition in Sutherland and during the summer holidays for Feis Chataibh."

According to Colin Ritchie, development manager with CASE: "Without CASE assistance it was likely that Jennifer would have been forced to establish her business closer to her main corporate customers in Edinburgh or Glasgow. It's good that she has been able to return to the area after her studies and that she will now be able to pass on her skills and experiences to the next generation of musicians in this area."

For further information contact Jennifer on 07713 177087, email her at jennifer_port@hotmail.com or visit http://www.jenniferport.co.uk