‘The Awards for Excellence was a brilliant event last year, so we were super keen to be involved this year.’

That’s the words of King William’s College and Buchan School principal Damian Henderson as he explained to me how excited the Castletown school is to be sponsoring the ‘Nurturing our Arts, Culture, and Heritage’ category at next month’s Media Isle of Man Awards for Excellence.

It’s an award very suited to KWC, which has a thriving arts scene and roots in Manx heritage dating back almost 200 years.

Damian commented: ‘We really want to get under the skin of culture, arts and heritage in the island.’

Mr Henderson and his family moved to the island in 2023 and found themselves pleasantly surprised to find not just beautiful nature and motorbikes here but a thriving arts scene and fascinating culture.

This was something Damian was quickly keen to support: ‘We're part of the heritage open days, so Manx National Heritage conducts a tour of the school.

‘We're also coming up to our 200-year anniversary with KWC and 150 years of the Buchan School, which we're moving this year to the to the KWC campus.

‘The Buchan has great arts provision as well, big representation at the Guild every year, while some of our students play in island bands and orchestras, like Scran for example, which has been selected to perform at the Royal Albert Hall.

‘So, the Awards for Excellence category fits in really well with everything we want to do here. We’re delighted to be sponsoring it.’

On top of this, King William’s College also has the King’s Court Theatre which plays host to live screenings of London theatre productions, school shows (the next being ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time’), and homegrown talent, putting on productions written from scratch locally.

But it’s not just about the performers treading the boards at KWC that make it suited to the Arts, Culture, and Heritage category, it’s about the buildings themselves that host those performances.

‘The architecture here is a huge part of Manx heritage - it's the first building you see when you land in the island.

‘It's an unmissable part of the landscape of the south. It's beautiful. We’ve featured in literature in “The Manxman”, which was adapted last summer on Radio 4 and we're one of the most watched videos on YouTube; Robin Gibb singing Ellan Vannin with our choir.

‘All these things play into the heritage aspect of the award.’

I asked Damian why he thinks it’s so important to celebrate arts, culture, and heritage on the island. He told me it’s because they’re the things that make us human: ‘It's a key part of the island’s identity. This is why campaigns like the Awards for Excellence are brilliant because there is so much to showcase - Manx art, Manx language, Manx cuisine - you could have added another 10 categories and have nominees in all of them.

‘And so, we want The Awards for Excellence to be as successful as possible so the whole world can get to see this fantastic place we call home.’