The curtain is about to go up on Scotland's annual Celtic Connections festival which has become one of the biggest on the traditional music calendar.

More than 600 performers from celtic communities around the world are descending on Glasgow for the start of the month-long event.

It was launched seven years ago to help break up the long winter nights but it has now grown beyond all recognition and attracts big audiences to its 12 venues in the city.

One of the festival's organisers Colin Hynd said: "I don't think we can get much bigger - I don't think we want to get much bigger. What we want to do is to improve as each year goes by."

But while festivals like Celtic Connections help promote traditional music they do not guarantee its future.

A group of women in Inverness know all about the frustrations of keeping their art of "tweed walking" alive.

They say there are plenty of people interested in learning the musical skill but more needs to be done to nurture that interest.

Many believe traditional music misses out when it comes to public funding - it receives just 0.6% annually from the Scottish Arts Council budget.

They are now hoping that this year's festival will help to win new financial support as well as new audiences.