The Atlantic Canada Pipe Band Association welcomes Dr. Mike Paterson as the new director of The College of Piping & Celtic Performing Arts in Summerside Prince Edward Island.

With a wide and varied background, Dr. Mike Paterson brings to The College of Piping a wealth of experience in the area of Scottish arts and culture. Born in New Zealand, and of Irish-Scottish descent, he has had involvement in the Scottish arts as a promoter, scholar and event organizer, specifically in relation to piping, festivals and live theatre.

As an academic, Dr. Paterson has written extensively for publications such as the International Review of Scottish Studies and History Scotland, and has presented his work at conferences across the world. A member of the Scottish Writers Register and an honourary life member of the Falkirk Writers Circle, he has also written and/or contributed to several books including The Highland Bagpipe: Music, History, Tradition, which is due for publication this fall.

For the past six years he was responsible for the editorial production of Piping Today, an international magazine published bi-monthly by the National Piping Centre in Glasgow. In addition to covering Highland piping across the world, Dr. Paterson traveled extensively, documenting indigenous piping traditions from Latvia on the Baltic to Bulgaria on the Black Sea.

In his native New Zealand, Dr. Paterson was co-founder the Gaidhealtachd Celtic Studies summer schools at Whangarei Heads, and principle organizer of an 8-day Scottish Festival in Wellington. He also launched “Ceol Caledonia”, a special-interest mail order marketer of Scottish traditional and contemporary music, and produced “Celtic Connections”, a fortnightly Scottish-interest radio program.

As a founding council member of the Italian Pipers Association, Dr. Paterson was a principal architect of the Italian Spring Piping School in Isernia, Molise. He also had involvement with the William Kennedy Festival Piping Conference in Armagh, Northern Ireland, and undertook a feasibility study that led to the formation of the National Youth Pipe Band of Scotland.

Over his career, his productions have been featured at the Canadian National Multicultural Theatre Festival, Falkirk Tryst Festival in Scotland and on Radio New Zealand, among others. A full-length historical drama Victory! (About Victoria Cross winner, William Hall) was produced by the Mulgrave Road Co-op Theatre Company for a summer tour of Maritime Canada in 1981.

Dr. Paterson holds a BA in Anthropology & Psychology from Auckland University and a Ph.D. in Scottish Studies from the University of Glasgow. His 2001 Ph. D. dissertation examined the cultural aspects of identity formation and intercultural relations as they relate to Scotland’s international promotion and marketing activity.