Irish Festival Review

Ireland’s 2012 Festival & Events

Year in Review

Supporting Networking Training

Contents / Credits Contents / Credits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 The AOIFE Vision, Mission and Strategic Goals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Message from our Chairperson and Executive Director. . . . . . . . . . 4 Foreword from Minister Ring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 New County Council Administered Fund for Gathering 2013 . . . . . 6 Irish Festivals & Events Sector Snapshot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 A Year in Festivals by Mark Graham. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 IFEA Europe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 European Festival Association Anniversary in Dublin. . . . . . . . . . . 15 FESTudy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Insurance Explained for Festival & Event Organisers. . . . . . . . . . . 17 What did AOIFE do for the Sector in 2012?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 The Average Festival Event Profile. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Placement Partnering. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Northern Ireland Festival & Events: A New Approcach. . . . . . . . . . 21 Profiles in Courage Antrim: Festival of Fools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Armagh: William Kennedy Piping Festival . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Derry: Stendhal Festival of Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Derry: City of Culture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Down: Newcastle Arts Festival . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Fermanagh: Fermanagh Live. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Tyrone: Sperrins Hillwalking Festival . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Voluntary Arts Ireland. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Cavan: Festival of Erne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Carlow: Pan Celtic International Festival. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Clare: Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Cork: Indiependence Music and Arts Festival. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Cork: Fastnet Film Fest &West Cork Chamber Music Festival. . . . 37 Donegal: Sea Sessions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Dublin: St. Patrick’s Festival . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Thanks to all our Contributors, Photographers, Festival PRO’s and Corporate Advertisers.

Editor: Colm Croffy Deputy Editor: Síofra Mannion Photography: Paul Eliasberg and www.aspectphotography.net All information is correct at the time of going to print.

Please check official websites for current updates.

Galway: Clifden Arts Festival. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Kerry: The Rose of Tralee International Festival. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Kilkenny: Kilkenny Arts Festival. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Kildare: Monasterevin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Venice of Ireland Festival . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Laois: Golfing & Walking Festivals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Leitrim: Carrick-on-Shannon Water Music Festival . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Limerick: Fleadh By The Feale & Foynes Irish Coffee Making. . . 50 Longford: Helium Festival. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Louth: Drogheda Samba Festival. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Green Your Festival: Easier Than You Think. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Mayo: International Choral Festival. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Meath: Dunshaughlin Harvest Fest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 & Blue Jean Country Queen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Monaghan: Carrickmacross Festival . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Offaly: Birr Vintage Week . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Roscommon: Castlerea Rose Festival . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Sligo: Sligo Jazz Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Tipperary: Cashel Arts Festival. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Waterford: Spraoí Festival. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Westmeath: Race of the South. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Wexford: AIMS Choral Festival. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Wicklow: Bray Jazz Festival . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Carlton Hotel Group Best of Marketing Awards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Directory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Financial Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 AOIFE Team 2012. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Training / Mentoring Clients & Partners. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Forward Fast. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

by Jane Mullaney-Anderson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 AOIFE Conference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

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The AOIFE Vision, Mission and Strategic Goals In recognition of the market in which AOIFE works, and the members, stakeholders and clients which AOIFE aims to serve, AOIFE has developed the following aims: Sectoral Vision A vibrant, sustainable, safe festival and events sector in Ireland.

Organisational Vision A vibrant, sustainable, professional organisation, recognised locally, nationally and internationally for its expertise, representative of its membership, and useful to both its membership, and others in the festival and events sector.

Mission AOIFE aims to make festivals in Ireland entertaining, safe and financially sustainable by helping festival organisers develop both themselves and their festivals through implementing programmes of development for festival organisers, and by seeking support for the work of festival organisers from all communities.

AOIFE Aims To achieve its vision of a vibrant, sustainable festival sector all over Ireland, AOIFE aspires: • To improve the festival experience by training festival organisers to make festivals safer, more marketable, financially sustainable and fun for festival goers • To facilitate networking in the festival sector by encouraging exchange of information, best practice and experiences among festival organisers, festival goers and industry suppliers • To increase tourism on the island of Ireland by encouraging an integrated approach among festival organisers, associated hospitality providers, and other support agencies • To celebrate cultural diversity, champion the value of volunteerism, and enhance the quality of life on the island of Ireland through the medium of festivals • To represent the needs and aspiration of Irish festivals, locally, nationally and internationally • To assist in the development of world-class Irish festivals, and to heighten the profile of festivals both in Ireland and abroad.

AOIFE is owned by its Festival Membership, governed by a Constitution and overseen by a democratically elected National Executive drawn from the elements of Membership.

AOIFE Ltd. is the non profit trading company established by the Association to manage the services required by the Network.

AOIFE Membership Categories include: Individual, Festival/Event Member, Corporate, Associate, Student and International. Total AOIFE Membership is appox. 450 members.

AOIFE welcomes everyone in the NOT FOR PROFIT Festival and Event Sector

2012 Festival & Events: Year in Review

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Message from our Chairperson and Executive Director Welcome to the 2012 edition of the AOIFE Irish Festivals and Events Review.

It is essential reading for some advice, encouragement and support in creating and sustaining the many festivals and events around Ireland.

The festival sector and all who work in it are particularly experienced at coping with less resources than most, and at pulling together in times of adversity. I believe that the sector will not only survive the current economic climate, but perhaps even emerge stronger as a result.

Certainly attendances will be higher than ever, with more people spending their holidays and leisure time in Ireland. Festivals are good value for money, with many of them offering a range of free activities and performances, and the general public will realise and appreciate this much more over the coming months. Research has shown that over 10,000 individual events are organised and promoted by festival organisers in Ireland each year, approximately 30 festival events a day. With so much activity going on, festivals should

AOIFE, your Association, is constantly pushing this message, that the work we do is neither a luxury nor a flash in the pan but concrete, meaningful social, cultural and economic activity. So as you browse through the Review please remember that the Network you are engaged with operates at many formal and informal levels, with benefits accruing from both of them.

The Association of Irish Festival Events owes a large debt of gratitude to the AOIFE team who work on this production, and indeed on delivering AOIFE services throughout the year

Welcome to our new annual publication: The Year in Review.

the continued valued commitment of the 45,000 plus volunteers making it all happen!

From 1995 to 2010 we published Year books, which featured listings of events for the year ahead and Trade Supplier details. It proved too costly and cumbersome. This Magazine format short circuits a number of problems and gives us space to platform the breadth of the sector, the complexity of our volunteer reliant industry and the profiles in courage from some of the spotlighted festivals and community events.

2012 was bruising – we lost over 50 festivals and events but for those that remained in often slimmed down formats – attendance was up, volunteers were up and the engagement with the Hospitality trade and other vital stakeholders has improved. Over the coming months, while the “Celtic Tiger” fostered the unparralled spike in individualism - these tougher times will encourage us all to share, collaborate, network and forge a way ahead so that our stakeholders, sponsors and communities will not lose all the gains made in the past 20 years.

Often, many in our sector are too busy looking around their own bunker to ever see the wider horizon. This publication will hopefully encourage the practitioners and the stakeholders to do just that. What the Festival and Cultural Event Sector does is of immense value - socially, educationally, culturally and economically - however most of us are so busy doing what we do best and making it look easy, that we forget about the Advocacy!

From AOIFE’s own analysis, we have the totality of an island-wide sector that generates an estimated €415m in indirect earnings for the economy with just under 70% of every direct budget being spent locally/regionally.

The total cultural tourism industry to the island is worth in excess of €5 billion a year!

What the figures don’t show is that allied to very modest investment and a tiny contracted workforce (compared to our EU counterparts) the bulk of this would not be possible without

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have no problem proving their worth. The indirect economic impact of what we do is conservatively estimated at over €415m and, significantly, approximately €7 out of every €10 spent by Festival is invested in the local economy. These statistics have to be recognised by funders, sponsors and local traders as real and meaningful figures, thus acknowledging therefore, that investment in festivals & events is not just a contribution to the actual festival, but to the economy, both local and national, as a whole.

2012 Festival & Events: Year in Review

AOIFE for its part will continue to lobby on the Sector’s behalf for the real recognition and for the stakeholders to partner in a meaningful way rather than the tokenism of the past.

Festival and Cultural Events remained firmly rooted in the “Add on” category for our political and administrative elites North and South up to now. The Momentum of THE GATHERING has the capacity to alter that forever. In fairness it follows nobly in the footsteps of the Tailteann Games, and An Tóstal – (a nationwide event in a previous recession) in 1953 to which The Tidy Towns Awards and a number of significant cultural festivals owe their origins to.

The Gathering sees the Touism Agencies attempt to harness the goodwill of our citizens and communities for a once off special effort

– in very straitened financial circumstances.

We owe much thanks to our long suffering Executive Director Colm Croffy, to all our staff and interns, as well as the National Executive.

The Sectors Gratitude is extended to our Corporate Suppliers, our sponsors, our funding Partner, Failte Ireland and especially to our print partners KPW Print (Ballinasloe), without whose continued support we could not have brought this Sector review to see the light of day. Here’s to a successful festival and events season for all of us. Let’s hope The Gathering also proves a huge success for the sector.

Miriam Dunne Chairperson.

to invite and welcome visitors – this is exactly what our Festival and Event sector has been doing quietly and diligently ANNUALLY for years. We need to engage fully with this adventure not because it will resource us but it should leave a legacy of better understanding, engagement, appreciation of volunteers aspiring to delivering top class events.

Please, where you can, support those Irish firms and suppliers that are supporting us through corporate membership and our advertisers.

I would like to say thanks to all the team who helped in the production of the Yearbook – especially our Young Deputy Editor Síofra Mannion and our Graphic Designer Dave Cunniffe.

I hope you all have very successful and entertaining festivals and events and we look forward to celebrating AOIFES’s 20th Anniversary Year.

See you at one of AOIFE’s activities.

Colm Croffy Executive Director.

Foreword from Minister Ring I am delighted to launch this publication at the ’Gathering for the Business of Fun’ Conference it is particularly apt as we draw closer to the commencement of The Gathering 2013, the largest single initiative ever undertaken in the Irish tourism sector.

In recent years, festivals and events have provided a vital support to the performance of the tourism sector in Ireland. They animate destinations, bringing to life the creative potential of local people and in many cases provide an avenue for local businesses to market products and services to new customers. Festivals and events also provide a wonderful opportunity for visitors, both overseas and domestic, to interact with local communities.

A message from Michael Ring, T.D., Minister of State at the Department of Tourism and Sport.

Recognising these benefits, the Government continues to provide funding for festivals, mainly through Fáilte Ireland’s Festivals and Cultural Events Initiative. The primary aim of this Initiative is to encourage a wide spread of visitors throughout the country by strategically investing in attractive festivals and events in small and large towns throughout the island.

Fáilte Ireland will invest approximately €2.6m in national and regional festivals in Ireland in 2012.

The Gathering Ireland 2013 will be a yearlong celebration of all that is great about our country, and should be a great year for the festivals and events sector. 2013 will see the people of Ireland reaching out to our many millions of friends, family, loved ones and connections overseas, inviting them to Ireland next year to celebrate with

us. The Gathering Ireland 2013 is not just one event but hundreds of events, big and small, organised by individuals, families, clans, communities, clubs and organisations throughout Ireland. A Gathering can be as simple as two friends, one of them from overseas, reuniting in Ireland next year. Or it can be as big as 8,000 visitors coming to Ireland to march in the People’s Parade as part of the 2013 St. Patrick’s Festival.

Whereas decisions on festivals funding have previously been made in the first quarter of the year concerned, Fáilte Ireland and the Gathering Project Team have brought forward this process for 2013, to allow festivals organisers plan their events with more certainty and so maximise the potential contribution of each individual event to the overall success of The Gathering Ireland 2013.

I wish to pay tribute to the hard work of the festival boards, committees, staff and over 45,000 volunteers throughout the island for their hard work during 2012. I look forward with great anticipation to the year ahead, which will provide a significant contribution to our country’s recovery, both economically and in terms of creating new networks of opportunity between Ireland, our diaspora, and the wider World. I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank AOIFE for its continuing work in supporting festivals and events throughout Ireland.

Michael Ring T.D. Minister of State: Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport

2012 Festival & Events: Year in Review

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New County Council Administered Fund To Support Gathering 2013 Taoiseach Enda Kenny launched a €2m Irish Public Bodies Insurance (IPB) Gathering Fund that will be administered by local authorities across the State to support events and gatherings that have the capacity to attract overseas visitors. The fund, a partnership between IPB Insurance and The Gathering Ireland is in response to the growing number of gatherings and events being planned across the country for 2013, writes Jim Miley.

Speaking at the launch the Taoiseach said “The core objective of the Gathering 2012 is to deliver an additional 325,000 tourists to Ireland in 2013 and this generous fund by IPB Insurance and the further provision of funds by the Government is a reflection of the importance of the Gathering as a key Government project that will directly contribute to the economic revival of our country. The target of the fund will be to support 700 or more individual Gathering Ireland events.”

Minister for Tourism Leo Varadkar said “There has been a huge interest in organising Gatherings around the country. To date, between 6,000 and 7,000 people have attended more than 50 meetings in every single county, at which all sorts of Gathering ideas were proposed. Even if you don’t qualify for funding, I would still urge everyone to get involved and get organising. Everyone can still organise a Gathering of their own, even if it’s something as simple as inviting one or more people to visit Ireland next year.

Minister for Tourism Leo Varadkar said “People often ask me what they can do to help get Ireland out of recession and back to prosperity. Irish people living and working abroad ask the same thing. The Gathering is the answer to this question. It’s an opportunity for communities, local authorities, sporting associations, county associations, individuals, families and businesses to do something positive to lift national morale and help the economy. I would like this event to kick-start a broad, inclusive discussion, at home and abroad, about how we can bring this exciting plan to life.”

The Gathering will focus on a series of flagship festivals throughout the year, along with special interest spin-off events, and a community-led programme. It will showcase Irish arts, sports, food, learning, genealogy and family heritage, science and hospitality. Festival and Community event organisers are asked to make sure they connect and co-operate with the Gathering Committees established at each County Hall to ensure their events are scheduled in the Gathering Offering of the County and to ensure that they can can apply ( if elegible) for some modest financial support.

For more information on the Gathering Ireland 2013, visit www.thegatheringireland.ie.

The Gathering will grow out of existing festivals, and foster many more spin-off events. Everyone has a chance to get involved, whether at local level or among members of Ireland’s diaspora. Tourism and the tourism experience have always been a key strength of Ireland it will take it to a new level.

the Gathering Events Conference: introducing Leader/ AOIFE Festivals and an agh fy (Executive Mon Crof an Cav Colm , the ant) At sult Pictured Miley: (L-R) Liz McAvoy (Con Jim ng heri Gat the Gathering), of The ctor r, IPB Funding with Dire der), Jim Miley (Directo irperson, Cavan Monaghan Lea (Cha len Mul y .

Mar der) FE), Lea an AOI , Director nd (Cavan Monagh County Council) and John Tola Dympna Condra (Monaghan

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2012 Festival & Events: Year in Review

Irish Festivals & Events Sector Snapshot In 2012, the Republic of Ireland Government, The Northern Ireland Executive, local authorities and municipalities invested directly approximately €23m in over 675 festivals and community cultural events which generated circa €415m. These festivals cost in the region of €45m to programme and produce. Irish festivals return about 70 cent in every euro directly to the local community.

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ROI local authorities and municipalities spent over €6m on festivals and events during the 2012 season. Northen Ireland Local District Councils spent approximately €3.5m on festivals and events during 2012. The €23m investment in 2012 generated an estimated €415m of both international and domestic revenues for the island.

This community, cultural and tourism hybrid sector is delivering a massive return on investment by the public sector allied with over 800,000 of operative hours delivered by under 45,000 sector volunteers throughout the country.

• The average festival audience is made up of 67% locals, with the remaining 33% requiring overnight accommodation • Festivals on average spend 69% of their total expenditure in their local area.

• Festivals and Events spend on average 53% directly on artists’ fees costs.

• Community venues are the backbone of festivals; two thirds of festival organisers use churches, pubs, outdoor public spaces, or community halls for events.

• In turn, festivals generate income from a wide variety of sources. Only 24% of income is from public funders, with 39% from of funding from sponsorship or commercial support.

• The remaining 37% is self-generated, from ticket sales or other earned income, (including merchandise and bars or catering) and fundraising.

• Festivals receive significant media coverage 99% generate coverage in their local newspaper, and 30% command international media attention.

Flagship Festival/Events [80]

Festival/Events of regional/ niche significance [200]

Local Community Festival/ Cultural Events [650/800]

C AOIFE’S Ambition > Mapping/European Interaction > Event Development

A & B Sector Network Support • Funding Programs • Strategic planning & marketing • Research and evaluation • Targeted funds/grants agreements, performance bench marking • The Irish event experience design and event programming • Resource leverage – sponsorship, industry, sectoral Analysis • Facilitate linkages, education • Advocacy, Government/Stakeholder • Third level Placements.

Partnerships < Sector Development < Resources <

C Sector Network Support • Regional Events Co-­ordination • Forums, training, seminars • Resources: Online/Offline • Website references and research information.

• Leader/Inter Reg Training opportunities • Helpline • Insurance/services suite • Templates • Programming Know how • Mentoring • Clustering Support • Insurance, Health and Safety • Start Up Assistance.

2012 Festival & Events: Year in Review

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A Year in Festivals by Mark Graham What is a festival? Probably seems like a stupid question to be asking in a publication like this, but there is no clear definition for it. It’s a question that popped up a number of times during my quest to attend 3 festivals in Ireland every week for a year. Let me run that by you again, 3 festivals EVERY week, for a whole year!

“Impossible!” I hear you cry.

Over the last 12 months I’ve managed to travel the length and breadth of Ireland and not only create a larger carbon footprint than a yeti doing laps of the Himalayas in a concorde, but I’ve also attended 183 festivals.

Were they all actually festivals? I was at one in Ballybunion that didn’t really exist and a few I wish hadn’t. Early on in the proceedings I gave the Guinness Book of records crowd a shout to see if they would list my gallivanting amongst all the other freaks. They got back to me and said that the festival landscape of Ireland was too diverse to be defined. They were of the opinion that if two lads got together on a street corner in Wexford and started banging pots and pans together, a couple of young fellas with bags of cans would gather and hey presto!

A pot banging festival. They may have had a point.

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in my face from laughing. I had to make some sacrifices. No quiet nights at home by the fire, no spare time, any flimsy chance of a stable relationship was out the window and I’ve never got to see The Voice.

I did part in The Bucket though. My quest was more successful than I could have imagined. I picked up a job writing a festival column in The Ticket with The Irish Times every Friday, I put together a weekly festival diary for the John Murray Show on RTE Radio 1 for the Summer and most recently my blog was named Best Popular-Culture Blog by Blog Awards Ireland.

During my quest I’ve been crowned All-Ireland Conker Champion, won the Bucket Singing World Championships, hallucinated on Lough Derg, Hucklebucked with horny honeys in Lisdoon, sat through torturous AmDram and had the runs in Kinvara after too many oysters. Nobody has been to as many festivals in Ireland as me in the last year, I’m literally, if not figuratively, an expert in the field. Even so, I still find it difficult to nail down just what it is that makes for a good festival.

The variety and peculiarity of the festival landscape of our fair isle is still a source of constant surprise, pleasure and puzzlement to me. Plenty of these peculiar parties are inexpensive or free to enjoy. You expect not to pay to attend country fairs or festivals in small towns, but things like the Temple Bar Trad Fest or the Dublin City Soul Festival surprised me by laying on top quality entertainment in Das Kapital for free. An afternoon spent at the Culchie Festival in Mohill Co. Leitrim also brought home the value of “chape clane fun”. Not only were they searching for the biggest culchie in Ireland at this affair, they were also looking for skilled egg throwers and catchers. Egg throwing requires a team of two, where you take turns being tosser and catcher. The real skill is in catching the egg without it breaking as the distance between team members increases. We laughed for hours with a bunch of prize-winning culchies on a GAA pitch in Leitrim. There was no charge or admission fee, there was no drink or chip vans. You could buy a commemorative mug, the proceeds going towards a charity that trained dogs to work with kids with special needs.

My quest started a protest of positivity. In May 2011, having scraped together a 10% deposit for a house, I applied for a mortgage. One financial institution told me to call back to them in 3 months with a tidier ledger, another said that they would give me a mortgage if I anted up 20%. I prepared myself for some serious scrimping and saving. Weekends shackled to the couch, getting sucked in by some reality television programme or other. Thankfully, a little voice in the back of my mind yelled “Stall the Digger! This crowd have a worse credit rating than you, and you’re gong to kowtow to them? Cop yerself on!”.

So I did. I Bought a camper van and decided to seek out the festive pueblos, parishes and paircs of Ireland to load up on some positivity.

It could be one of the best decisions I ever made.

There are a multitude of different factors that need to come together to make for a positive festival experience, but I’ve only managed to find one common denominator that a banjo festival needs as much as a major rock festival. Decent people. Our economic path is bumpy and full of briars, but we are still blessed with a wealth of character, imagination, generosity, curiosity, creativity and a hunger for arousal, fun and divilment. There are a clatter of wonderful festivals around the country every week organized by dedicated volunteers and unsung community heroes. Go hill walking, Sean Nós dancing, listen to some stories or just go baloobaas in a field. Take your pick and if I don’t talk to you in the mean time, see you at the Bucket Singing Championships in Dungarvan next year. Safe travels, don’t die.

I met the most amazing and odd characters, I’ve been in places that I never knew existed and there have been times when I’ve had a pain

www.ayearoffestivalsinireland.com @YearOfFestivals

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NATION ONCE AGAIN We believe in a society that values creativity, imagination and expression.

We believe the arts generate growth and tourism.

We believe the arts enhance our reputation.

We believe the arts enrich us.

We believe in the value of the arts www.ncfa.ie

2012 Festival & Events: Year in Review

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Interested in GREENING your Festival?

Visit the Green Your Festival Stand at the AOIFE 2012 Conference.

Find out more about saving money, resources and the environment.

Pick up our easy-to-follow four-step Resource Pack and talk to personnel from the Local Authority Prevention Network (LAPN) about making your event cleaner and greener.

Visit our website www.greenyourfestival.ie for loads more information and local contact details for LAPN. On the website youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll find materials to download to help you in greening your festival or event, as well as case studies from numerous festivals around Ireland that have already made the change and successfully gone green.

.ie

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IFEA EUROPE Founded in 1992, the International Festivals and Events Association Europe, IFEA Europe, is the European affiliate of IFEA World. For the past 50 years, IFEA has served as the global network organization for professionals who work in the cultural festivals and public events sector.

The IFEA is represented in 40 countries on 5 continents and it is the world’s largest network for festivals & events. It spans the industry from world-renowned cultural festivals to small community events.

Members of IFEA come together to share ideas, knowledge and best practice, to facilitate personal and professional development and to promote networking and international exchange.

Members include public and private organisers, city officials, festival managers and marketing personnel, tourist destination organisations, venue managers, suppliers, academic researchers, and many others.

IFEA is also open to students aiming for a professional career in public events management. The diversity of IFEA is reflected in the subjects, speakers and delegates at the annual European conference as well as

regular “Behind-the-scenes” events, the e-newsletters, international webinars and, many further activities throughout the year. A strong focus is given to research and practice in areas such as sponsorship, programming, community engagement, staffing and volunteer issues, crowd safety, environmental sustainability, tourism and destination branding through events.

In summary, IFEA provides a framework for strong personal and professional networks and relationships, and aims for constant improvement of skills, knowledge, and practice within the sector.

Membership and its benefits of the International and the European chapter are available to ALL AOIFE members, which means that they can attend seminars, conferences and BEHIND the scenes at the reduced rate.

2013 sees the Association host their annual conference in Rotterdam at the end of January. 2013 also sees the Association host the first ever Student Summer Event Management Camp in Catalyuna – Barcelona and Tarrega. Allan Xinus Grige from Copenhagen is the current Chairperson of the board and the secretariat is based in the AOIFE Admin Offices in Ballinasloe, Galway.

gates. enia are Board Members and Dele City of Culture at Mariabor, Slov the at es’ Scen The ind ‘Beh the Pictured at

the IFEA n of Johann Mohemann to (L-R) Pictured at the inductio ann, IFEA Joh er, med dsh Woo e Stev World Hall of Fame are IFEA CEO Europe Chair Alan Grige.

Founder Charlotte De Witt, IFEA

2012 Festival & Events: Year in Review

13

14

European Festival Association Kicks Off Anniversary in Dublin In February 2012 in Dublin/Ireland, the Association of Irish Festival Events (AOIFE) welcomed a delegation of the European Festivals Association (EFA) and hosted EFA’s annual Collective and Affiliate Members Meeting (CAMM).

It was the occasion to kick off at national level EFA’s 60th anniversary celebrations under the motto “EFA 60 Years On: Festivals and the World”. The Jubilee Guest Book - which is to travel around Europe and beyond in the course of the year - was first signed by the Lord Mayor of Dublin Andrew Montague, Lucinda Creighton, Minister for European Affairs, Senator Michael Mullins, Senator Catherine Noone, and Members of Parliament Terence Flanagan and Bernard Durkan.

Furthermore, representatives of 16 national festival associations and cultural networks endorsed EFA’s proposal “Europe for Festivals: Festivals for Europe” (EFFE), and the role attributed to national associations.

Minister Lucinda Creighton stressed her support of EFA’s proposal and the importance of such initiatives in keeping culture on the agendas of politicians both at national and at European level.

A seminar on “60 Years On: Advancing Cultural Participation in Europe”, organised by AOIFE at the National Library of Ireland, discussed some of the overall aims of the proposal, such as audience building and the role of culture in European citizenship.

“We are delighted to support the goals EFA lays down in its proposal.

We will continue to bring EFA’s mission to the attention of key players at national level, as with our organisations from Belgium, the Czech Republic, Great Britain, Estonia, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Serbia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland we represent altogether more than 2000 festivals and events organisations,” said Colm Croffy, Executive Director of the Association of Irish Festivals and Events.

Lord Mayor of Dublin Andrew Montague received the EFA Board at the historical Mansion House. In his exchange with festival directors he underlined the importance of festivals and cultural events for multicultural cities such as Dublin.

Last but not least, the working meeting of EFA’s Collective and Affiliate Members discussed in particular a joint European research project, FESTudy, set up by national festival’s associations, networks and universities to gather facts and figures on festival life in Europe.

“Europe for Festivals – Festivals for Europe” is a new approach to festivals in the future EU cultural policy and will be further discussed with the European Commission. The proposal was previously discussed with Androulla Vassiliou, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, on 26 January 2012 and presented to the European Parliament’s Culture Committee on 22 November 2011.

At the occasion of its Diamond Jubilee, EFA is setting up a broad range of activities. “Throughout the year, EFA will join forces with hundreds of festivals and its partners around the world to celebrate, commemorate and in particular reflect on the present and future of arts festivals.” stated EFA President Darko Brlek and invited the cultural and festival sector to join activities on the Jubilee website (www.efa-aef.eu/efa60).

Members of the EFA National Association organisations from 17 EU countries pictured at official visit to Senate and Leinster House.

enter Secretary General Kathryn Dev EFA President Darko Briek with House. sion Man the at fy Crof ctor, Colm and host, AOIFE Executive Dire

warmly welcomed EFA President Darko Briek is Montague.

by Dublin Lord Mayor Andrew

2012 Festival & Events: Year in Review

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FESTudy FESTudy is a trans European Collaboration project undertaken by the Association of Irish Festival Events and nine sister networks to begin benchmaring our European Festival and Events sector.

The initiative set up by France Festivals, for ten European festival National Collectives of the European Festival Association to establish a partnership to conduct a comprehensive and comparative festival study. The project was launched in the spring of 2011 and currently includes ten national networks; France, Spain, Norway, Finland, Sweden, REMA, Wallonia and Flanders.

The project is managed and administrated by France Festivals in Paris.

The research process is led by a team of scholars from several European countries, headed by Professor Lluis Bonet from the University of Barcelona. Each participating national network, such as AOIFE, has had to undertake local research in their own territories. Working group meetings have been held in Bulgaria, France, Norway, Ireland and Spain .

Essentially the study is a benchmarking report to compare and contrast European festivals with these other countries so that both Festival Managers and Stakeholders can perhaps get some new ideas by learning from what their other European counterparts are doing. The survey was completed by a targeted number Irish Festivals and the results will be published in spring 2013.

The report does not delve deep into artistic elements but set out to find the artistic influence on those working in the festivals. Perhaps in the national festival-scape one of the festivals may be quite unique and not comparable with other national festivals. However on the European scale there may be a number of comparable festivals.

The comparative national report contains : Axis 1: general trends Axis 2: financial aspects Axis 3: Audience issues Axis 4: Marketing tools and the audience Axis5: The festival organisers The first step of the report was to compare the landscapes in the research countries. Give an idea of the general landscape but emphasising the music element if possible. The cost of the national research has been absorbed by the national organisations but the EU Commission are anticipating that the findings can be used to demonstrate resourcing needs and interventions that the consortium of collectives will seek to apply for Directorate funds for in the next rounds.

The festivals who assisted in the study in each country will hopefully be involved but it is hoped that the actions undertaken will be transmitted through the National Associations to all units of the sector. The sample size reflects the population and dispersal of festival activity in each territory. The mapping questions will involve typical dateline, structure, organisation, thematic and artistic production analysis but also includes areas on use of volunteers, staffing and stakeholder interaction and support as well as sustainable or environmental sustainability?

The Report will be finalised over the early part of 2013 and communicated through the participants at the end of quarter one. It is envisaged that a suitable symposium under the auspices of the EFA, the European Festivals Association will be organised in 2013 for researchers and academics alike as well as the producers and funders can discuss the findings. AOIFE will be distributing the Report to the sector and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s membership during late Spring 2013.

AOIFE Acts Commissioned Research History 1999 Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Keeffe Report 2001 Loftus Report 2002 Development Plan 2004 Fiona Goh Report: First National Benchmarking study of sector 2009 Festivals Flagship Report: Dominc Campbell 2012 Feststudy First European Festival Benchmarking study of sector 16

2012 Festival & Events: Year in Review

Insurance Conundrums Explained for Festival & Event Organisers Since 1995 AOIFE has instituted a Group Insurance Scheme for it’s membership. For the past three years our Brokers to the Group Scheme have been the Dublin based, O’Driscoll/O’Neill and Managing Director, Niall O’Driscoll, answers some of our questions about the benefits of the only Irish Tailored Festival and Event Scheme run on the island.

What other insurances do provide with Public Liability, sure isn’t that all that a festival event needs?

No! Every festival is unique and has different risks that need to be addressed, protected and maybe even insured? As part of the AOIFE insurance scheme, we offer a variety of additional covers in addition to Public Liability such as cover for Property, Contents, Box Offices, Money Cover, All Risks Equipment Cover, Artworks Cover, Employers Liability, Directors and Officers/Employment Practices Liability and Cancellation and Abandonment cover, the list is endless. It is so important to discuss this at the early planning stages.

Who are managing the scheme in O’Driscoll/O’Neill, who we talk to?

The Festival/Events team are Claire Dumbrell, Sean Lawlor, Angela Sheehy, Gareth Ball and Emily Burkhart. You can find all the teams contact details on our website; www.odon.ie.

Our new website can produce instant quotes and cover for many events.

Typically how long did it take in the season just gone (2012) for a quote?

Most of quotes are indicated instantly by our team. Where further information is required the normal turnaround for a quotation to be processed from beginning to end is 24hrs.

We achieved a 98% rate within that target this year.

What have been the Festival and Event Trends in the Last 12 months?

We have found over the past year that the festivals/events in Ireland are going back to its roots in more focussed community/local events. The big message by organisers is participation, with a focus on value for money!

We have found that our AOIFE members are returning the festivals to its traditional roots, which we have found to be quite interesting and fun to deal with this year. We have also seem that the average festival size has reduced and that average footfall is of events has decreased in 2012

Are premiums the same as last year, coming down or are should we anticipate a savage increase in 2013?

The AOIFE rates have remained unaltered in 2012, with the exception of an increase in the government levy in the December 2011 budget.

Going forward the well managed festivals should see no increases in 2013. We don’t see reductions in the following year as insurers are experiencing rises in claims and accidents in the current climate.

What sort of incidents are showing up in claims?

For the most part the claims experience on the scheme is pretty good. The type of incidents that come up more others would be theft of equipment and trips and slips.

To prevent these incidents occurring festival organisers should ensure that their equipment is supervised at all times, and when not in use that the equipment is securely locked away, out of the view of the public. Items such as portable equipment (laptops, cameras, iPads etc.) should always be kept with their owners and not left down. Noting should be left in vehicles over night and items should always be in a locked boot if it has been left in an unattended vehicle. Regarding trips and slips, festival organisers should ensure that all possible precautions have been taken to ensure that there are no hazardous areas where festival goers could fall or that would be considered to be dangerous to people attending the event. This would be the main reason behind, why it is a requirement of the AOIFE scheme that festivals must have a safety statement each year. I would suggest site inspections/photos before and after each event together with an appointed person on site to constantly maintain standards.

Why does the AOIFE scheme insist on the Appointment of Safety Officer and the inspection of a current, up to date Health and Safety plan?

The main reason why we would insist on there been an appointed safety officer and safety statement for each festival, would be first and foremost to ensure that all people attending and working at the festival are doing so in a safe environment. It would be the Safety Officers job to ensure that all matters regarding the safe running of the event are carried out in full and correctly. All festivals must have an up to date safety statement. The safety statement serves to pinpoint areas of exposure and to help and guide the festival organisers to try to eliminate these possible claim exposures. Not only would it set out the responsibility of the safety officer, but all other staff members’ responsibilities with regard to other areas of the festival. Also if you are employing anyone, it is Irish law that you must have a safety statement. You can seek details and guidelines for safety statements from the Health and Safety Authority website. http://www.hsa.ie/eng/Publications_ and_Forms/Publications/Safety_and_ Health_Management/Guidelines_on_Risk_ Assessments_and_Safety_Statements.pdf

Can this scheme work for Northern Ireland Festivals and Events, do you take Sterling?

With regard to festivals in taking place in Northern Ireland, we can offer the same AOIFE Scheme and benefits to Northern Ireland AOIFE members as we operate in Republic of Ireland. All premiums would be quoted in sterling to these clients. This is important now that there are many joint initiatives in play.

How can this scheme help those producing once off GATHERING events in their community this year?

As part of our relationship with AOIFE, in the year of the Gathering, O’Driscoll/O’Neill, will be offering a further discount to that already been offered to AOIFE members. If you festival is been run as part of the Gathering, or if it is a one off Gathering event, you will qualify for a further discount on your premium, a deal which will be exclusive to AOIFE members.

Are all insurers and indeed brokers offering the same for festivals?

Of course not! The AOIFE scheme has specific policy wording tailored to your members and the festival/event sector. We are the only broker providing this together with very competitive premiums of course there might be alternatives, but it is important to deal with people who understand the sectors/risks, a bit like getting a dentist to remove your appendix!

2012 Festival & Events: Year in Review

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What did AOIFE do for the Sector in 2012?

1 Lobbied on behalf of the Irish Festivals & Events for: • Minimising Reductions to the Arts Councils and Tourism Direct Grant Aid Budgets.

• Engaged Proactively and encouraged the Leader network to support and invest in innovative Festival and Event Development.

• Supported and promoted the National Campaign for the Arts.

• Strongly promoted the importance, value and economic impact of the festival sector to Irish business, tourism and local authorities.

2 Trained and Mentored over 565 Festival & Event Organisers.

• Networked the popular Ezine: Irish Festival news to over 3,000 sector contacts 12 times a year.

• It worked with our Insurance Partners O ‘Driscoll/O’Neill to ensure low cost tailored dedicated insurance cover to membership.

• Offered the Community Festivals Networking Seminar • Delivered the 6th Annual Masterclass in Derry.

• Supported the fourth edition of the Milwaukee Irish Fest International Student Exchange Programme.

• Launched the Northern Ireland Festival and Events Development Project with our Association Partners Voluntary Arts Ireland (VAI).

• Hosted over 200 delegates to the 19th Annual Conference in November.

• Initiated the Placement Partnering programme for fulltime event Management students.

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2012 Festival & Events: Year in Review

• Hosted the 60th Anniversary Kick off of the European Festivals Association with the National & collective members meeting in Dublin in February.

• Hosted the secretariat of the IFEA Europe Network.

• AOIFE’s website www.aoifeonline.com hosted some 30,000 visits during the year.

• AOIFE‘s help desk and office dealt with 0ver 200 member and public enquiries on average per week.

• AOIFE was contracted as Digital Television Switchover Champion for East Galway.

• Produced the First ever Annual Review and our Annual Year Wall Planner.

• Trained and delivered on site events, administration, marketing and communication skills to over 14 Irish and International students at our secretariat.

• Represented the Irish Festival and events sector to over 28 Irish events and activities and some 4 overseas conferences.

• Presented to the International Festival and events conference.

• Participated in the Transnational European Bench marking project FESTudy.

• Supported County Gathering Project teams in compiling calendars and building expertise.

All for as little as 48 cent per day!

The Average Festival Event Profile Typical Festival Aims

Typical Festival Themes Relative Importance 3%

Education Other Encourage Social Inclusion Celebration Boost The Local Economy Showcase local heritage/arts Promote local area Increase Tourism in the area Promote artistic excellence

25% 19% 3% 4%

9% 7% 2%

Average National Festival Income

26% 10% 8% 23% 17%

Admission/Box Office Public Subsidies National Sponsors (cash) National Sponsors (in kind) Local Sponsors Fundraising Commercial Revenue

5%

14%

2%

Festival & Events by Theme Arts other Sports Dance Street Events/Carnival Agricultural Food/Drink Literature Drama/Theatre Multidiciplinary Arts

Average National Festival Expenditure

4% 12%

3% 4%

13% 29% 12% 1%

1% 24%

18%

Fees for Acts/Artists Event Licences Staffing Insurance Event Costs Training Administration Marketing

2%

Typical Volunteer Activities Other Bars/Catering Technical Assistance Meeting and Greeting Acts or Artists Selling Tickets Print Delivery and Distribution Prepared Mailings Managing Events Marketing Administration Programming Events Co-ordinating Event Requirements Fundraising Stewarding/Ushering

Relative Weighting

Average Volunteer Age 0.04 0.13

0.1 0.16

0.16 0.21 0.2

Under 18 years 19 - 25 years 26 - 34 years 35 - 44 years 45 - 54 years 55 - 64 years Over 65 years

2012 Festival & Events: Year in Review

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Placement Partnering DBS & Portobello College Course: Events Management & Marketing Number of students: 25 in each year group Placement Time: Between May´08 and January ‘09. The work experience is a work based learning module in the final year of the Events Management and Marketing degree programme and it is mandatory.

Key contact: Carol Clifford, Head of Careers & Appointments, 13/14 Aungier Street, Dublin 2, tel: 01 4177530 or email: careerservice@dbs.ie Length of the placement: The requirement is that the student complete at least 200 hours of work experience. This can be done either full time over the summer or Christmas vacation or part time during the autumn term.

Galway Mayo IT Course: Tourism & Services Marketing Number of students: 40 Placement time: February Key contact: Karen Smith, Tel: 091 742565 or email: linksoffice@gmit.ie Length of placement: Holiday periodsor 6 month placement.

Dublin IT Course: BSc Event Management Number of Students: 40 the 1st year, 26 in 2nd year, 29 the 3rd and 23 the 4th.

Placement time: There is no deadline for placement, apart from exam time.

Key contact: Stephanie Burke, Placement Officer, tel: 01 4024353 or email: stephaine. bourke@dit.ie, Cathal Brugha Street, Dublin 1.

Length of the placement: In 1st year, students are required to get 200 hours of appropriate event experience between September and of April. This is usually and can mean them working in a variety of organisation, at variety of events from conferences, to festivals, to charities etc. 3rd year are required to do a 14 week placement (changing to 24 weeks in 2010) beginning the first week in February (2nd of February 2009 for this year’s group).

Moate Business College Course: Travel and Tourism Number of Students: Approx. 20/30 Placement time: Dates for work placement vary each year but it usually February/March.

Key contact: Orla Power, call 090 6481178 or email: mbcadmin@eircom.net.

Length of the placement: Student go for 3 weeks placement each year, usually organised by the end of November.

Dundalk IT Course: BA in Business Studies and Event Management Number of students: 30/40 Placement time: 2nd year students undertake work experience January/August Key Contact: Catherine Staunton, Email: catherine.staunton@dkit.ie, Tel: 042 9370225 Length of placement: 6 Months Dun Laoighre IADT Course: BBS Event Management Number of students: 30 Year 2, 24 Year 4.

Placement time: Contact the college at any time but the block release means invariably that some go out to industry from early spring to summer and some late spring to late Autumn/early winter.

Key Contact: Audrey Stenson, Placement Officer Business School, Email: Audrey. stenson@aidt.ie or Tel: 01 2144672

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2012 Festival & Events: Year in Review

Limerick Institute of Technology Course: Business Studies & Event Management Number of students: 150 Placement time: Only in the first year Key Contact: Sarah Jane Kickham, email: sarajane.kickham@lit.ie or Tel: 061- 208208.

Length of placement: 20 hours

NUI Galway Course: MA Arts Policy & Practice Number of Students: 13 Placement time: April & May Key Contact: Dee Quinn, Huston School of Film & Digital Media, Block Q, NUIG. Tel: 091-495076or visit www.filmschool.ie Length of placement: 4 weeks St. John’s College Course: Rural Tourism Number of students: 24 in the 1st year and 12 in the 2nd year.

Placement time: Contact us at any time.

A work experience is a requirement for the completion of your course; we du a FETAC level 5 work experience module as on www.fetac.ie Key Contact: Derval Glavin, St. John’s Central College, Sawmill Street, Cork, Ireland. Tel: 021 4255500 or email: dglavin@stjohnscollege.ie Length of placement: 10 days in the 1st year and 40 days in the 2nd year.

University College Dublin Course: Tourism Course Number of students: 20 Placement time: Anytime up to March Key Contact: Elizabeth Varley at Elizabeth. varley@ucd.ie or phone at 01 7168625 Length of placement: 8 weeks

University of Limerick Course: BBS Marketing/BSc Graphic and Creative Design Number of students: 400 Year 2, 300 Year 4.

Placement time: Contact the college at any time but the block release means invariably that some go out to sector from early Spring to Summer and some late Spring to late Autumn/early Winter Key Contact: Treasa Landers, Placement Officer, Co-operative Affairs Division, email: Treasa.landers@ul.ie tel: 061 202978 Waterford IT Course: MA in Arts & Heritage Management; the only postgraduate course of its kind in Ireland and which involves an in-depth assessed placement opportunity.

Number of students: 16 Placement time: September Key Contact: Ms. Fionnula Brennan mail at fbrennan@wit.ie or phone number 051 302225 Length of placement: A work experience is an integral part of the programme. Student on the MA in Arts and Heritage undertake a year round placement with one day a week in semesters two and three (i.e. September-May) and three days a week during semester three (i.e. June-August) Waterford It Course: BA in Hospitality Management.

Number of Students: Approx.70 Placement time: Employers can contact the placement co-ordinator in the Department of Languages, Tourism and Hospitality outlining available positions. Student will ultimately choose their own employer for placement.

Key contact: Mary Keating, Placement Coordinator, email: mkeating@wit.ie or Joanne Malone course leader email: jmalone@wit.ie or phone at 051 302758 Length of the placement: 12 weeks students may be willing to work in their own time, apart from exam time. BA Hospitality Management student are required complete one semester i.e. 12 weeks, but many continue to work for establishment before or after periods.

AOIFE Supports Third Level We support third level event management students finding work placement within our organisations. Please contact: info@ aoifeonline.com for further information on placement partnering.

If your college course is not mentioned here, please contact us to update our website listing.

Northern Ireland Festival & Events: A New Approcach Background AOIFE had in the period 1999-2003 significant reach, profile and membership in Northern Ireland due to the involvement as a partner with Co-operation Ireland in a Cross Border Measure 3.1 funded Festival and community Event Development and Twining Programme.

Membership peaked after a participation programme conference in Monaghan in 2000 at about 75 members.

A new initiative that will potentially see festival and event organisers in Northern Ireland benefit from professional support and guidance has just been launched, writes EMMA WHITEHEAD. Festival and Events Northern Ireland will help equip organisers with all the tools they need to successfully run their festival or event. Run in partnership by the Association of Irish Festival Events (AOIFE) and Voluntary Arts Ireland (VAI), the initiative will also help build closer working relations between festivals from the North and Republic of Ireland.

Voluntary Arts Ireland (VAI) and Association of Irish Festival Events (AOIFE) are working together to support the festival and events sector in Northern Ireland through providing training, capacity building resources, showcase opportunities and advocacy.

Through the project we aim to: Create a vibrant and animated sector in Northern Ireland by empowering the organisations and individuals who work within it.

Create a combined programme and set of resources that enhance and support best practice. The pilot programme is jointly managed by the Chief Officer of VAI and Executive Director of AOIFE, with a New part time Festival Development Officer post.

Since then engagement has fallen back.

As an all island advocacy group we wish to re animate our AOIFE has been involved loosely as a member of the VAI Ireland project since 2005 and in the past two seasons has enjoyed closer working relations with the new secretariat team based in Derry. Three successful community / volunteer event organisers training days have been undertaken in Derry, Strabane and Belfast over the past few months.

Executive Director Colm Croffy acknowledged that “Our presence in Northern Ireland has slipped back even though we’ve had some wonderfully strong supporters down through the years and people from festivals and events in Belfast, Derry, Ballycastle, Groomesport, and Warrenpoint have all at various points served on the National Execitive of the organisation”.

Members will receive a range of benefits including dedicated one-to-one support and guidance on setting up a festival, marketing and promotion training, low cost insurance and professional development and mentoring.

in Northern Ireland, from the mainstream to the beautifully quirky and everything in between. Having talked to many of these festivals it has became clear that there is a strong need for dedicated support and advice. Through this scheme we hope to work with everyone from small events organisers to mainstream festivals to assist with getting started, fundraising, training volunteers, using social media - whatever it is, we’re here to help.”

Festival & Events NI helps you with • Guidance in setting up your festival • Planning and promoting events effectively • Networking with the Festival & Event Community across Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland • Managing social media • Health and Safety Do’s and Don’ts • Managing your finances • Raising funds and sponsorship • Low cost insurance cover • A dedicated helpdesk • Pool resources and cut costs • Platform to showcase your festival to a wider audience • Access to 100’s of online resources • Professional development and mentoring • Inaugural Northern Ireland Festival and Events Conference Spring 2013.

To find out more about how we can help, email Festival Development Officer Emma on emma@vaireland.org or call 02 871 272501.

VAI Chief Executive Kevin Murphy is looking forward to the partnership “ We’ve been attempting to garner some more profile for Voluntary Arts Ireland in the Republic for some years and feel that this pilot project will assist us in bringing some of our niche services such as Art Take Part and the online package “ Running your Group” to a wider audience. “ Newly appointed Northern Ireland Festival Development Officer, Emma Whitehead is excited about getting started: “We have such a fantastically diverse range of festivals

2012 Festival & Events: Year in Review

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Antrim: Festival of Fools Belfast’s Festival of Fools continues to provide a range of spectacular performances, despite being a free attendance festival that depends on the generosity of its audience. It runs for five days over the May Bank Holiday. Next year is the 10th year, so the organisers are planning to bring back popular acts from previous years, new crowd pleasers and possibly expanding to other towns and cities.

The Festival is worth over £950,000 to its surrounding area which is impressive considering all the events it provides are free. Will Chamberlain the Artistic Director, who has been the brains of the operation since day one in 2004 ensures each year the festival is bigger and better than the previous year which is no easy feat although he has Sarah Kelly as his Festival Co-ordinator for the past six festivals.

It strives to celebrate top quality street theatre, and this year one of the highlights was the opening show, Journey to the Land of Giants, which was the largest ever street theatre show produced in Northern Ireland.

It was a resounding success, with a cast of 65 including professional performers, young members from Belfast Community Circus School, young people from Beat Carnival and Rathgael Gymnastics Club.

Audience members said it felt like having their very own Cirque du Soleil in town! The Big Finish Cabaret also proved exceptionally popular with audiences. At the end of each day, a selection of artists from the Festival line-up give a variety show which packs out one of Belfast largest public squares.

This year they noticed that there was an out-of-state audience growth of 22% up from 14% in 2011. Regular followers of the festival and volunteers at the five day event have developed a real sense of ownership over the years, and there has been a great reputation for the festival created by artists, who were proud to be invited and programmed.

The Festival of Fools is a non-ticketed festival, which is free to attend but relies on donations from the public. The Organisers were delighted to see that public donations were up this year, despite difficult financial times, audiences demonstrated the value they place in the Festival.

They also chose to produce a number of items of merchandise which served the dual purpose of being desirable commodities and also of further promoting the Festival – items included postcards, cotton bags and travel coffee mugs.

They embraced all the opportunities for additional marketing presented by their sponsors through online placement on the websites of UTV and Translink, as well as enhanced penetration to thousands of employees through internal networks. Even their smaller sponsors contributed to the online marketing through sharing Facebook posts. For the first time Festival of Fools opted for an

Antrim

international intern, Anaelle Strauch from France this year.

She significantly helped in all aspects of the festival, proving to be a valuable asset to the team during her 6 month stay. Her activities ranged from administration to delivery to post festival monitoring.

As in other years the festival had a great response to their call out for volunteers for the actual festival weekend with just under 100 volunteers lending their enthusiasm and time over the bank holiday weekend.

There were many repeat volunteers and quite a few new faces, with the vast majority being connected to the Belfast Circus School community of parents and adult circus members. Artists at the festival seemed to really appreciate volunteers this year, and they had a great team spirit evident on site with a real sense of shared ownership of the Festival across everybody involved with the organisation.

This season the Festival of Fools found their sponsors were asking for a greater online presence to accommodate the rising level of their festival goers that use social networking so that they could continuously interact with them. They grew their online followers from 300 to 6,000 in a matter of weeks. Sponsors were also looking for value for money so they were much more interested in unique benefits which could only be delivered through association with the Festival of Fools brand.

As part of their new partnership with Translink and with the support of Arts and Business, the festival has commissioned a tailor made sound installation at bus stops, transforming the experience of waiting passengers through humour and surprise. The bus shelter was no longer just a space to wait for the next bus, but provided a quirky fun interlude to bored passengers and surprised passers by.

Among our festival and event members in County Antrim Gig ‘n The Bann Cross Community Festival www.gignthebann.com Auld Lammas Fair www.irishcultureandcustoms.com Ballymena Arts Festival www.thebraid.com Festival of Fools www.foolsfestival.com Heart of The Glens Festival www.glensfestival.com Féile An Phobail www.feilebelfastl.com

For a current update on all our members in this county visit www.aoifeonline.com

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CASTLE STAGE HIRE Established in 1990, Castle Stage Hire has grown to become one of the leading event services suppliers in Ireland North and South, specialising in: • Outdoor staging • Indoor Staging • PA and lighting • Catwalks and tiered platforms • Disabled ramps and viewing platforms • Crowd barrier • Rigging • Dance floor covering • Drapes • Truss and lots, lots more.

CONTACT US FOR A COMPETITIVE QUOTE FOR YOUR NEXT EVENT. 39 Lisbofin Road, Blackwatertown, Dungannon, Co. Tyrone, N. Ireland BT71 7JQ T +44 (0) 28 3754 8892 · F +44 (0) 28 3754 8892 · M +44 (0) 7841 101 601 cormac@castlestagehire.com · www.castlestagehire.com

Armagh: William Kennedy Piping Festival William Kennedy Piping Festival is a five day festival that has been running for nineteen years. Grainne Vallely the Festival Co ordinator has been involved since 2008 and has been working hard since taking her role to keep the event going.

She says “It’s always been difficult to attract funding for artistic concerts when you don’t necessarily have the broadest commercial appeal. As the economy remains downbeat we’ve had to rethink how we package our events to make them appeal to a wider audience.”

Organisers are working to draw a bigger audience so that there can be more money to pay their artists, keep the festival line-up fresh and stay true to their vision of celebrating world pipe and traditional music.

The committee invite pipers from countries such as Croatia, Greece and Algeria and give them a platform with more established traditional musicians. The Hooley event is a recent addition to the festival and features 15 acts on 3 stages ‘A Festival within a Festival’ when asked how it will attract audiences Grainne states “You might come along to see the big name act, but you’ll also be enchanted by some Scottish Gàidhlig song, or energised by a Portuguese Pipe and Drum ensemble.”

The Festival needs lateral thinking to maintain the profile and reputation of the festival while keeping the costs as low as possible.

Social media has helped the committee to target interested people with information. The festival volunteers are excellent in spreading publicity material all over the Island. Organisers found it more cost effective to ditch their traditional media launch in favour of an electronic version, and they have continued to work closely with NITB, Culture NI and others to make use of their advertising platforms. A great relationship with Armagh City and District Council helps too.

Grainne declared that developing fringe activites to the big concerts has been successful in involving more children and families in the festival. She added “we’ve also found mutually beneficial partnerships working with local community groups to deliver smaller events with a distinct Piping Festival flavour.”

The festival runs on a budget size of £70-80,000 but makes an amazing £450,000 economic return into Armagh City and District Area. When questioned on the Gathering 2013 and the Festival’s plans Grainne disclosed “No specific plans for that yet we’ll need to get this year over us first of all, however the festival grows each year. Events change in range and number, and each year we may concentrate and develop a specific thread – Irish / Scottish connections, or the pipes of the Mediterranean are a few examples over the years.”

Armagh

Among our festival and event members in County Armagh William Kennedy Piping Festival www.armaghpipers.org/wkpf Bard of Armagh www.bardofarmagh.com

For a current update on all our members in this county visit www.aoifeonline.com

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Derry: Stendhal Festival of Art Stendhal Festival of Art Combines music, art, dance, sculpture, poetry and a host of other activities, this is a family friendly event that embraces the ethos of community and discovering different genres of art. The festival first began in 2011 and has generated a great following in just two years. It generates approximately £150,000 for the locality.

However it’s proving difficult for the festival to increase footfall without years of experience behind them. Their audience wait to buy tickets so they end up selling a lot on the day with the public not expecting a sell out. Their early bird offer did work to an extent and they are exploring offering early bird tickets for Christmas, hoping they’ll be bought as a Christmas gift. The two day event had more families this year and targeted for family friendly events and facilities, although it is getting more difficult for them to get investment.

This year the festival was trying to inject creativity into their marketing and ended up using the Stendhal Pandas around the local area in their video footage it proved very popular with the children in the community.

They made up and sent out 25 messages in bottles along the local coastline. If the bottle was found and a photo posted on Facebook the winner would receive 2 free tickets for adults or a family ticket if appropriate. The first message was found in County Antrim and they received very good press coverage as a result. The initiative can carry over to next year as all the bottles haven’t been recovered yet.

Organisers worked hard to ensure that their 2012 edition brought new ideas that had not been seen before so they built two new stages and developed three new areas known as the Poetry Corner, Bridge to the Augmented Woodland and Beach area. The Augmented Woodland was an interactive project an actual digital Woodland Installation with a touch pad participants could activate lighting in 12 trees. They introduced a Porter Service for the family campsite it was initiated from feedback from families at the previous year’s festival. They had tractors available to carry their camping stuff from parking to campsite.

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For a current update on all our members in this county visit www.aoifeonline.com

Stendhal Festival of Art doesn’t have corporate sponsorship at the minute they are not for profit and looking at a co-operative model. They do expect more interest from local businesses and growth coming into their third year and are in discussions with the Chamber of Commerce.

They are happy to put up logos and signage for local business etc. currently without monetary commitment. They haven’t pushed the sponsorship option a great deal but they will look at it as they progress.

While their stakeholders are very easy to deal with they know they are behind the festival, know Stendhal’s story and Organisers make sure they engage with them as much as possible.

The Festival is very lucky with their volunteers as they have a well established friendly community of volunteers involved. They get new volunteers and within a couple of months people are building friendships and making connections that will last a lifetime. John Cartwright Head of PR & Communications says “Volunteering is one of the best things about the whole festival experience. There are differing levels of commitment but people genuinely want to get involved. Everyone works ridiculously hard but we try to keep an easy going family feel so they don’t feel it’s a hard slog.”

Headliners Henry McCullough and Mundy were very popular as was comedy act Phil Kay. John says “We’re happy with our current programming but we’d like to attract bigger headline acts, the focus on visual arts and getting big names in the visual arts world for bigger impact in this area.

Raise more funding, raise awareness and break even or turn a profit.”

Derry: City of Culture In 2013 Derry/Londonderry will play host to a year-long celebration of culture in the city, opening its doors to visitors from across the world. It is anticipated that people will come in their thousands to experience the cultural life that has been at the heart of Derry/Londonderry for generations.

Derry/Londonderry’s bid for The City of Culture proposed a programme of joyous celebration including an ambitious cultural programme leading up to and including 2013.

The year will open with a spectacular ‘Sons and Daughters’ event, a contemporary music and dance festival, an international festival of contemporary visual art events, cultural embassies programme, verbal arts programmes, and outdoor water based spectacular pageant on the River Foyle celebrating the return of Colmcille.

Culture Company 2013 Ltd is an independent company (limited by guarantee) formed to manage and deliver the UK City of Culture 2013 programme in partnership with Derry City Council, Ilex Urban Regeneration Company and the Strategic Investment Board. With a team of 18 full time staff and led by Chief Executive Shona McCarthy, Culture Company 2013 Ltd is headquartered at Ebrington in Derry/Londonderry.

The Company’s mission is to provide cultural access for all within the City and its Hinterland and confidently and creatively connect with the wider world. The lifespan of the Company is from 2011-2014 and the establishment of a sustainable legacy is central to its work. Derry/ Londonderry has plans to invest more than £200m in its infrastructure to creat a national cultural treasure at Ebrington and pursue

Derry

World Heritage Status for the City Walls. The year of culture will ultimately create over 3,000 jobs, double visitor numbers and reach out to communities across Northern Ireland, the UK, ROI and the nine million Diaspora worldwide.

The core themes of the City of Culture project are Joyous Celebration and Purposeful Inquiry with four distinct components: 1. Unlocking Creativity 2. Creative Connections 3. Digital Dialogue 4. Creating a New Story A key strand of the programme delivery will take place through extensive digital engagement across a series of online media platforms: website(s), social media, web TV and mobile apps.

After many years of turmoil Derry/Londonderry is enjoying the dividend of the peace process and undergoing a renaissance, transforming physically and culturally. Being designated UK City of Culture for 2013 enables the city to accelerate the pace of change and provides a new story for the city to tell to the world.

The Cultural programme for 2013 is already very well developed and will feature a calendar full of big ‘Cultural Brands’ including the Turner Prize, London Symphony Orchestra, Royal National Ballet, Lumiere, Hofesh Shechter. The unfolding story of the physical renaissance is spectacular. The new Peace Bridge and the former military base at

Ebrington have been formally recognised in national awards as being of a truly stand out quality. The program includes a new play

by U.S. writer Sam Shepard staged by Field Day, the innovative local company founded in 1980 by playwright Brian Friel and actor Stephen Rea. Other stage offerings are “Teenage Kicks,” a punk musical inspired by local rock heroes The Undertones, and an open-air spectacle devised by Frank Cottrell Boyce, who scripted the opening ceremony of the London Olympics. Nobel Literature prizewinning poet Seamus Heaney, will kick off a poetry festival in the city, which will also host an exhibition for art’s Turner Prize, performances by the London Symphony Orchestra and a visit from the Royal Ballet.

In addition, Culture Company 2013 will be working with the Public Health Agency to deliver the ‘Extraordinary People Project’, that will see over 500 people from across the Derry City Council neighbourhood renewal areas benefit, from participating in over 30 courses across 12 art forms. Portrait of a City is the third community-led project that will launch in 2013 as part of the City of Culture programme and will explore the history and shared heritage of Derry/Londonderry and tell our new story to the world online.

Among our festival and event members in County Derry Banks of the Foyle Halloween Carnival www.derrycity.gov.uk Christmas Illuminations: The Big Switch On. www.derrycity.gov.uk St. Patrick’s Day Spring Carnival Derry www.derrycity.gov.uk Walled City Cultural Trail: July/August www.derrycity.gov.uk Derry City of Culture www.cityofculture2013.com

For a current update on all our members in this county visit www.aoifeonline.com

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Down: Newcastle Arts Festival The Newcastle Arts Festival has been held in August for the last two years and is still only finding its feet in the Festival and Event sector, as Organisers sit down to make their plans for their 3rd year, which will incorporate ‘The Gathering 2013’.

The Festival saw new trends this year such as an increase in interest from potential volunteers, people who want to get involved and more attraction from funders. There was an overall appreciation that the festival can do something for the community, huge appeal in the provision of high quality events for children, building from successful craft workshops in the 1st year. The 2nd years, Mad Hatters Tea Party, was very successful and fully booked very early on.

Geoff Ingram, Chairman of Newcastle Arts Festival said they undertook some new strategies for marketing and sales this year like a Yarn Bombing Newcastle Campaign that organised by some members of the committee, it received a lot of press coverage including National BBC coverage. Expanded social media, using twitter as well as Facebook and a pre festival music event was targeted and timed to coincide with the established council organised Festival of Flight and was advertised in their brochure.

Organiser’s interaction with sponsors is difficult as they do not have a working relationship with the festival for very long but involvement of local businesses has been very successful, the popularity of advert space in the Newcastle Arts Festival Gig Guide led to possibly too many adds for the publication. Relationships are being developed with a small scale new local business - although actual funding is not available there is a willingness to cross promote and slowly develop a mutually beneficial relationship. Larger potential sponsors were very slow to decide about support and those negotiations were not pursued.

While Newcastle Arts Festival feel their relationship with their stakeholders is easier they are more enthusiastic and are beginning to understand their long term goals. They are confident with their track record of producing quality events. Organisers have received positive interest from the Chamber of Commerce and politicians, giving a boost to the reliability of the festival.

festival’s first year they were spread across the town, using pubs as venues for their music events. Having street events broadens their reach to the public and helps cross promote events in other venues. Organisers are aiming to get a marquee or circus tent for next year’s festival with stage and lights this will give them their own independent stage, more flexibility and opens up the opportunity for more sponsorship. At the moment the festival uses local businesses to host their events which allows the town community to work together to make the events a success.

Geoff Ingram can disclose that next year the Newcastle Arts Festival will have more literary events, a stand alone Percy French weekend before the 3rd NAF festival, a programme of events throughout the year focusing on young people’s participation in music, bringing in an international act, expanding on already successful street events, food events working closely with local food business to include demonstrations and expos in the festival, further developing programming consultations with Local Arts Officers (Down Arts) and nurturing relationships with the Chamber of Commerce.

The Festival had many more street focused events this year with a flash mob, street theatre, circus performers and a pop up gallery in the centre of the town. This has led to them expanding geographically. In the

Among our festival and event members in County Down Boley Fair www.boleyfair.com Camlough Lake Water Festival www.clwf.eu Festival of the Peninsula www.festivalofthepeninsula.info Fiddlers Green Folk Festival www.fiddlersgreenfestival.co.uk Grooms Port Music Fest www.northdowntourism.com

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For a current update on all our members in this county visit www.aoifeonline.com

Down

Fermanagh: Fermanagh Live Embracing music, drama and visual arts, Fermanagh Live is a wonderful celebration of many events highlighting both local and other innovative talent while promoting Fermanagh’s culture and heritage.

Fermanagh Live formally Fermanagh Arts festival has been running bi-annually since 2006 for three days with some fringe events.

This year was the first year the festival provided online booking which has proved successful. In previous years advance sales were poor and because of the new system there has been a big increase approx 18% up on last year. There is a wide and varied range of tastes to accommodate every member of the audience. However a lot of the same people go to all of the events a core audience attends each of the events.

With regards sales and marketing organisers provided early bird discounts (£8 as opposed to £10) and successful concessions like unemployed, students, OAPs. They had a bigger budget for marketing (£14 thousand) to work with so there was a new website, brochure delivered to every home in Fermanagh and pop up banner provided.

Also they employed a local marketing company to very successfully drip fed press releases /profiles/interviews to the media and employed a photographer to guarantee publicity footage for future festivals In relation to changes Terry McCartney the festival chair says “This year we made a real effort to make the festival more generally appealing to the public – Comedy acts had good feedback in previous years so we signed Ardal O Hanlon as a big name comedy act. We also focused on a local feel ‘Best in the West & More’ with local singers/ acts/workshops and local school involvement. We plan to build on the local community and school connections next year and may do a festival path ticket next year.”

Organisers of the festival believe that sponsors are hard to find; they look for tickets for client entertainment, need to see their name and logo well displayed and they aren’t necessarily giving to an event. Timing was an issue for the festival this year as a big sponsor (Coke) was looking at their budget for sponsorship in October at the time the festival is running. This means the festival committee have to look at that sponsorship a year in advance and throws up programming problems with acts not willing to confirm too early. Concerning Volunteers Terry stated “much of the core audience consists of people who are involved in volunteering at other times of the year. Volunteers are invested in the events, they tend to go and bring their friends making this an avenue to build audience.The festival just wouldn’t happen without volunteers, we have an excellent volunteer manager with good systems in place and able to deputise so it’s not dependant only on one person.”

Fermanagh Live has no formal plans to link to the Gathering as yet but they plan to run the event annually so there will be a festival in 2013 with plans for a mainstream key event.

Fermanagh

Among our festival and event members in County Fermanagh Fermanagh Live www.flive.org.uk Enniskillen Festival Music & Arts www.enniskillenartsfestival.com Sea Plane Fest www.fermanaghseaplanefestival.com

For a current update on all our members in this county visit www.aoifeonline.com

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Wm Bird (Sales) Ltd. T/a Funderland. 97 Henry Street, Limerick, Ireland.

Telephone +353 61 419988 Fax +353 61 419108 Email info@funderland.com

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www.funderland.com

Tyrone: Sperrins Hillwalking Festival The Sperrins Hill Walking festival has been running for 16 years, its size and scale has depended upon funding. When it first started it lasted for 6 or 7 days, this year it lasted for 3 days. The budget has ranged from approximately £3,000 to £9,000 over the years, depending upon funding gained.

When asked how is the three day event good for its locality Martin Bradley Countryside Officer says “we would estimate that the return to the hospitality, transport businesses, etc and the PR value to the Sperrins region has been at least twice the budget spent each year.” The Strabane District Council was the festivals chief sponsor this year, with aim of ensuring continuance for the event. Martin was the main organiser of the festival on behalf of the District Council. However he has been involved for many other years as a participant, guide and organiser.

2012 saw the event’s more challenging walking routes being lead by Adventure Mark Accredited and fully insured Mountain Leaders for the first time. The organisers used in house (Council) and Outdoor Recreation NI website marketing as much as possible to increase interest in the festival. Martin was very grateful for local guides who helped the festival by leading the lower level history walks.

A new and very popular aspect of the festival this year was the delivery of ecological and geological interpretation by some of the leaders; this resulted in landscape aesthetics discussions taking place on some of the challenging routes at an altitude of over 2,000 feet.

Speaking on the future of the festival Martin said “Each year sustainability has become more and more important.

The long term aim would be the inclusion of more upland environment interpretation and more about the Sperrin`s cultural history through story telling and make this a key element of the walks”. There are no plans for the Gathering as yet for this festival at the moment; the organisers are concentrating on keeping the event environmentally and economically sustainable.

Tyrone

Among our festival and event members in County Tyrone Strabane Fair Day www.strabanedc.com Craic in the Brack www.cng.ie

For a current update on all our members in this county visit www.aoifeonline.com

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Voluntary Arts Ireland

By Tony Carlin Art Take Part

Running Your Group

If there is one thing a festival or community event organiser always needs; it is help spreading the word. These days there are so many different online avenues for promoting or advertising your event it is hard to keep track of it all. Art Take Part provides a free online platform for arts groups, organisations, individuals and festival and community events to say what they do, where and when they do it.

Running Your Group is a resource-packed, one-stopshop for anyone looking for expert support and guidance on running their group. With hundreds of free resources and how-to guides on everything from fundraising, marketing, event management and recruiting volunteers (to name but a few), it is an invaluable tool for anyone looking for support on running festivals or events.

Many festivals offer fantastic opportunities for people to try out new arts activities, get the kids enthused and highlight the work of artists and crafts people. So whether your festival or event offers workshops in music, circus skills, dance, crafts, upcycling or dramatic monologues, it is Art Take Part’s job to let the public know about it.

As an Art Take Part Group you can join a growing community of art activity providers. If your festival or event is coming up we can feature it in our monthly enews and help promote your activities through our social media channels.

Art Take Part can help direct a growing public appetite for trying new arts activities or renewing forgotten skills towards the wealth of artistic talent on the island of Ireland, which is often harnessed and showcased by festivals and community events.

Art Take Part lets web users find out what creative activities are on in their area, searchable by art form, area and keyword. Since its launch last year the site has been awarded a London 2012 Inspire Mark and has helped profile the work of over 160 groups from throughout Northern Ireland.

We have tried to make joining Art Take Part as easy as possible.

Simply log on to www.arttakepart.org to set up your free account now. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter.

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2012 Festival & Events: Year in Review

Running Your Group has been launched by Voluntary Arts – the national development agency for the voluntary and amateur arts sectors – which identified the need for clear, up-to-date and expert information to help group leaders with issues such as securing funding and learning how to successfully use social media. Subscribing to Running Your Group only takes a minute and is completely free! You will also join a growing network of thousands from across the UK and Ireland. You can easily network with your peers through the Running Your Group forums and blog. You can even promote your activities by creating an online profile and find like-minded individuals by tagging your interests.

For a small fee you can also upgrade your account to get access to premium features such as: The Step-By-Step Tutorials: These are in-depth, interactive guides designed to help you really get to grips with a topic. They feature case studies, video material and expert advice, as well as giving you activities and exercises to complete. They’ll give you the confidence and resources you need, whether you’re putting together a funding bid or recruiting volunteers.

Live Online Events Through Running Your Group, you can get access to key decision makers and influencers through our live online events. Not only can you benefit from their expert advice, but you can ask them questions and comment on what is being said live through our chat system. A great way to make sure that your voice is heard at a national level!.

To try out Running Your Group now for free, just simply log on to the website: www.runningyourgroup.org and follow the online instructions.

Cavan: Festival of The Erne The Festival of The Erne, Belturbet, Co Cavan is a 10 day festival which takes place every year during the last week of July and ending on the August Bank holiday Monday. The festival is entering its 37th year. The Festival of the Erne also includes the Lady of The Erne competition which is entering its 23rd year.

The Festival provides Belturbet with over €100,000 in business as a result of the large crowds it attracts. But the festival is finding more difficult to deal with their stakeholders because of the current situation of the country. While their sponsors expect more for their sponsorship than before, they want links between their website and the festival’s and there has to be placement of logo on all published materials and website.

The festival tried out some new concepts to improve marketing and sales so they started putting advertising on their website, live streaming of some events on website so that fans of the festival missing out could still tune in and tried out more door to door sales. These concepts worked as organisers noticed increase attendance at all kid’s events, they noted other new trends this year such as a greater reliance on social media so increased use on their website and Facebook page and their audience had an expectance of more of a variety of events.

With regard to volunteering Sarah McGuigan Vice Chairperson remarked “A greater willingness to volunteer, the volunteers are more aware of the benefits that festival brings to the town and there is a better understanding of the work which the committee does.” In their annual fashion show the organisers asked local individuals to participate as it would ensure the community would be interested in going to see it.

The most popular events at the festival this year were the adult’s fancy dress which brings in large crowds which includes people participating and people watching. Also the pig racing draws a large crowd.

When asked about next year Sarah says “Next year we are hoping to encourage all the past winners and contestants of the Lady of the Erne to return for the event. During the Annual Adults Fancy Dress which takes place on the Friday night we hoping to go interactive with people from local area that are living aboard and encourage them to have their own fancy dress wherever they are.” They’re also considering of changing their location up a bit and make great use of the river and our local island.

Cavan

Among our festival and event members in County Cavan Killinkere Jamboree Festival www.jamboree.ie Virginia Pumpkin Festival www.virginia.ie Belturbet Festival of The Erne www.festivaloftheerne.com /The Lady of The Erne

For a current update on all our members in this county visit www.aoifeonline.com

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Carlow: Pan Celtic International Festival The Pan Celtic International Festival takes place every year at Easter time, in a different location. It opens on the Tuesday after Easter Sunday and runs for six days and nights until the following Sunday. The dates for 2013 are 2nd – 7th April. 2012 was Carlow’s first time ever to host this particular annual event.

festival in April 2013. In addition to the official competitions and events for performers a major programme of fringe events is being planned so that attendees can participate themselves rather than be merely spectators.

By having the opportunity to hold this festival Carlow’s local hotels, guesthouses and self catering services had full capacity during the week.

Pubs participating in the Trad Music Trail enjoyed maximum crowds and local shops and traders claimed business and sales increased considerably. The Festival had a budget in excess of €60,000 but earned much more for the town in return. Bríde de Róiste, Cathaoirleach who was involved in a volunteer capacity said the best impact of all was “The great buzz and festive atmosphere which Pan Celtic created in town. The mood was positive and confident throughout”.

The Pan Celtic International Festival is ideal for the Gathering as it already attracts visitors and performers from the six participating nations; Wales, Scotland, Brittany, Cornwall and the Isle of Man as well as Ireland. The organising committees in each of the nations have been made aware of Gathering Ireland 2013 and all nations plan to increase their numbers attending the festival.

Coincidentally, 2013 happens to be Bliain na Gaeilge celebrating the Irish language and in particular the 120th anniversary of the founding of Conradh Na Gaeilge/The Gaelic League by Douglas Hyde in 1893. Pan Celtic is dovetailing with this celebration and inviting Irish language enthusiasts overseas to return to Carlow for the

Pan Celtic noticed things about the festival sector that other festivals may not have the opportunity to see such as the Easter holidays are a great time to hold a festival, winter has passed, families are on school holidays and the weather is generally favourable towards outdoor activities. The local community surpassed all expectations and rose to the occasion to ensure a massive welcome for all visitors to the town for Pan Celtic the perfect hosts and there was ease and pride with which the festival’s Celtic neighbours dressed in full national costume and sang and danced spontaneously on the streets.

Organisers have already began their marketing strategy for the 2013 season by setting up an Information stand manned for three days at the National Ploughing Championships, they will be included on Gathering Ireland website and Festivals’ Calendar and they hope Pan Celtic will feature on the Discover Ireland promos on national radio.

Having learned from this year’s events Pan Celtic will choose venues to suit the various performances for example the Choral Concert will take place in the magnificent Cathedral and School/College halls will be available for large music competitions. At this year’s edition of the festival everybody particularly enjoyed the Official Opening of Pan Celtic 2012 by President Michael D. Higgins followed by the best of Celtic and the sight of the dancers in national costume performing spontaneously on the streets at The Pan Celtic Parade was magnificent.

Speaking about next year’s festival Bríde says “As this was our first year to host Pan Celtic we made a conscious effort to ensure lots of the events took place outdoors next year we hope to build on this and to increase participation by the public in the events rather than have them as mere spectators. We also plan to place greater emphasis on the celtic languages by offering free workshops introductory level.”

Among our festival and event members in County Carlow Bagenalstown Floral Festival www.bagenalstownfestival.webs.com Pan Celtic www.panceltic.ie Eigse Fesitval www.eigsecarlow.ie Carlow Garden Festival www.carlowgardentrail.com Carlow African Film Festival www.carlowafricanfilmfestival.com

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For a current update on all our members in this county visit www.aoifeonline.com

Carlow

Clare: Willie Clancy Summer School

Held annually since 1973 in memory of the piper Willie Clancy, the Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy is Ireland’s largest traditional music summer school. During the week, students from every part of the world attend daily classes taught by experts in Irish music and dance. In addition, a full programme of lectures, recitals, dances (céilithe) and exhibitions are run by the summer school.

Eamon McGivney has been involved with the festival since 1976 in a teaching, playing and board capacity. For Milltown Malbay the festival would be the biggest week of the year for them. The Festival is completely voluntary, the teachers get expenses and accommodation for the week but their time spent educating the students is voluntary. The festival is lucky to have found such a dedicated group of people.

The festival offers the highest standard for the students that enroll. They hold individual recitals, they have a major concert, they provide scholarships on behalf of generous organisations like the Pipers Club Dublin and have classes in the harp, harmonica, fiddle, banjo, button accordion, melodian, concertina, whistle and flute classes. 2012 saw the festival play host to an astounding 400 fiddlers. Eamon states that the only marketing and sales tactics they need is Word of Mouth as students come from all around Ireland and abroad because of the name and reputation of the festival. Many of the students that attend had family members before them enrol in the workshops so these families want to keep up the tradition because the event is so well known.

The sites for the workshops, concerts and recitals are buildings that the Shannon Development scheme was kind enough to donate to the festival. For ‘the Gathering’ next year Eamon has said “we will definitely be incorporating the gathering as much as we can and inviting as many international students as we can.” Forty two Russian students have already showed interest in participating as they have dancers and fiddle players that want to attend.

Clare

Among our festival and event members in County Clare Féile Brian Ború www.scariff.ie Scariff Harbour Festival www.iniscealtra-artsfestival.org Iniscealtra Festival of Arts www.spancilhillfair.com Spancil Hill Show & Fair www.irishcraftbeerfestival.com Irish Craft Beer Festival www.willieclancyfestival.com Willie Clancy School of Traditional Music www.willieclancyfestival.com Corofin Traditional Music Festival www.corofintradfest.com Ennis Book Club Festival www.ennisbookclubfestival.com Ennis Street Festival www.ennisstreetfestival.com Ennis Fashion Week www.ennisfashion.ie

For a current update on all our members in this county visit www.aoifeonline.com

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Cork: Indiependence Music & Arts Festival / West Cork Chamber Music The Indiependence Music Festival is a popular three day event in Mitchelstown, County Cork that runs annually on the August Bank Holiday weekend. It brings a huge boost in trade to its locality with numerous shops selling out repeatedly and generating over €1.5m for the local economy.

Unfortunately the 2012 edition of the festival saw the wettest July for 30 years. According to John Finn the Director and Organiser since the beginning “On the Tuesday before the gates opened we took photos of the site and it was in immaculate condition.

Though it had rained, the land has exceptional drainage and two days of dry weather had made a huge difference. On the night before kick-off the heavens opened for 24 hours straight and we had to think on our feet with regards safety and site layout and so put in place a strategy to get people in and out safely.”

Regardless of the weather organisers still saw huge crowds at the festival but they observed that locally many people that would have snapped up their tickets once they became available simply weren’t in the country to do so and festival goers are slower to spend their disposable income in the past two years.

People decide in March that they might want to go to a festival in August, but they might not purchase that ticket until July. Indiependence is one of the lucky few festivals that have struck gold with their sponsors and stakeholders. Their sponsors

West Cork Chamber Music Festival is a nine day event that takes place in Bantry. It features an extensive programme of coffee concerts, afternoon recitals, main evening performances and candlelit late night concerts. There are also morning talks, young musician master classes and a violin-making exhibition.

The musical action takes place during the day at St Brendan’s Church in the centre of Bantry Town, while almost all evening performances are held in the spectacular setting of Bantry House, overlooking Bantry Bay and the mountains of the Beara Peninsula. This year organisers noticed there was an increase audience despite recession, bad weather persuaded more people to book on the door but it was harder to get national press coverage for the event.

Sara O’Donovan Marketing Manager for the festival mentions that volunteers need to have some background knowledge to work at the festival “Necessary for volunteers to have an interest/knowledge of classical music for certain roles, volunteers used for important job of collecting audience research, volunteers helpful for blog”. The nine day event brings an amazing €2,119,571 to Bantry according to an

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For a current update on all our members in this county visit www.aoifeonline.com

never ask anything unrealistic of the festival committee and they allow them to work on the three day event without making huge demands.

While with stakeholders the committee find themselves having to knock on fewer doors as a result of their years of hard work. When asked about their sales and marketing techniques John says “Social Media it can’t be underestimated. We have a very good online relationship with fans of the festival and it’s important to be approachable. We’ve found that national radio is a vital part of any advertising campaign.”

The festival have doubled their volunteer numbers in the last two years but and believe in looking after them. They don’t ask them to do anything they themselves wouldn’t. The volunteers at Indiependence this year were completely trustworthy, willing to work outside their rostered hours and totally flexible. John added “I’d like to think they felt as much a part of keeping the show on the road as anyone else.”

Feedback from the festival goers is vital to organisers, good or bad.

They’ve had workshops, science tents and this year became more politically conscious with the involvement of Love Music Hate Racism.

The committee hope to continue in this vein and make the festival more green as well as involving groups like the Boy Scouts etc. They have a new site plan in mind also that they hope to unleash on punters next year that will further improve the overall experience. Being festival-goers themselves, the punter is often the lowest common denominator and gets ripped off from the minute they buy their ticket. The Festival’s aim is to keep making the whole experience better while maintaining an affordable event.

John states the most important thing he wants for people at his festival is “to have that one moment that’ll stay with you the rest of your life; to dance while the rain hits your face to that band you’d never see; to just spend a weekend in a tent with your friends. It’s the people make the festival what it is and we’ve been very lucky. We love the audience we have.” Indiependence haven’t set anything in stone yet but planning for the Gathering has started and they intend on running a competition to fly 2 lucky winners home for the festival and giving them the obligatory VIP treatment for the weekend.

independent economic impact study done by the University College Cork. This year to improve marketing and sales the festival did a blog on Irish Examiner website, enhanced their use of social media and an online competition with Irish Times brought them 500 new email addresses for e-marketing. As a result the festival goers particularly enjoyed Swedish soprano Maria Keohane, British soprano Ruby Hughes, cellist Natalie Clein and Apollon Musagete which went on to become BBC New Generation Artists after a BBC representative attended.

Sara can reveal that the festival already has their full programme in place for next year “Highlights include leading violinist Nicola Benedetti, cellist Natalie Clein and soprano Ruby Hughes from Britain, Irish Chamber Orchestra performing the main evening concert on Sunday night, the RTE Vanbrugh Quartet will be performing a new commission by John Kinsella.”

Cork: Corona Fastnet Short Film Festival Corona Fastnet Short Film Festival is an independent festival dedicated to bringing together established and first-time film makers in a forum to celebrate the short film. The element of the competition is not paramount to the festival and while the prizes are significant, it’s the taking part and screening of entrant’s films in a public arena that counts.

The Festival Committee’s commitment is to screen as many of the short films entered into the competitions as possible by streaming them on their own intranet network to venues all over the village of Schull. Venues include the village hall, pubs, restaurants, shops and on the sides of buildings.

Hiary McCarthy, PRO, for the festival witnessed the innovative new social media techniques that the four day event undertook to create hype around the festival. They took an award which they named ‘Al’ to Guadalajara in Mexico for their Film Fest and documented ‘Al’s’ journey in photos, they began using twitter and there was a piece done on the renowned Director Mike Lee with Dave Fanning which was a huge success. However, the most impressive addition to the festival had to be using an online streaming service so that the public could watch the festival online. It all worked in the festival’s favour as the box office sold more tickets in one day then the five days of the previous year.

Their main sponsors Corona are looking for what Fastnet has started offering Hilary believes “there is more focus on social media and web, they’re also looking at younger ways to attract people.” The festival also saw twice the number of volunteers this year many of whom were college

Cork

students, the volunteers were even rewarded with cool t shirts. Organisers also saw that they interacted with the audience more this year as they streamed their festival on the internet and provided surveys to festival goers to see what needs to be improved on. The hits with their crowds this year were Mike lee, Greg Duke, Fran Keaveny, young film makers and the Canon Cameras workshop.

The four day event has a very interesting site for their events as they get in army tents every year to hold events such as their cycle cinema. When asked how they’re going to incorporate the Gathering next year Hilary said “we’ve schools and Transition Year students and we’re going to give them video cameras to go ask their Grandparents about emigration and these people have gotten on.”

Among our festival and event members in County Cork Fastnet Short Film Festival www.fastnetshortfilmfestival.com Rosscarberry Family Festival www.rosscarbery.ie Timoleague Harvest Festival www.timoleague.ie Cape Clear Island Storytelling Festival www.capeclearstorytelling.com Corona Cork Film Festival www.corkfilmfest.org Crosshaven Traditional Sail www.crosshaventradsail.com Ballinspittle Community Festival www.ballinspittlefestival.com Shandon Street Festival & Food Fair www.shandonstreetfestival.com Newmarket Summer Festival www.newmarketfestival.com Clonakilty Waterfront Festival www.clonfest.ie Cork Folk Festival www.corkfolkfestival.com Cork Midsummer Festival www.corkmidsummer.com Cork International Choral Festival www.corkchoral.ie Festival of The Bard www.westcorkweek.com Kinsale Regatta Festival www.kinsale.ie Midleton Food & Drink Festival www.midletonfoodfestival.ie Big Jazz Fringe/Guinness Cork Jazz Festival www.guinnessjazzfestival.com All-Ireland Confined Drama Finals www.dramafestival.ie Cork French Film Festival www.corkfrenchfilmfestival.com East Cork Early Music Festival www.eastcorkearlymusic.ie Kinsale Arts Week www.kinsaleartsfestival.com World Ghost Convention www.worldghostconvention.com Cork City Festivals Forum www.festivals.cork.com

For a current update on all our members in this county visit www.aoifeonline.com

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Donegal: Sea Sessions Surf & Music Festival

Sea Sessions Surf and Music Festival is one of the more unique festivals held in Ireland. It is a three day event held in Bundoran for the past five years. The local town council have estimated the impact on Bundoran between direct spend and marketing to be in excess of €3million.

Organisers noticed some new trends such as ticket spending didn’t come till very close to gig date so there were some very nervous nights, there was very little walk up on the day compared to other years but there was also greater interest in Irish acts and up and coming talent than before.

The show stealers for the 2012 edition of the festival were the Kaiser Chiefs; they played an amazing set, engaged the audience, and literally climbed the lighting rigs in exciting and entertaining the crowd. Aside from that Irish acts were the standout performances like Jape, Neon Wolf, Ham Sandwich and the Coronas.

Sea Sessions undertook an interesting marketing and sales technique this year as they went on a tour to Belfast, Cork, Galway and Dublin; they had a Spandy Andy viral promoting the festival on line and the very popular viral picture of President Michael D. Higgins at the event the year before photoshopped version got 250,000 hits.

Organisers of the festival are blown away every year by the commitment and dedication by those that do commit. They’re amazing but not all of the chosen volunteers turn up. There is a lack of good volunteer co-ordinators available but the festival sourced their own locally and they turned out to be great.

Donegal

The behaviour of the festival’s sponsors was also altered this year. They now want tangible return on spend i.e. if they spend five thousand they want proof that they moved five thousand worth or product or got five thousand of tickets, they need proof of the demographic that the event delivers and sponsors wanted to ensure their branding on site was very visible.

Daniel involved over the last five years with partners Pete Craig and Declan Madden, at Sea Sessions, reveals that they introduced the Surfers Village a free area open to the public to give people who hadn’t bought tickets a sample of what the event is about. They had world champion BMX’ers, National Trials bike champions, a stage and a great line up as well as surf inspired art and vendors as well as food.

They held the Sea Sessions Tour to promote the event and interact with their potential audience and paid more money for higher profile artists like Kaiser Chiefs Ocean Colour Scene and Happy Mondays. The festival’s only stakeholders are the Town Council, Gardaí and HSE. Organisers find they get along fine with them but they had to pay a fee to Gardaí that was not requested before and the HSE asked them to provide a much higher level of cover than we have ever had to before.

On next year’s festival Daniel is reluctant to divulge the festival’s Gathering plans but he does say “We’ll be hosting our festival on the beach front in Bundoran and adding a few twists as ever.”

Among our festival and event members in County Donegal Clonmany Family Festival www.clonmanyfestival.com Oireachtas na Samhna www.antoireachtas.ie Churchill Fair www.churchillfair.org Mary from Dungloe International Festival www.maryfromdungloe.com Rathmullan Community Festival www.rathmullan.info Sea Sessions Surf/Music Festival Bundoran www.seasessions.com SeaFest www.seafestloughswilly.com Feile Ceoil Chill Chartha (Kilcar Fleadh) www.kilcaronline.com Allingham Arts Festival www.allinghamartsfestival.com Ballyshannon Folk & Trad Music Festival www.ballyshannonfolkfestival.com Lennon Festival www.ramelton.net Laghey Blast Festival www.lagheyblastfestival.com

For a current update on all our members in this county visit www.aoifeonline.com

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Dublin: St. Patrick’s Festival St. Patrick’s Festival has been running successfully in Dublin for the last seventeen years, it runs 4-5 days each year and contributes €50.5m to the Irish economy according to an economic impact report done by Fáilte Ireland in 2010.

In 2012 Organisers launched the ‘I love My City’ cultural Programme which was a huge success with the crowds. The programme is a distinct celebration of Irish culture during the Festival, a very special collection of unique free Irish cultural events took place in the beautiful surroundings of some of Ireland’s prestigious cultural institutions, venues and spaces in the Georgian Quarter stretching from Merrion Square to Kildare Street.

This year the theme for the festival parade was ‘How? What? Why?’ which explored the wonder and curiousity of science in a fun, engaging and impactful manner. A selection of science related questions that children pose were explored by Ireland’s leading pageant companies who each presented their imaginative, colourful, thought provoking creations on March 17th. The festival noticed some new elements to its events this year such as attendance at the festival is growing and the public’s appreciation for free events is increasing through the recession. Organisers also observed that there are greater overseas numbers throughout the five day event. In terms of Marketing and Sales the Festival believes apps are growing in

Dublin

popularity as downloads are growing at a fast pace. There is a continued emphasis on St. Patrick’s Festival social media campaign as an online presence is important for all festival and events.

Organisers have found that sponsors are looking for more added values in sponsorships, more activity and emphasis on measurement. There is a desire for more contra/partcontra agreements than monetary sponsorship and looking for staff engagement potential. This year volunteering has also changed for the festival as there has been a growth in their international volunteer base and there’s now a great willingness from the public to get involved in volunteering. This year brands also stepped forward to support the festival’s volunteer strategy.

Emily Barton the Corporate Engagement and Development Executive for the past year has said St. Patrick’s Festival will be going bigger and better for the Gathering 2013 if that’s possible. The festival will be inviting up to 8,000 people around the world to march in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Dublin on 17 March 2013. The Festival will begin on Thursday the 14th and conclude Monday the 18th. The ‘I Love My City’ programme and Music and Street Performance programme will run for an extended period also.

Among our festival and event members in County DUBLIN ESB BEO Celtic Music Festival www.nch.ie Open House Dublin www.openhousedublin.com Dublin Bay Prawn Festival www.fingaldublin.ie Rith 2014 www.rith.ie The Five Lamps Arts Festival www.fivelampsarts.ie Harolds Cross Community Festival www.haroldscross.org “Lift” Youth Arts Festival www.bryr.ie Balbriggan Summer Fest www.balbriggansummerfest.com Ballymun “Other World” Festival www.otherworldfestival.com Gathering Dublin www.thegatheringireland.com Red Line Book Festival www.redlinebookfestival.com Ranelagh Arts Festival www.ranelagharts.org Dundrum Arts & Cultural Festival www.dundrumfestival.ie Street Performance World Championship www.spwc.ie Templebar Tradfest www.templebar.ie Rose Festival www.dublincity.ie St. Patrick’s Festival Dublin www.stpatricksfestival.ie

For a current update on all our members in this county visit www.aoifeonline.com

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Galway: Clifden Arts Festival

The Clifden Arts Festival was set up thirty five years ago by the Director Brendan Flynn and still continues to grow and impress its audiences, even after so many years.

The twelve day event is geared towards making an impact on its audience while improving the economy in its surrounding area. This year the festival made extensive use out of all the vacant building around the town, including hosting a wonderful exhibition from the Irish Museum of Modern Art, which included works by Jack B. Yeats, Paul Henry and Gerard Dillion etc, which proved immensely popular with over 3,000 visitors – not bad considering its a small town of 1,800 people.

The Festival runs on a budget of €220,000 and brings twelve days of full houses in all of the surrounding local businesses in Clifden. This year Organisers found increased attendance at all events, large overseas visitors especially from the US and an overwhelming air of good humour and happiness despite the austerity. They also changed their approach to sales and marketing this year as they used a dedicated Box Office, in-house Ticketing on Demand and provided online ticket sales.

Clifden Arts Festival values its volunteers. Brendan says “People need support, help and encouragement, not to take anything or anyone for granted, and most important of all recognising everyone’s talents and contribution.”

The Sponsors acted differently around the festival this year as they requested increased recognition for their contribution through official branding and mentions at launches, official openings and so on. While with stakeholders Organisers find it easier to deal with them due to long established associations with the various stakeholders and they have cooperated fully in giving the stakeholders full value for their invested funds.

When interacting with their audience this year the festival invested in tiered seating in their leisure centre venue, streamlined an easy to use web presence, used consistent festival imagery throughout their poster, programme and website so that the festival goers would recognise the information in front of them and for 2013 there will be an introduction of a dedicated staff member for their box office. The acts that the Clifden Arts festival put on were a huge success with the following events getting completely sold out; the two DruidMurphy plays, The Saw Doctors, The Dubliners, De Dannan, Eoghan Harris and John Waters and Paul Durkin.

Brendan cannot reveal the festivals plans for next year right now but says they will be working closely with Fáilte Ireland to make the most of the Gathering.

Among our festival and event members in County Galway www.galwayearlymusic.com Galway Early Music Festival www.cuirt.ie Cúirt Literature Festival www.eventelephant.com/explore Explore Clonbur Festival www.connemaramusselfestival.com Connemara Mussel Festival www.plearaca.ie Féile Phléaráca Chonamara www galwayoysterfest.com Galway Oyster & Seafood Festival www.killimor.org Killimor Music Festival www.tuamtradfestival.com Tuam Trad Festival Shorelines Arts Festival Portumna www.shorelinesartsfestival.com Spirit of Voice www.spiritofvoice.com International Quilt Festival of Ireland www.iqfoi.com Ballinasloe October Fair & Festival www.ballinasloeoctoberfair.com Clifden Community Arts Festival www.clifdenartsweek.ie Inishbofin Community Arts Festival www.inishbofin.com

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For a current update on all our members in this county visit www.aoifeonline.com

Galway

Kerry: The Rose of Tralee International Festival Nearly €7m was generated in Tralee at this year’s Rose of Tralee International Festival which has been widely acknowledged as being the best festival for many years. A survey carried out by a team of volunteers from Friday 17th to Tuesday 21st August revealed that more than half of the people who attended the event were from outside Kerry and 44% of these visitors paid for accommodation.

Next year even more people are expected to join the Roses in Tralee when the Rose of Tralee Gathering takes place from 14-16 August 2013.

The Rose of Tralee International Festival is one of Ireland’s longest running and most famous Festivals which has been a firm fixture on the calendar since 1959. The organisers not only stage a five-day International festival in August but they also successfully run a major four-day Regional Festival in June as a precursor to Tralee. 78% of the 343 people surveyed throughout the five-day Festival were from Ireland, while 22% were from Germany, France, Great Britain, USA, Australia and New Zealand.

44% of those who were visiting the town paid for accommodation – the majority of whom stayed in hotels followed by guest-houses, B&Bs, holiday home, self-catering and caravan camping facilities. Nearly 75% of the respondents said they intended to be in Tralee for more than three days of the festival, while more than half of the people interviewed were in Tralee with their family and another 27% travelled with a group of friends, Much of the success of the Rose of Tralee is owed to the contribution made by a large team of volunteers. This year there was an increase in the number of people expressing an interest in becoming volunteers while many existing volunteers return each year without question.

There was very positive feedback following the 2012 Festival. Families travelled in their droves to enjoy the wonderful variety of entertainment that was on show in Tralee for the five-days in, amazingly, glorious sunshine! Credit must be paid to the organisers of the Street Carnival and the local businesses who contributed towards making this aspect of the Festival such a success. From the three parades to the two fireworks displays, to the air display and the events in the Dome, the 2012 Rose of Tralee International Festival is poised to move forward with immense positivity.

A contributory factor to the success of the Festival resulted from confirming their entertainment line-up in March. The acts the organisers chose were very popular among the public. Jedward attracted a massive audience and led to a lot of extra bed nights being filled; The Saw Doctors played a blinder while Mike Denver and Brendan Shine attracted massive crowds with an older and younger age group combined.

Keeping with tradition the

Kerry

festival continues to hire in the famous Dome which still serves its purpose superbly but a more permanent structure would be more cost effective in the longterm to the organisers.

The Efforts are ongoing to bring make this dream a reality. The Planning of the Rose of Tralee International Festival is a 12-month process, utilising a range of marketing and promotional tools: website www.roseoftralee. ie, Facebook (roseoftraleefestival), via Twitter @roseoftralee, Youtube (Rose TV), newspaper and Radio advertising.

Like most events in the current economic climate, the Rose of Tralee International always works closely with a number of sponsors and it strives to make sure that these stakeholders get a positive return on their investment. Some sponsors included their branded vehicles in each of the three parades, the Rose of Tralee, Nicola McEvoy, was presented with her Tiara and Sash by Ronan O’Gara who is a Brand Ambassador for the Festival’s Lead Sponsor, Newbridge Silverware.

Funding has been secured from Fáilte Ireland to stage a three-day Rose of Tralee Gathering from Wednesday 14th to Friday 16th August next year as part of The Gathering 2013. As part of the global Irish initiative of The Gathering 2013, the Rose of Tralee International Festival is organising some special events in the lead up to the 2013 Festival. These events will be free of charge primarily to our visitors from overseas and anyone with any connection to, or a love of, the Festival is invited to come to Tralee for the festivities and perhaps stay on for the International Festival week.

Anyone who wishes to register to attend the Rose of Tralee Gathering 2013 needs to email thegathering@roseoftralee.ie with their contact details and their connection to the Rose of Tralee (if any). They will then be contacted with full details of the FREE Rose of Tralee Gathering 2013 events.

Full details on all activities relating to the Rose of Tralee International Festival are available from the Rose of Tralee website: www.roseoftralee.ie, on facebook.com/roseoftraleefestival or on Twitter @roseoftralee.

Among our festival and event members in County Kerry Féile na Bealtaine www.feilenabealtaine.ie Scoil Cheóil an Earraigh www.scoilcheoil.com Ballyheigue Summer Festival www.ballyheiguefestival.com Sneem Family Festival www.sneemfamilyfestival.com Killarney Summerfest www.killarneysummerfest.com Valentia Isle Festival www.valentiaislefestival.com Puck Fair www.puckfair.ie Rose of Tralee International Festival www.roseoftralee.ie

For a current update on all our members in this county visit www.aoifeonline.com

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Kilkenny: Kilkenny Arts Festival Kilkenny Arts Festival is celebrating its 40th year of existence next year during the Gathering; it is one of Ireland’s largest festivals and is worth about €5m to the economy.

Organisers pride themselves on the fact that the majority of the festival’s events are held in and around the city’s magnificent heritage buildings.

No other arts festival in Ireland can boast venues of the quality or grandeur of St. Canice’s Cathedral, Kilkenny Castle, Rothe House, and Black Abbey. This year they used all of those along with St. Mary’s Hall, Heritage Council (formally the Bishop’s Palace), The Hole in the Wall (16th century tavern) and the Castle Yard for their Globe Theatre outdoor event.

The festival is blessed with most of their volunteers returning annually.

It’s seen as a sort of rite of passage for a lot of young teenagers. They enjoy it so much that they continue into adulthood to come back to help out and therefore they have a great trustworthy volunteer base that they use every year. Their volunteers are also excited to be exposed to the Arts it is an excellent way for students and people on low incomes to see the events because volunteers get a free pass to all events subject to capacity.

This year Kilkenny Arts decided to undertake a few new ideas to change up the events, there was a Curator or Director introducing each event/performance to give a more personal feel to each of the events. Organisers let tickets go on sale two months earlier; the public were buying up the tickets for the more popular events that may not have sold out otherwise. There was an increase in Audience and ticket sales for all events due to this longer lead in time and early advertising it also increased their visitors from Dublin who were decreasing in previous years.

On the same marketing budget as previous years the festival were on a longer advertising time so they decided to increase their online presence they had stronger online marketing and more competitive advertising done through their media partners. Their sponsors are looking for more activity from the festival that benefits them like help with arranging

Kilkenny

functions and launches around the events they are sponsoring.

Shakespeare’s The Globe Theatre had its debut Irish performance. It was a successful addition to their line up with 9 of 10 performances selling out. The performers are all contemplating returning next year. Badabimbum band, a twelve piece Italian brass band as street entertainment were also extremely popular.

Next year it is going to be easier for the festival to deal with finding investment as the organisers ensure that they look after their sponsors and stakeholders. They know the value of their support, for sponsorship Kilkenny Arts know when budgets are agreed and aim to present details of 2013 before decisions are made.

Valerie Ryan, who has been involved with Kilkenny Arts Festival as their Office Manager for the past four years was unable to reveal any special plans that they are working on for the Gathering version of their event other than its Festival’s 40th year so the 10 days of events will be bigger than 2012.

Among our festival and event members in County Kilkenny Kilkenny Arts Festival www.kilkennyartsfestival.ie Ballykeeffe Summer Events & Concerts www.ballykeeffeamphitheatre.ie Abhainn Rí Festival www.abhainnrifestival.com Irish Conker Championship www.irishconkerchampionship.com

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Kildare: Monasterevin Venice of Ireland Festival The Kildare’s younger festival kid on the block is facing it’s fourth season in 2013 after evolving steadily with Secretary Mary Donnelly & her team at the helm of one of the county’s little gem towns and best kept secrets.

Held from the 16th of July this year. The seven day festival has a modest budget of some €15,000 but their ambitions are much higher than that jokes Mary “It might not sound like a lot but we deliver way more than what that just buys, the amount of assistance and help we get that never is reflected in the sums, allows us to run a truly ambitious programme.”

The whole theme behind the festival is to get the locals and passing visitor to discover the canal, Barrow river and all the elements of the watercourses and waterways that conflux through the town. This year however the organisers branched out a bit with the programming in focusing on the enviorns and lesser used amenities in the locality.

Most of the programme was heavily focused on showcasing local talent, using younger up and coming bands and artistes. They had a huge drive for children and families this year and found that door to door targeting of leafets to the younger estates and suburban areas worked well.

Facebook and online social media was a “Godsend” to the organisers this year and their Vice-Chairperson Barry, ran the online campaign.

For Mary though in reviewing their volunteer interaction for the season word of mouth was key “The personal connection and the individual persuasion is still the most effective way to harness in new volunteers and we have been very lucky with the quality and dedication of our team.”

For the Venice of Ireland Festival. Their sponsors were only looking for Value for money, the niceties of sticking up a banner here for a photograph are long gone!

Their audience warmed greatly to events that had an intergenerational theme, especially anything that they programmed with their craft workers. They pride themselves with their audience on the sharing of talents concept. They were overwhelmed with the demand for Kids Cookery Classes which catered for the 8 to 16 year olds, was cheffed by professional cooks and ran three sessions a day for five days!

They also saw a huge take up of the heavily discounted Kayaking in the canal which catered for young and old and provided many with their first taste of inland water activity. They had some DCU students undertake a scaled model of the town as part of their project and married it with a Titanic exhibition which proved a real crowd puller in the rarely used CYMS Hall.

The business community of Monasterevin and the other stakeholders have been energetically enthused and engaged with the festival this season past and many have given commitments to hep stage the Gathering edition. “We are very new, but we are lucky with our community, our volunteers and in particular our key supporters, Waterways Ireland, Kildare County Council, and our sponsors Supervalue and the new Junction 4 Service Station, as well as the New Hazel hotel.” said hard working Mary. Looking towards the Gathering and 2013 she is quietly confident that with three years behind them they will be joining forces with other groups and events in Kildare to create a great calendar of truly authentic activity.

Kildare Among our festival and event members in County Kildare Monasterevin “Venice of Ireland” Festival www.veniceofireland.ie Kildare Derby Festival www.kildare.ie Newbridge 200 www.newbridge200.com Gerard Manley Hopkins Int. Literary Festival www.gerardmanleyhopkins.org

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For a current update on all our members in this county visit www.aoifeonline.com

Laois: Golfing & Walking Festivals The Laois Walks Festival runs for the month of July, this year it added four new routes to the popular festival, offering 23 guided walks at 21 scenic sites around Laois. The festival which attracts walking groups from around the country was launched by Laois County Council’s manager Peter Carey.

The Laois Walks committee, chaired by Dominic Hartnett, have developed the festival to promote their walks and to raise funds to ensure and maintain them throughout the year. Mr Hartnett thanked the volunteers and also the landowners. “We are indebted to the landowners for their continued co-operation, without their support the festival could never happen”, he said.

The new routes are located at The Derries, Capponellan Woods, Ballacolla and Gattabawn, developed by community groups, Coillte, the National Parks and Wildlife Service and Laois Partnership, who secured a grant for it through their Rural Development Programme.

There will also limited places available on two Trail Walking Workshops, where people can learn about the right gear and locations of trails. The voluntary committee is supported by Laois Partnership, Laois Sports Partnership, Fáilte Ireland and Laois County Council.

In 2013 the festival will be held 1st-3rd of July, for a full month Laois International Golf Challenge, The Seven Courses 2013 – 29th of April to 2nd of May County Tourism Officer Mr. Dominic Reddin states “We are attempting to have Laois as a festivals and events destination with loads of unknown treasures that people need to come and explore in their leisure time and our golfing and walking acitivties are a key element of this for 2013.

We’ll work in partnership with all our community groups to develop their potential to ensure that LAOIS maximises on the Gathering Potential and we look forward to building a strong presence in the international, regional and national calendars”

days golf in a relaxed atmosphere with the final taking place at the Seve Ballesteros designed Golf Resort, in Killenard, County Laois.

It is a fourball, betterball competition (any combination) and appeals to golfers and golfing societies from all over Europe.

There are prizes each day and overall prizes for the winners. There is also entertainment organised in the evenings so it is a great social outing. For golfers who cannot participate in the 4 day Challenge, there are individual days on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday where groups can participate in the atmosphere but do not have to commit to the 4 days.

The entry fee for 2013 is €100 (Stg£90) per person and this includes 4 days golf and invites to the Prize Giving ceremony in the Heritage Golf and Spa Resort at Killenard. Dominic adds “If you wish to participate in the individual one day competition, the entry fee is €15.00 per person. It promises to be an great week with excellent entertainment.”

The Laois International Golf Challenge 2013 will take place from Monday 29th April to Thursday 2nd May in association with Failte Ireland, Laois Tourism and Laois County Council. It is now in its 9th year and attracts golfers from all over Ireland and overseas. It is the ideal golfing holiday which offers 4

Laois

Among our festival and event members in County Laois French Festival Portarlington www.portarlingtoncommunity.com Durrow Scarecrow Festival www.durrowscarecrowfestival.com Halloween Howls Comedy Festival www.halloweenhowls.ie Youth Rocks Arts Festival www.youthrocksartsfestival.com

For a current update on all our members in this county visit www.aoifeonline.com

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Rocket Pyrotechnics Ireland, 7 Togher Beg, Roundwood, Co. Wicklow, Ireland Tel: +353 (0)1 281 8262 | Mob: +353 (0)87 237 7912 | www.rocketpyro.ie 48

Leitrim: Carrick-on-Shannon Water Music Festival

The Carrick-on-Shannon Water Music Festival has been running for the last seven years and despite the recession the committee members of the festival are working tirelessly to ensure that it will go on drawing crowds to Carrick-on-Shannon.

Organisers of the festival are unable to determine the economic impact of the weekend long event in precise terms but feedback from local businesses such as shops, restaurants, pubs, leisure and activity centres and accommodation providers, is that the festival is good for business. The committee sources most of its supply needs locally like print, design, photographic, sound, lighting, production, security, transport and artist accommodation.

2012 was a challenging year in many ways for the festival, more so than previous years. Businesses are struggling and so are less able to meet the many demands for sponsorship from not just this festival, but from the many other clubs and charities that depend on donations to survive. The committee also had to work really hard to achieve fullhouses despite the top quality programme. On the ‘plus’ side they did notice quite a big demand for our family fun activities and we intend to build on this for 2013.

Due to the difficulty the festival found itself in this year organisers had to try out some new sales and marketing ideas. They engaged with Business to Arts this year for the first time and found it a very rewarding experience. It gave the event a higher public profile as well as helping it to raise much needed funds. The festival employed two personnel to run our booking system and database management and this really helped it to streamline the bookings and improve efficiencies in that area. They engaged with their local Chamber of Commerce to pilot special ticket offers to local businesses and they intend to enhance this next year with some really good incentives for businesses and their staff and customers. Also they used a number of empty shop windows for festival displays, art displays and live youth band rehearsals.

With regard their sponsors James Phillips, Programme Co-ordination and Marketing has said “The trend we’ve noticed is that sponsors have less money to donate, seek greater ‘bang for their buck’

Leitrim

and really appreciate it when they are acknowledged after the event as well as during it.” Stakeholders are easy for them to deal with as long as they commence dialogue early with them and don’t neglect or take them for granted. They are giving up their time and resources to help the festival and make it a success, therefore it is vital to appreciate their effort and show them that you do.

In relation to their volunteers James says “Training is important for volunteers and we believe that volunteers should benefit from a learning experience as much as a personal satisfaction experience.

Unemployed and student volunteers can really enhance their life experience and skill-set by volunteering to work at festivals.” Doing this allows the festival to run a very successful family fun afternoon in the main festival marquee and they will enhance this in 2013; they ran a short series of music education workshops which were enthusiastically attended; they ran a number of impromptu ‘pop-up’ events in pubs and restaurants.

Carrick-on-Shannon Water Music Festival had a number of memorable highlights this year including a terrific concert by Celtic Legends; emerging singer/songwriter Siomha Brock showed crowds why she’s got real X Factor; the Ed Deane blues band brought the house down at a late night festival club and people are still talking about the Festival Folk night with The Henry girls, We Banjo 3 and the original Jargon with Charlie McGettigan and Eamonn Daly.

About next year James revels “2013 also marks the celebration of Carrick 400 as well as the Gathering, so we are already at an advanced stage of planning for a really impressive Water Music offering with much more street entertainment and family activities as well as several important international music acts not seen in this region before.”

Among our festival and event members in County Leitrim Jamestown Show and Heritage Festival www.jamestownvillage.ie Joe Mooney Summer School of Traditional www.joemooneysummerschool.com Ballinamore Family Festival www.ballinamore.ie An Tostal www.antostal@ireland.com Dronahair www.dronahairdemons.com Huntersmoon www.huntersmoonfestival.com International Mushroom Festival www.internationalmushroomfestival.com Leitrim Roots Festival www.leitrimrootsfestival.com

For a current update on all our members in this county visit www.aoifeonline.com

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Limerick: Fleadh By The Feale & Foynes Irish Coffee Making Festival The Foynes Irish Coffee Making Festival is a wonderful festival featuring; a float parade, the world Irish Coffee Making Championship, Fireworks Display, Air Display, music, Family Fun Day, Vintage Cars, Céili Dancing and much more. It incorporates everything an individual could want to see at a festival.

Organisers arranged a great edition of the festival this year as they used some new techniques. They held a free children’s day in the woods walks where they had the whole area catering for the children’s needs.

They had a live 95fm broadcast from the site as they were trying to use more advertising. They also had added online presence as they became more acquainted with their Facebook page. The only thing that put a damper on the three day event this year was the weather on the first day as it was described as a ‘washout’.

Fleadh by the Feale is a Festival celebrating Irish Traditional Music, All-Ireland Bones Playing Championship, Street Busking and Celebrity Concerts all taking place in Abbeyfeale.

The festival is held on the May Bank holiday weekend and this year was their 17th consecutive event. It runs from Thursday night to Monday night, the highlight being the concert on Sunday night; this year they had 4 Men and A Dog (above). They hold an international Bone playing competition which attracts contestants from USA & Europe.

While for the younger people, the main event is the Busking on the main street on Friday night with them often getting up to 40 groups, ranging in age from 8 to 18. The amazing thing is that we’ve had fine weather for every Fleadh over the 17 years.

This year the festival committee took it upon themselves to train their volunteers and so any individual volunteering did a course with Festival Management and Health & Safety. The committee also noticed that their sponsors are changing their attitude as they want more onsite promotion in the pub and hotel trade.

For Foynes this is their most lucrative weekend of the year, bringing in huge crowds to the quiet village. On the 13th & 14th of October 2013 it will be even busier as the festival is contemplating holding another event outside their usual programming to celebrate 70th birthday of the Irish Coffee. Margaret O’Shaughnessy the Festival Director has exciting plans for next year, the festival is starting a Regional competition for the Irish Coffee Making Championships which will see people participating all over Ireland and getting ready for the All-Ireland Final which will be held at next year’s Festival.

The festival is one of the few that is still supported by Guinness and it brings in crowds willing to spend in the local businesses. Unfortunately Organisers noticed the crowd at their concert was down but Street busking is more popular than ever and there was a very high standard at their Art competition on opening night. Luckily for them the same group of people from Comhaltas help out every year and they have no major outdoor event needing stewards or security. Also the festival doesn’t need to search for sponsorship each year like other festivals as they have loyal sponsors who come back every year.

The festival is constantly trying to improve on its previous year and Pat Quille who has been involved since the beginning of the festival and is the current chairman said “We put extra effort into the concert presentation; new posters, backdrop etc” With regard to their plans for the Gathering the festival committee are currently discussing their options and have no major plans o report as yet but they will be incorporating the Gathering.

Among our festival and event members in County Limerick Eva International, Biennial of Visual Art www.eva.ie Feile na Maighe www.limerick.ie/feilenamaighe Foynes Irish Coffee Festival www.foynesfestival.com Kilmallock Walled Towns Day www.kilmallocktoday.com Ballyhoura International Walking Festival www.ballyhourabears.com Ballyhoura Spook www.ballyhouraspook.wordpress.com Fleadh by the Feale www.fleadhbythefeale.com

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For a current update on all our members in this county visit www.aoifeonline.com

Limerick

Longford: Helium Festival

Co-Chair and co-founder of the Helium Festival, based in Ballymahon, Longford for the past four years. The festival will be going into its 5th year in 2013. It is a 1 day mini-festival. Its Ireland’s largest micro festival!

Where just over 1300 visitors enjoyed 672 bed nights and spent approx €71,000 in the local economy.

Certainly for Barney the season was difficult economically in terms of gaining new event sponsorship, Crowds left it later to buy tickets but there has emerged “Great appreciation for the luxury a small festival can deliver on. After the negative impact of the Phoenix Park event in the summer people have started to think twice about the safety of such massive crowds and therefore enjoy the atmosphere small boutique festivals such as ours can deliver on.”

For their Marketing review, the fact that it is a hugely competitive market, a lot of festivals out there on this little island! Benefits of unusual marketing techniques creating good exposure e.g ‘Helium Mini Van’ were really impactful. For Barney and their team the impact of online social media such as Facebook had substantially reduced.” It is still essential but the impact it had 3 to 4 years does not appear to be there at all for us.”

Great community spirit is what drives their Volunteers “If it’s successful people want to be part of it and of course there are great opportunities out there to get other local volunteering groups involved e.g. Traders Association, Tidy Towns Association, Local Cub Scouts etc.” Helium’s sponsors were a lot more willing to pay in kind as opposed to cash and had a huge awareness of exactly what the festival can offer them and how their brand can be exposed.

Longford

They introduced a great new act for the first time ever in Ireland, Nathan FluteBox Lee, a very unusual beat boxing style while playing the flute! This was their surprise act for Helium 2012.

Also new to the programme was the Helium 10K challenge fun run the morning of the event.

Before the main act on the main stage they presented the winner with back stage passes and

their trophies. For Barney though, “Because the festival was the day before the first Irish game in the Euro Football Championships, we played various football related songs and had a number of football themes throughout the venue to prepare everyone for the great occasion. Our headline act celebrated their 20 year anniversary while at Helium 2012. Ash stole the show away.”

“It’s also becoming easier to deal with the key stakeholders as the wider group are aligned with the long term vision of the event. Helium started from very humble beginnings and has rapidly expanded. Everyone now sees the benefit it brings to the associated Charity Ataxia Ireland and also to the local community”, states Barney. The partnership with the local Ballymahon Traders Association to run the Helium 10K Challenge Fun Run also proved to be very successful.

Safety Consultants were contracted to work with local Fire and Gardaí which reduced the paper workload on the festival organisers, so they could focus on other aspects of the event.

Helium intend to work closely with Longford Community Resources, to combine with other county gathering events. You can register the event on the gathering website. As per every other year we will continue to invite locals who have emigrated from the area in recent years to return home for the event. It has been described locally that the Helium Festival is now the new Christmas in terms of using it as a great time to catch up and meet old friends.

Among our festival and event members in County Longford Aisling Children’s Arts Festival www.aislingfestival.ie Helium Festival www.heliumfestival.com Johnny Keenan Banjo Festival www.johnnykeenan.com Hype Festival www.hypefestival.ie

For a current update on all our members in this county visit www.aoifeonline.com

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Louth: Drogheda Samba Festival Drogheda Samba Festival was really thrilled this year to have some of Ireland’s top jazz performers such as Louis Stewart, Brian Dunning and Michael Holihan of the Blue Bossan. The three day event will be celebrating its 20th year in existence in on the 28th to 30th June 2013.

This year Phil Cunningham the Festival Director noticed that there are more bands getting involved with the festival from mainland Europe. 2012 was the first time they ever had French and German bands. The most effective way of reaching the niche audience for this unique festival is by using Facebook and Social Networking. Also it was noted that there are more Irish based Brazilians engaged from all over Ireland.

Organisers enlist the help of the local volunteer centre to help them out and Phil says “they’re very helpful”. They also received aid from Dundalk Institute of Technology as students engaged with the Samba Festival audience to do as many audience surveys as possible and Phil said they were brilliant as well.

The D Hotel was a new sponsor of the festival in 2012 and they proved very useful. But the festival committee observed that sponsors are looking for more profile for their money. While they also found it has become easier to deal with their stakeholders in times of crisis such as the one we’re in.

The audience this year were amazed by a band from Berlin called Drum Kitchen who had a person playing a percussion instrument from every country in the world India and it excited the crowd from 10-3pm on the Mainstreet. Masala Choir from Singapore had the crowd screaming for encores while the Parade number was massive and their samba mass was huge on the Sunday of programming.

Phil was very proud of one particular aspect of the Festival he said “We teamed up with Music Network for the Love Life/Love Music day and then programmed live percussion groups for the Dublin railway stations which added on huge dimensions to the programme”. In relation to their plans for the Gathering Phil says “we intend to get old participant bands who played at the festival before to return and we’re also hoping to secure samba bands from Ghana and Togo Republic”.

Among our festival and event members in County Louth Vantastival www.vantastival.com A Taste of Carlingford www.carlingford.ie Oyster Festival www.carlingford.ie Drogheda Samba Festival www.droghedasamba.com Drogheda Bonanza Festival www.droghedachristmasbonanza.ie

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For a current update on all our members in this county visit www.aoifeonline.com

Louth

Greening Your Festival: Easier Than You Think What comes to mind when you think of green?

Perhaps St. Patrick’s Day or lush grass, but usually not organising an event? Most people don’t equate greenness with event management but they should; becoming a green event can be surprisingly easy. With a little effort and planning all events and festivals can become more resource efficient, and prevent waste. Going green can also contribute positively to the overall festival experience, as well as being something that more and more patrons simply expect.

What, more work?

Being an event or festival manager is no easy task. It goes without saying that there is an awful lot to organise and execute before the doors or gates open to the public, so taking on a new task, like greening the event, can seem very daunting. Don’t worry, help is now at hand!

Over the past four years, a number of local authority Waste Prevention and Environmental Awareness Officers have been working through the Local Authority Prevention Network [LAPN] with their local festivals throughout Ireland, to reduce their environmental impacts.

Events and destinations already involved Tool-kit for Greening Now, this group has developed a toolkit to help festival and event organisers to implement simple, achievable, measures that will start them on the road to greening their event. The added bonus is that, in many cases, these efforts also result in cost savings for the event organisers - particularly in the area of reducing waste disposal costs.

Development of the ‘Green Your Festival’ Resource Pack and website :www.greenyourfestival.ie, was funded by the Environmental Protection Agency and forms part of the EPA’s Be Green Programme. Technical support is provided by the Clean Technology Centre at Cork Institute of Technology. Most importantly, the guide was developed on foot of work carried out on the ground at numerous festivals across the country.

Consequently, as a toolkit it represents practical and achievable steps, incorporating the direct experience of a number of festivals and event destinations that have actually worked in this area.

Some actions already implemented If you are looking for inspiration about what steps would suit your festival best here are just a few ideas from green festivals: Compostable Ware The Cobh Regatta, Dingle Food Festival and Clarenbridge Oyster Festival all used compostable disposable plates, cups and cutlery.

Food festivals and events as well as concerts naturally generate a lot of disposable material, and if this is contaminated with food waste, it can’t be recycled.

14,000 Cobh Regatta compostable cups were distributed at the August 2012 event. 900 kg of food waste diverted from landfill.

Remember landfilling of waste is an expensive option, typical landfill rates are €125 per tonne, quickly eating into profit margins. This waste was generated over 3 days at a large music festival. Imagine how much it would cost to dispose of that pile!!

Improving the segregation of recyclables through good signage and proper communication As part of the Green your Festival programme, segregated bins were introduced at all the festivals worked with. The festivals that opted for bin signage with coloured images rather than a sign with words achieved much greater levels of segregation. Some festivals took an additional step, using MC announcements as well as a message on the ticket or event guides about going green and waste segregation.

These festivals found that: • Segregation of waste by visitors much better than previous years; • In the main, the right bin was used to dispose of recyclables; • Less staff/volunteer time being required for site clean-up and litter control.

Get your message out there, it can be a great addition to your festival We should never under estimate public interest in the environment. At the fantastic Volvo Ocean Race 2012 in Galway over 45,000 people visited the Green Area in the global village. So remember if you can ask local environmental groups and your local authority if they want to partner with you and provide environmental information or demonstrations during the festival or event to compliment the other green activities that your festival is undertaking.

I’m interested. How do I start?

So whether you are planning a 2013 festival that is large or small for a day or a week-end, before you start log on to www.greenyourfestival.ie to find out what green steps you can take that will make your festival eco-friendly, read inspirational tips from other festival organisers and download materials that will help you get started with greening your festival.

2012 Festival & Events: Year in Review

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Mayo: International Choral Festival

The Mayo International Choral Festival, the brainchild of Edward (Eamonn) Horkan, was inspired by a concert for the Mayo Memorial Peace Park whereby several choirs performed in unison in the Royal Theatre. Eamonn, a member of the Mayo Male Voice Choir, attended many choral festivals worldwide and with this experience set about organizing the festival.

The festival takes the form of several international male/female adult choirs travelling to Mayo in late May each year, to partake on a competitive and non-competitive basis. Their visit will include a number of evening and daily performances county-wide, tours of Mayo and a gala concert in the Royal Theatre on Saturday night. The theme of the festival is to allow choirs to meet with other choirs, relax and enjoy a great weekend in the beautiful West of Ireland.

Declan Durcan the Festival Director noticed a few aspects to running a festival that will guide them in organising next year’s edition such as the Choir’s top attraction was friendliness of people, the better the instruction and

guidance, the better the input from the volunteer, using Twitter can turn the festival into a great success and embracing the Gathering will help draw in crowds. The Festival Committee believes more involvement with community stakeholders for their community concerts will attract more locals. The festival has proved it does benefit its local economy as it generated over €140,000 for its locality.

They will also continue the ‘meet and greet’ before and after each concert which was very well received by audiences.

Declan says the highlight of the festival was “2012 saw the last song at the Gala concert sung by a massed choir of 600 people. We will do a similar piece in 2013. Also, an impromptu

Among our festival and event members in County Mayo Feile na Tuaithe-Turlough Park www.craftinireland.com Ballyhaunis Summer Festival www.ballyhaunisfestival.com Achill Yawl Sailing Festival www.achilltourism.com Grace Kelly Film Festival www.gracekellyfilmfestival.ie RoolaBoola Children’s Arts Festival www.thelinenhall.com Achill Half Marathon www.achillmarathon.com Achill Walks Festival/Féile Siúlóidí Acla www.achilltourism.com Féile Bia Na Mara / Achill Seafood Festival www.achilltourism.com Heinrich Boll Memorial Weekend www.achilltourism.com Inishbiggle Festival www.achilltourism.com St. Patrick’s Day Walks Festival www.achilltourism.com Geesala Festival www.errisbeo.ie Mayo International Choral Festival www.mayochoral.com Westport Arts Festival www.westportartsfestival.com

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For a current update on all our members in this county visit www.aoifeonline.com

performance by the three competing Gospel choirs of an up-tempo version of ‘Amazing Grace’, after one of the competitions in Christ Church, Castlebar.”

The festival committee will continue to search for new venues to hold their four day event that will provide the perfect setting for their audience. While they also have big plans for the Gathering as they hope to incorporate it for the full festival next year “We had a target of 19 choirs for 2012 and ended up with 34 participating. Over 8000 choirs worldwide invited for 2013. Support the Gathering 2013, with branding on all promo materials and website.”

Mayo

Meath: Dunshaughlin Harvest Fest & Blue Jean Country Queen The Blue Jean Country Queen Festival runs on the June Bank Holiday and will be holding its 27th edition next year. The festival is a huge boost each year to its area, as an average of 2,200 stayed overnight and attended ticketed events at last year’s festival. This ensured good attendance for the festival, along with a busy weekend for businesses and guesthouses in the area.

Dunshaughlin Harvest Festival is described as a rural celebration in a contemporary town.

A fantastic, fun-filled family event, packed with original and diverse entertainment, with top class professional musicians, drama, comedians, pub entertainment and much more..

The festival’s musical chairs event was the main attraction this year it was definitely the one that got them all on their feet. It was a sight to behold adults getting into the spirit of a fast moving, competitive and very funny game. The Science Laboratory was a big hit with about 500 children and adults visiting it over the 2 afternoons. The Festival Concert ‘Rock Meets the Classics’ was also a huge hit, the main thrust of the event was to show that while we may have preferences for a particular type of music we can also enjoy so many others. Using purely local talent (most of whom have performed at national and international level) it showed that music and dance is all-encompassing and with the audience ranging in age from 5 years to 90+ drawn from the local community, the county and further afield the festival certainly achieved their aim.

Dunshaughlin Harvest Festival provides the town with a busy four days economically since it began two years ago. Out of the five pubs in the village four were packed to capacity, with the fifth one reporting an increase in trade. Two pubs reported being busier than our inaugural festival in 2011, Restaurants, cafes and takeaways were busy day and night; Newsagents and discount shops were much busier. The boutique sector for which Dunshaughlin is known had a marked increase in footfall and sales. The local community newsletter reported a 3 fold increase in adverts being sold.

For next year’s festival Ann McLoughlin, secretary of the festivals says “With The Gathering in mind we plan to fine-tune the most popular events giving each one an even greater heritage and cultural twist, for instance: The popular Ghost event suitable for adults and children will in 2013 focus on the local ghost stories passed down from our own grandparents and parents and the Launch Night Concert theme for 2013 will be ‘traditional and contemporary Irish song, music and dance”. Next year’s Festival will be held the 26th to the 29th of September.

Meath

Organisers tried some new techniques this year and so attendance at free daytime entertainment was high, despite the fact that bad weather meant that they had to go to plan B, and move a lot of the children’s activities indoors. Athboy’s new Farmer’s Market was incorporated in the festival and added a great buzz to the atmosphere on Saturday and Sunday.

The participating Queens bonded at a pre-festival ice breaker in Causey Farm on Friday afternoon, and these new friendships strengthened over the course of the weekend. They are always chatting on their Facebook group and have organised a few reunions already. The festival invested in a stock of new road signs and bunting. They appeared on the Craig Doyle Live Show prior to the festival with our reigning Queen and they were one of the 6 festivals featured on TV3’s documentary “Ireland’s Beauty Queens” For the festival to accommodate their sponsors they had to mention them in local newspapers, advertise their businesses on the leaflets, brochures and on-line media, invite them to speak at their festival banquet and let them present the prizes that they’ve sponsored to the winning queens.

Caoimhe Leavy Secretary for Blue Jean Country says in relation to their plans for the Gathering edition of their Festival “As always, the committee strives to maintain the international element in the BJCQ Festival. We plan to have queens representing other young farmer organisations from France, England, Scotland and America. Also this year we have spread our wings further for the gathering and intend on having an Australian Queen.”

Among our festival and event members in County Meath Navan Shamrock Festival www.navanshamrockfestival.com Trim Hot Air Balloon Fiesta www.trimfiesta.com Scurlogstown Olympiad Haymaking Festival www.trimhaymakingfestival.com Dunshaughlin Harvest Festival www.dunfest.com Blue Jean Country Queen Festival www.bluejeanfest.com Swift Satire Festival, Trim www.swiftsatirefestival.com

For a current update on all our members in this county visit www.aoifeonline.com

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t: +353 (0)87 790 9487 e: info@johndrummey.ie www.johndrummey.ie

Monaghan: Carrickmacross Festival

Carrickmacross Festival has just celebrated its 11th year of existence, for the last ten years local volunteers have offered their time and efforts along with the support of the local Carrickmacross council and business to making this one of Ireland’s quickest growing family festivals.

The four day event is ran on a budget of €50-60,000 and generates over €2m for the local economy each year. Liam Connolly Festival Chairman describes the return for the community from the festival as “unbelievable for every shop, pub and restaurant.” 2012 saw a significant rise in crowds, especially people from counties Kerry, Sligo, Galway etc and many people from the community who have emigrated took work holidays around the festival so that they could come home for the festival.

This year the festival committee decided to put less in the local media and invest more time in branding like brochures, they branded a van to drive around the locality and social networking and their website saw a very big increase in activity. The organisers are lucky to have a group of loyal volunteers who come back year after year. There has been an increase in people volunteering who are unemployed and retire as they’re looking for something to get involved with. Liam adds that “we’re lucky to have a loyal and tight committee we work well together if more were to

Monaghan

get involved it would just get messy.” A new event was added to the line up this year as they began ‘old games’ which included ‘welly throwing’, all of the events provided are free the only thing the audience have to pay for are the rides at the funfair. Also this year the festival committee decided to get rid of the French Markets as they were not drawing the crowd they needed so Liam and his team started their own market that uses local produce from Monaghan Farmers and it proved very popular.

Sponsors of the festival are now looking for their name on all the festival material, the more branding they get the happier they are. The festival Committee have not decided on a concept yet for the Gathering version of their festival but they want something that highlights tradition.

Among our festival and event members in County Monaghan Carrickroe Welcome Home Festival www.emyvale.net Clones Film Festival www.clonesfilmfestival.com Carrickmacross Festival www.carrickmacross.ie Flat Lake Festival www.theflatlakefestival.com

For a current update on all our members in this county visit www.aoifeonline.com

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Offaly: Birr Vintage Week Michelle De Forge the current Programmer with Birr Vintage Week has been involved now for some 15 years in various capacities and seen the festival grow to eight days.

2012 saw its 44th edition and a new move to coincide with the August Bank Holiday week. The Gathering Year will see this renowned midlands event celebrate its 45th continuous season and they are hoping to attract families and memories of the event during the 2nd to the 9th of August. The festival which absorbs a budget of some €70,000 saw significant increases in visitor numbers to the Heritage town and noted that participation in their “hands on” elements of the programme was up.

Utilising volunteers more extensively for programme and flyer distribution and also spent more on Regional and National Radio Advertising as well as engaging more with Facebook and online social media, which they feel all helped grow footfall. Two things really helped with their volunteer strategy this year: they created an officer especially for Volunteer co-ordination and they got Volunteer Crew Shirts sponsored which proved to be a huge recruiting device.

to extract more profile and branding than before. The hospitality stakeholders were a little non plussed initially with the move of the dates to the finale on the August Bank Holiday weekend but certainly were happy with the results.

They saw huge engagement with their events and workshops especially in the area of arts and crafts and their developing lunchtime theatre programme from Left of Centre and Gina Moxley and Frances Healy was very well received. The Big Generator played a huge outdoor FREE set which got the locals and visiting crowd rocking!

They always pride themselves in excellent outreach programming for the youth and young children and couldn’t believe the huge volume of interest there was for activities, even for those with a minimum charge.

They found the use of a recently closed Restaurant in an old listed building compete with courtyard an ideal location for a Visual arts display and their crowning achievement for unique settings was the majestic BIRR Castle as a backdrop to an Outdoor Shakespeare production.

Looking forward to next year Michelle is really hoping that the midlands heritage town, famed for its Georgian Architecture will keep engaging its loyal local base whilst appealing to the visitors. “We really would like to see as many families and people who met or had connections with the Vintage week come back for the Gathering and we will be working closely with the wider Offaly Gathering Committee in fleshing out our ideas over the year.”

Michelle admits that they found sponsors far more willing to invest their products and services than cash with the festival this year and were keener

Offaly Among our festival and event members in County Offaly Canal Quarter Festival www.canalquarterfestival.com Shakefest www.shakefest.net OFFline Film Festival www.offlinefilmfestival.com Tullamore / AIB National Livestock Show www.tullamoreshow.com Shannonbridge Music Festival www.shannonbridge.com Birr Vintage Week & Arts Festival www.birrvintageweek.com

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For a current update on all our members in this county visit www.aoifeonline.com

Roscommon: Castlerea Rose Festival The Castlerea Rose Festival is one of the most successful and entertaining family festivals in Ireland, and also one of the oldest. The Festival will be celebrating their 25th year in existence in 2013 for the Gathering. It is a five day event on the August Bank Holiday of every year.

The festival is a huge benefit to Castlerea, with an estimated figure of 10,000 people coming into the town over the 5 days. The estimated impact is an average of €100,000 over the weekend. This year organisers had more emphasis on the family fun and many of their events were free, such as street entertainment. There were live puppet shows, which got the kids involved, stilt walkers interacting with the crowd, a live bird of prey show and a family fun day, all which involved the audience. Next year they hope to build on this and invite more street performers who interact with the audience such as magicians, clowns etc.

In the organisation process of the festival the festival committee concentrated mainly on their online presence. They set up a website and new Facebook page and a Twitter account. These are 3 great marketing tools which reach a far wider audience than their newspaper adverts or festival programmes could do. They also had a logo designed for the festival for the first time ever. This gave the festival an identity which will be easily recognised the world over. With the new logo printed on window decals and anybody that sponsored the festival was given a decal for their business window. This was a very helpful tool in selling the festival to their sponsors. They also put a lot more time and effort into their festival programmes. They made them bigger, more colourful and easier to read.

Roscommon

When it comes to their sponsors and stakeholders sponsors put a massive emphasis on value for money over the last 2 years. Sponsors want to know what they are getting for their money. They are also looking for more publicity with regards to their sponsorship.

The organisers feel they want

the community to know that they are supporting their local festival. While they found their stakeholders like the Gardaí it very easy to deal with. They were very helpful with the festival and were brilliant throughout the whole five day event. The County Council were great also. Organisers had no problems dealing with any of their stakeholders.

The main observation the festival made in regard to volunteering was about the way volunteers were approached. If one was to go to someone to ask them for help the best way to is to be concise. For example can they help organisers at this event, on this day, for this many hours and your duties will be. People say no to helping because the either have had a bad experience or a fear that they will be stuck doing donkey work on their own for the day. The second thing they noticed was due to the recession there are a lot more people with time on their hands who are willing to get involved in community groups.

The festval were lucky this year to have use of their local HUB. This is a disused factory that was donated by a local business man to the town. The Castlerea Enterprise Committee has developed the building over the last year and now the Rose Festival has a lovely big hall amongst other rooms. It was brilliant to have for the kid’s arts and craft, Teddy Bears Picnic because as all festivals know the weather is so unpredictable in Ireland.

Susan Gaynor, Secretary of the Festival has revealed some of the committee’s plans for next year “We have just had our AGM for 2012/2013 so no plans have been set in stone just yet. It is our 25th anniversary and the year of the Gathering. We will be making things bigger, brighter and bolder. One of our ideas is to hold a reunion dance for all past Rose contestants and winners for the last 25 years. There have been winners from all over Ireland, England and the U.S., so with a bit of luck we can gather them all to celebrate.”

Among our festival and event members in County Roscommon Roscommon Drama Festival www.roscommondramafestival.com O’Carolan Harp & Traditional Music Festival www.ocarolanharpfestival.ie Boyle Arts Festival www.boylearts.com Roscommon Lamb Festival www.roscommonlambfestival.com Castlerea International Rose Festival www.castlerearosefestival.com

For a current update on all our members in this county visit www.aoifeonline.com

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Sligo: Sligo Jazz Project “This festival turns the west of Ireland town into one big jazz summer school, where advanced players and those just getting to grips with the canon can take part in masterclasses with players of exceptional, international calibre. The classes are accompanied by a series of concerts that any city or festival would be happy to host”. the irish times Sligo Jazz Project (SJP) is a volunteer-run organization which brings world class music and music education to Sligo, Ireland. SJP’s flagship event each summer is one of the most important jazz education events in Europe, a summer school which hosts workshops, masterclasses and concerts by renowned international jazz artists and a full blown jazz and world music festival.

Our 2013 dates are July 22-28.

The 2013 event will follow the pattern of previous jazz projects, with a week of workshops and masterclasses accompanied by a full blown jazz festival. Most of the festival acts come from the exemplary international summer school faculty, which this year includes, for the third year running, John Riley, renowned drum educator and long time member of the legendary Vanguard Jazz Orchestra (NYC) and the world’s leading jazz trombone virtuoso Marshall Gilkes.

We make great things happen in Sligo! See how by watching the videos on www.sligojazz.ie. Become a friend on Facebook to keep up with local jazz events and festival news.

What they said about our summer school and festival “thank you so much for the most amazing, fun, inspiring week.”

“What an incredible week, thanks for putting it all together. “ “It was a fantastic experience, both enjoyable and challenging.”

“I learned so much from the tutors and the jam sessions.”

“All the tutors were top-class, I felt like I learned something new every five minutes!”

“By combining the summer school for music students with a jazz festival for everyone, Eddie Lee and his co-organisers have created a winning formula.” sunday independent

“I’ve been teaching on jazz workshops and summer schools for 25 years in places like the US, France, Germany, the UK and Ireland. It is without doubt I say that Sligo Jazz Project is the most organised and smoothly ran workshop that I’ve ever been involved with” jean toussaint “I had the pleasure of taking part in the Sligo Jazz Project 2011.

The workshop and concerts were well organized and the faculty and participants were inspiring. Sligo is a lovely town, definitely worth a visit. Hope to see you there next year.”

John Riley, Vanguard Jazz Orchestra drummer new york, and educator.

“It was a pleasure to teach on the Sligo Jazz Project. The students and faculty were great to work with and I think it was a particularly creative and enjoyable experience for everyone.” john taylor, uk piano legend “Joining the line up for Sligo 2011 International Jazz Summer School and Festival was one of the most inspiring weeks i’ve had in sometime!

And judging from the feedback from the students and punters, this great festival is destined to be a very important fixture on the annual Jazz festival map.” cleveland watkiss, uk vocal maestro ”Sligo Jazz… we LOVED you.” david lyttle, northern ireland drum force “What a great week and I feel completely invigorated by it. It was such a lovely combination of teaching and playing and your relaxed approach allows everyone to just do what they do. I thought it was a very strong faculty.” paul clarvis, uk drummer, percussionist and educator.

“One of the most important events on the jazz calendar.

The chance to hear a line up like this in the warm embrace of Sligo town is not to be missed.” irish times

Sligo

Among our festival and event members in County Sligo So Sligo Food Festival www.sosligo.com Sligo Jazz Project: Summer School & Jazz Festival www.sligojazz.ie Sligo Live Music Festival www.sligolive.ie Coolaney Summer Festival www.sligo.ie

For a current update on all our members in this county visit www.aoifeonline.com

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Tipperary: Cashel Arts Festival

Cashel Arts Festival is just about to celebrate a decade in existence. They’ve undertook some new techniques this year to revive the festival such as a new website and a new logo. They increased road and town centre festival signage they held bigger brochure launch after seeking expert advice and used this advice to shape the type of event needed to highlight brochure launch.

This year the organisers increased the schools’ programme and created a festival choir based on masterclass workshops with a professional choral conductor. There was a new visual arts community banner project initiated, the results of which will be displayed in Cashel town centre.

Eight community groups took part in these schemes and they cover all age groups from pre-school to senior citizens. Our aim would be to develop these and similar projects over the coming years.

The 2012 ten day event also saw demand for workshops exceed supply as fans of the festival benefit. There was a strong interest in community events such as their festival choir, Community groups as mentioned are enthusiastic to contribute to the festival. Sponsors haven’t asked for anything extra this year but the festival normally offers to feature their logo on all printed publicity material, sponsorship association with feature events and verbal acknowledgement at these events, while dealing with their stakeholders hasn’t changed they have continued to have a good relationship.

There has been a very strong interest this year in children’s theatre, The National Ballet, Festival Choir and workshops for adults and children as they provide a great show to those in the audience and those participating in the workshops. Organisers also decided to be very innovative this year and use the vacant retail lots around the Cashel area for a pop up art gallery. On their plans for the Gathering Gillian Brennan Secretary for Cashel Arts Festival says “We’ll commence planning for 2013 in December 2012 once this year’s festival is finished.” However if Cashel Arts keep providing valuable workshops and performances for visitors of the festival they will have no problem increasing the footfall at their event next year.

Among our festival and event members in County Tipperary Clancy Brothers Music & Arts Festival www.clancybrothersfestival.org Cloughjordan Festival www.cloughjordan.ie/festival Dromineeer Literary Festival www.dromineerliteraryfestival.ie Terryglass Arts Festival www.terryglassartsfestival.ie Cashel Arts Festival www.cashelartsfest.com Cloughtoberfest www.cloughtoberfest.com

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For a current update on all our members in this county visit www.aoifeonline.com

Tipperary

Waterford: Spraoí Festival

Spaoí International Street Arts Festival was described by the Guardian as “A free urban festival in beautiful Waterford.” It attracts nearly 100,000 people and the city streets act as a stage for acts around the world.” The festival earns €3m for the local economy each year.

2012 saw the Festival’s Twentieth year in existence, it runs for three days over the August bank holiday and this year Organisers saw increased crowds, increased use of social media by the public to access the festival information and great weather for the first time in years. For their marketing and sales strategy they believe good communication through social media is crucial, Spraoí is a free festival so they have no direct sales impact number but Public donations to the festival were generous as always but slightly down on previous years in 2012. Although their sponsors still stress that value for money is their main priority.

Like many other festivals Niamh Colbert, Financial Controller of Spraoí for over thirteen years appreciates the work that their volunteers do saying “Volunteers are the ‘face’ of the festival over the 3 days and play a crucial role in liaising with both the general public and the artists. Therefore good recruitment, training and management of those

Waterford

volunteering are essential so everyone has the best experience possible. Spraoí greatly appreciate s what our volunteers do and the hard work and effort they put in the festival simply couldn’t happen without them.”

Due to inclement weather in the run up to the festival some sites planned just became unworkable for the three day event but this set back did work out positively for Spraoí in the discovery of some new sites which they can hopefully utilise again in the future.

This year as always the street performers were enormously popular but the Spraoí Parade’s move back to a night-time spectacular was the audience highlight undoubtedly. Niamh was unable to give any details on the festivals plans for The Gathering but as the festival continues to wow audiences every year it is guaranteed that next year’s edition will be stunning and not to be missed.

Among our festival and event members in County Waterford Ardmore Pattern Festival www.ardmorepatternfestival.ie August Racing Festival www.tramore-racecourse.com Dunmore East Bluegrass Festival www.discoverdunmore.com Dunmore East Rambling Weekend www.dunmorewalks.com Family Fun Day www.firstofthesummerwine.com Imagine: Waterford Arts Festival www.waterfordartsfestival.com Immrama, Lismore Festival of Travel Writing www.lismoreimmrama.com Spraoi Festival Waterford www.spraoi.com sprÓg www.garterlane.ie Storytelling Southeast www.storytellingsoutheast.com Symphony Club of Waterford www.scow.ie Tramore Oceanic Surf & Sea Festival www.surfandseafestival.com Waterford Festival of Architecture www.wfa.ie Waterford Festival of Food www.waterfordfestivaloffood.com Waterford Harvest Festival www.waterfordharvestfestival.ie Waterford New Music Week www.waterfordnewmusicweek.com Waterford Writers Weekend www.waterfordwritersweekend.ie

For a current update on all our members in this county visit www.aoifeonline.com

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Westmeath: Race of the South Since July 2000, the Fore Motor Cycle Racing Club’s annual “Race of the South” has been held on the Walderstown circuit, a few miles from Athlone, Co. Westmeath. However the race has a long history, stretching back over 40 years to 1973. The first “Race of the South” was promoted by the Dublin-based Fingal Motor Club on the Fore Village circuit, near Castlepollard, on Sunday, August 26, 1973.

The inaugural meeting was a huge success and the event quickly established itself as one of the most popular on the Irish calendar. It is a two day event running on a budget of €90,000; it will be celebrating its 40th year in existence in 2013. Austin Dobsin the Race Organiser since 1978 has no concrete plans made yet but they will be promoting the event as much as possible.

2012 saw a significant increase in crowds for the event particularly many people from the North. Organisers decided to stick with their tried and tested method this year and so only did advertising to suit their finances. The aspects of the event that took Race of the South’s audience by storm was the skill of the competitors, they impress the crowds with what they can perform every year.

Also an appearance by the Dunlop Bros also excited the crowds.

Unlike most events Austin found it hard to get volunteers this year blaming “Young people emigrating and cost of travelling” on the lack of available support. Luckily for the event committee they don’t have to worry about searching for sponsors as they have many small sponsors who have been good to the race over the years and remain loyal. Since the event moved to Walderstown twelve years ago the locality has seen all B&Bs, Hotels and Shops getting a lot more business making it a great asset to the community. An aim for Race of the South next year is to upgrade safety for competitors and spectators by purchasing new safety equipment so they know their audience is receiving the highest standard of care.

Westmeath

Among our festival and event members in County Westmeath Festival of the Fires www.festivalofthefires.com The Green Village Music & Arts Festival www.greenvillage.ie Body & Soul Festival www.efestivals.co.uk

For a current update on all our members in this county visit www.aoifeonline.com

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Wexford: AIMS Choral Festival Wexford AIMS Choral Festival is going into its 29th edition in 2013. It still impresses crowds each year so much so that some audience members feel the obligation to send them letter and emails of congratulations on continuing to host such an enjoyable three day event.

The highlight for this year’s festival was the amazing performance by Wexford Live Opera Society according to Dorrie Godkin the Festival Administrator. They wowed the audience with a concert that included comedy, duets, solos, big rousing chorus numbers and just beautiful singing.

The school’s competition was also a popular element of the festival this year but Organisers did notice the number of entrants were down on last year due to cutbacks. The competition includes categories from choirs in primary school, choirs in secondary school, show production performances, young male soloists, young male soloists with changed voices, girl soloists and the newest addition Beatles music. 2012 was the first year of the Beatles music entry and it was hugely popular.

A member of the festival committee has undertaken the task of improving social media by working with a website and Facebook and has found there is an increased response because of it. Unfortunately there hasn’t been coverage of the festival at a national level but Dorrie says they are very grateful for all the attention Lyric FM and regional media give to the three day event.

The festival continues to use the same loyal volunteers, many of these people have worked with Wexford AIMS Choral Festival since day one 28 years ago and there are quite a few that help out from active retirement groups. The festival works on a budget of just €12,000 and it returns that if not twice that to the local economy from business it generates.

The town sees some of its streets shut off as festival goers use it to have a ‘sing song’. The festival aren’t getting the funding they used to from their stakeholders as they only received one grant last year as the money is there but just not being allocated to them.

When asked about the Gathering and their plans Dorrie said “we are contemplating trying to get people from America and England if not other places to come to the festival”. Describing the festival in a few words Dorrie added “it’s an enjoyable hardworking experience that incorporates comradery into every level of organisation.”

Among our festival and event members in County Wexford Strawberry Fest www.2012.strawberryfest.ie Eileen Aroon Festival www.bunclody.net Enniscorthy Street Rhythms Dance Festival www.enniscorthystreetrhythms.com AIMS Choral Festival www.aims.ie www.aims.ie New Ross Piano Festival www.newrosspianofestival.com

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For a current update on all our members in this county visit www.aoifeonline.com

Wexford

Wicklow: Bray Jazz Festival

Bray Jazz Festival has been in existence for the past thirteen years. Established in 2000 with backing from the National Millennium Fund, the event has since then established itself as the leading jazz festival weekend taking place within the Greater Dublin Area.

Bray Jazz was described by The Irish Times as “one of the very best small jazz festivals in Europe’ by leading jazz web portal ‘All About Jazz’, and as ‘the connoisseur’s jazz festival”. The festival runs for three days over the May Bank Holiday weekend each year. George Jacob the director and founder of Bray Jazz Festival noticed some positive aspects to holding this year’s edition such as confidence in the sector is returning, audiences were larger than they had been since 2008 which could be a reflection of the quality of the 2012 programme Organisers operate on an annual budget of approximately €90,000, each year. In the heyday of the Celtic Tiger the event had budgets of more than €150,000, but according to George “the figures can be deceptive. The costs of doing business today have come down appreciably on those of 2007-2008, and although funding support has diminished we have worked hard to ensure that we continue to deliver a top quality programme of Irish and international music, each year.” While research carried out by the festival indicates that the event attracts upwards of 5,000 visitors to North Wicklow, each year.

Bray Jazz believes communicating online is becoming increasingly important, social media engagement is more relevant than ever they now has close to 5,000 twitter followers, and nearly 3,000 followers on facebook while ‘Traditional’ print and broadcast media continue to be extremely important for them as a feature in a national newspaper led to a direct spike in ticket sales, several days out from the 2012 event.

Organisers use only a handful of volunteers at its festival each year.

They have a dedicated and hard working crew and supporting cast of production providers whose backing has been essential to the event through the years.

The festival’s sponsors are now looking for recognition of their contribution, accountability and opportunities to link their brand to a quality event which the festival can promise as Bray Jazz was fortunate to have programmed one of its strongest ever headline bills in 2012.

It was a consequence of our three main concerts played to capacity audiences, in one instance the venue having sold out some time in advance. This show, featuring Grammy Award winning Peruvian singer Susana Baca was particularly successful and they were lucky enough to have Bob Geldof and U2’s The Edge supporting the festival with their patronage on the night!

The three day event is currently exploring the option of opening a new concert venue in 2012 and is looking at a specific church building to host recitals. A visit to a major Scandinavian jazz festival during the summer demonstrated to them how effectively such spaces can be for jazz performance, when production is of a certain standard. When asked about his plans for the Gathering George said “Bray Jazz will bring a leading name European jazz artist to the 2013 festival and employ a focus on jazz from across the continent - in part to recognise Ireland’s upcoming Presidency of the EU. In 2013 Bray Jazz will also plan to bring a major figure in contemporary American jazz to the festival, and also a leading name figure in World Music from the southern hemisphere.”

A new festival strand that will showcase the very best of contemporary Irish jazz and experimental music is also being planned.

Wicklow Among our festival and event members in County Wicklow Bray Jazz Festival www.brayjazz.com Dunlavin Festival of Arts www.dunlavinartsfestival.com Wicklow Arts Festival www.wicklowartsfestival.ie Bray Summerfest www.braysummerfest.com Glendalough Mid Summer Festival www.glendaloughmidsummerfestival.com

For a current update on all our members in this county visit www.aoifeonline.com

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2012 Festival & Events: Year in Review

Full Backline Available

Carlton Hotel Group Best of Marketing Awards Each year AOIFE seeks from the sector, copies of their current Flyer, Poster, Programme other Print Material and their merchandising samples for adjudication in the Carlton Best of Marketing Awards.

In order to amplify best practice and to promote innovation in the areas of Marketing Off and Online and quality Graphic Design. These awards have been supported by the Carlton Hotel Group. Short listed Winners in each category receive some significant publicity through the AOIFE network, as their images are used in our publications and promotional material and in all of our training and presentation slides

and mentoring sessions. The winners receive the accolade and a nice Overnight Team Package with one of the Carlton Properties worth circa €1,500. Entry to the Awards is free for members and a small fee is charged to non members.

The categories are: Best Over All, Best Poster, Best Flyer, Best Programme, Best Merchandise, Best Photograph, Best Website and Best Social Media. The 18th of October 2013 is the closing date for online and postal entries next year!

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Directory of Corporate Members Street Theatre / Spectacle Arcana Productions T: 091 565705 E: info@arcana.ie www.arcana.ie Artastic T: 045 486507 M: 087 6383605 E: artasticstreettheatre@gmail.com www.by-vijaya.com Buí Bolg Street Theatre T: 053 91 23183 E: lucy@buibolg.com www.buibolg.com Cork Circus T: 086 813 4149 E: corkcircus@gmail.com www.corkcircus.net

Wobbly Circus T: 086 0550004 E: paul@wobblycircus.com E: applause@eircom.net www.wobblycircus.com Circus & Funfairs Cullen’s Travelling Fun Fairs T: 028 7134 6104 E: info@cullenfunfairs.com www.cullensfunfairs.com Fossett’s Circus T: 087 7978518 E: bookings@fossettscircus.ie www.fossettscircus.ie Tumble Circus M: 086 8336781 E: ken@tumblecircus.com www.tumblecircus.com

Fanzini Brothers Tralee Circus Festival T: 087 9978146 (Con Horgan) E: info@fanzinibrothers.com www.fanzinibrothers.com www.traleecircusfestival.com

McFadden’s Fun Fairs T: 01 2863581 M: 087 2567850 E: funfair@eircom.net www.mcfaddenfunfairs.com

Galway Community Circus T: 085 1117224 E: galwaycircus@gmail.com galwaycommunitycircus.com

Fun & Games T: 028 40622028 E: info@funandgames.co.uk www.funandgames.co.uk

Maria Auletta (Mollylu) Jester, Juggler, Fire Dancer, Clown, Object Manipulator, Drama Tutor.

T: 085 7798435 E: Mollyinjuggling@yahoo.it Tumble Circus T: +44 7779226508 or +44 7805936872 E: bookings@tumblecircus.com www.tumblecircus.com Ariel Killick, MA (Hons.)

Irish language Street and Carnival Entertainment and Irish/bilingual workshops.

T: +353 86 3440 668 or +44 75 700 43 745 independentstateofhappiness.com Fidget Feet Aerial Dance T: 087 9887530 www.fidgetfeet.com Inishowen Carnival Group T: 074 9373375 E: info@inishowencarnival.com www.inishowencarnival.com Streetwise T: 028 90687828 E: streetwise@nireland.com www.streetwisecircus.co.uk

Funderland & Euroshow T: 061 419 988 E: info@funfair.ie www.funderland.com Mohan’s Funfair T: 028 37507485 E: info@mohansfunfair.com www.mohansfunfair.com Premiere Circus T : 048 90333 003 E : sarah@premierecircus.com www.premiercircus.com Magicians ABC Magic T: 045 533514 / M: 01 6211900 E: info@patfallonmagic.com www.patfallonmagic.com John Brady Entertainments T: 01 456 8882 E: info@jbe.ie / www.jbe.ie The Wedding Magician M: 087 2570705 E: info@johngerardmagic.com www.johngerardmagic.com

Mobile Stages

Agents, Managers, Promoters

AVC Hire T: 1800 200 400 NI: 44 (28) 90739241 E: john@avchire.com www.avchire.com

Bally O Promotions T: 086 8520975 E: ballyopromotions@gmail.com www.ballyopromotions.ie Blackhorse Music Productions T: 01 4536711 E: info@blackthornarts.ie www.blackthornarts.ie

Castle Stage Hire T: 048 37548892 M: 087 41101601 E: cormac@stagehire.com www.castlestagehire.com StageTRUCK T: 028 4173 7988 M: 007 960 967 622 enquiries@thestagetruck.co.uk www.thestagetruck.co.uk Shields Mobile Staging T: 021 4887851 E: hs.screenflex@gmail.com, es.screenflex@gmail.com, ms.screenflex@gmail.com www.shieldsmobilestages.com The Gig Rig M: 087 2574885 E: bookings@thegigrig.ie www.thegigrig.ie

Carol & Associates T: 01 4909339 E: info@carolandassociates.com www.carolandassociates.com Central Entertainment Bureau T: 01 801 3600 E: info@ceb.ie www.ceb.ie David Hull Promotions T: 028 9024 0360 E: info@dhpromotions.com www.davidhullpromotions.com Eamon Fitzpatrick Ent. T: 049 9522123 / 087 2590925 E: info@eamonfitzpatrick.com www.eamonfitzpatrick.com

bouncy Castles Abbey Bouncing Castles T: 01 6271938 M: 087 2433704 www.abbeybouncingcastles.com Carousel Enterprises T: 096 32042 E: info@toonsandballoons.com www.toonsandballoons.com

Henderson Management T: 01253 863386 john@henderson-management.co.uk henderson-management.co.uk John Brady Entertainment T: 01 456 8882 E: info@jeb.ie www.jbe.ie L&M Promotions T: 909 9231206 E: laurie@lmpromotions.com www.lmpromotions.com

Formula Fun M: 087 01162000 E: meath@formulafun.ie www.formulafun.ie Wackie Entertainments T: 01 8641351 E: wackie@eircom.net www.wackie-entertainment.com

Pat Egan Management T: 01 6797700 E: pat@pateganmgt.ie www.pateganmgt.ie

Party Time Ltd. T: 1890 733833 M: 087 2344149 E: info@bouncingcastles.ie www.bouncingcastles.ie

Pelican Promotions T: 042 9323 529 M: 087 222 2100 E: info@pelican.ie www.pelican.ie

Leinster Bounce T: 01 2936900 E: info@leinsterbounce.com www.leinsterbounce.com

The Grooveyard Limited T: 091 556608 E: info@grooveyard.ie www.grooveyard.ie

Banna Water Activities T: 066 7134730 www.bannawateractivities.com

The Headline Agency T: 01 2602560 / M: 087 2475791 E: info@musicheadline.com www.theheadlineagency.com

2012 Festival & Events: Year in Review

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Directory of Corporate Members Verve Marketing T: 01 637 5160 E: verve@verve.ie www.verve.ie Willie Carthy Entertainment T: 090 97 41017 E: conquerors@live.ie www.dancingdiary.com Denis Heaney Promotions T: 028 3026 6858 E: dennisheavy@hotmail.com www.susanmccann.com Leo Productions T: 041 9835433 E: leoproductions@eircom.net Noel Carthy T: 01 2963363 E: carthy@indigo.ie Sensible Music Ireland T: 01 6208321 E: info@sensiblemusic.ie www.sensiblemusic.ie Spectrum Artists Management T: 087 9354323 info@spectrumdanceevents.com spectrumdanceevents.com The Inspired: Event Management T: 01 4163673 E: inspiredevents@eircom.net TA Promotions T: 090 6481368 E: trdales@eircom.net Event Sound Ltd. T: 086 8311851 / 087 2888761 E: info@eventsound.ie www.evendsound.ie John Brady Entertainments T: 01 456 8882 E: info@jbe.ie www.jbe.ie Fireworks Black Powder Monkeys T: 087 234 9422 info@blackpowdermonkeys.com blackpowdermonkeys.com Rocket Pyrotechnics T: 01 287 8262 M: 087 237 7912 E: rocketpyro@eircom.net www.rocketpyro.ie

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Event Production Impress Promotions and Branded Merchandising T: 065 6823618 E: info@impresspromotions.ie www.impresspromotions.ie Approved Productions T: 066 9796898 M: 086 8519928 E: info@approved.ie www.approved.ie Lamination Services T: 01 855 6000 E: sales@laminationservices.ie www.laminationservices.ie PDC Europe T: 0032 6789 5656 E: vbarton@pdc-europe.com www.pdc-europe.com AVC Hire T: 1800 200 400 NI: 44 (28) 90739241 E: john@avchire.com www.avchire.com Milestone Events T: 01 9059189 M: 085 1531034 maria@milestoneinventive.com www.milestoneinventive.com Clean Direct/Event Cleaning T: 01 4011 901 M: 087 320 3201 maudshomeservices@gmail.com www.housecleaning.ie CSS Signs T: 01 4586084 M: 086 2401830 E: info@css-signs.ie www.css-signs.ie

Profile Events T: 01 4773456 M: 086 2438925 E: paraic@profileevents.ie www.profileevents.ie Comedians Snatch Comedy T: 086 3261938 E: info@snatchcomedy.com www.snatchcomedy.com Tommy Tiernan T: 091 564875 E: mabinog@eircom.net www.tommytiernan.com Barry Murphy, Bob Reilly, Deirdre Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Kane, Des Bishop, Eddie Bannon, Ian Coppinger, John Henderson, Mark Doherty and Neil Delamere.

T: 01 6375000 E: info@lisarichards.ie www.lisarichards.ie Carol Hanna & Associates T: 01 4909339 E: info@carolandassociates.com W: www.carolandassociates.com Patrick McDonnell T: 087 8959978 E: pathead@aircom.net Gerry Mallon T: 086 8566162 E: gerardmallon@eircom.net Joe Rooney T: 01 2013660 E: info@audionetworks.ie Kevin Gildea T: 087 9898958 E: kgildea@eircom.net

Eventserv Logistics Ltd T: 01 505 5888 E: stephen@evertserv.ie

Violet Dunne T: 086 1532626 E: violetdunne@eircom.net

Fair & Murtagh, Solicitors T: 090 965 0000 E: ballinasloe@fair-murtagh.ie www.fair-murtagh.ie

INDOOR THEATRE

In Your Space T: 048 71313955 M: 07883011563 E: richard@inyourspaceni.org www.inyourspaceevents.com Magnum Events T: 01 2018882 E: info@magnumevents.eu www.magnumevents.eu

2012 Festival & Events: Year in Review

Moffatt School of Irish Dancing T: 096 51413 M: 087 1185559/087 9364504 E: sheila_moffatt@yahoo.ie moffattschoolofirishdancing.com Wrestling.ie T:0044 7516 823 626 M: 048 8555 7934 E: info@wrestling.ie www.wrestling.ie

Clowns Fossettâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Circus M: 087 7978518 E: bookings@fossettscircus.com www.fossettscircus.com Wobbly Circus T: 086 0550004 E: paul@wobblycircus.com www.wobblycircus.com Equipment Hire Circuit Catering Ltd. T: 01 4535111 E: circuit.catering@gmail.com www.circuitcatering.ie Higgins Furniture & Catering T: 045 526300 E: hire@higgins.ie www.higgins.ie Kelly Display Contracts T: 091 758901 E: info@kellydisplay.com www.kellydisplay.com Hire All Event & Party Hire T: 01 295 3821 E: info@hireall.ie www.hireall.ie Alternative Cater Hire T: 021 4321155 M: 087 3837710 E: rachel@neh.ie www.altcaterhire.com High Resolution Lighting Ltd T: 01 4299 044 E: linda@highreslighting.com www.highreslighting.com Luminous Ltd T: 01 8068333 / 087 2525183 E: pauls@justlite.com www.justlite.com IT & Website Design Associates T: 091 862 933 E: studio@designassociates.ie www.designassociates.ie Wevolution T: 021 234 8512 E: john@wevolution.ie www.wevolution.ie

Directory of Corporate Members Security

Sound Hire & Electrical

AOS Security Management M: 086 6001054 E: aossecurity@eircom.net

Archetype Audio Ltd. M: 086 1033 558 E: info@hearingmusic.ie www.hearingmusic.ie

Approved Productions T: 066 979 6898 / 086 8519928 E: info@approved.ie www.approved.ie Medicore Medical Services M: 01 6854466 E: info@medicore.ie www.medicore.ie Private Security Authority T: 062 31588 / 32600 E: info@psa.gov.ie www.psa.gov.ie Synergy Security Solutions T: 01 2945044 E: info@synergysecurity.ie www.express.ie Zarodov Alex Photography T: 085 748562 E: alexzarodov@gmail.com www.alexzarodov.com

Ard Soilse Ltd. T: 061 363384 E: info@ardsoilse.com www.ardsoilse.com Audio Networks T: 01 2013660 E: info@audionetworks.ie www.audionetworks.ie Dickers Sound Systems T: 01 286 5046 E: studio@eventsfm.ie www.eventtechnology.com AVC Hire T: 1800 200 400 NI: 44 (28) 90739241 E: john@avchire.com www.avchire.com

Brightspark Performance T: 01 6619 609 / 086 850 7872 E: info@brightspark.ie www.brightspark.ie

North East Marquees Ltd. T: 041 9845 300 ciaran@northeastmarquees.com www.northeastmarquees.com

John Drummey Communications T: 087 7909487 E: info@johndrummey.ie www.johndrummey.ie

Party Time Ltd T: 1890 733 833 / 087 234 4149 E: info@partytimeltd.ie www.partytimeltd.ie

Euro Events T: 01 280 9696 / 087 2579005 E: info@euroevents.ie www.euroevents.ie

Pelican Marquees T: 042 9323 529 / 087 222 2100 E: info@pelican.ie www.pelican.ie

Verve Marketing T: 01 637 5160 E: verve@verve.ie www.verve.ie

O’Donovan Marquees T: 026 49161 E: podmarquees@eircom.net www.odonovanmarquees.com

Marlboro Entertainment T: 021 4890600 E: roy@malboro.ie www.marlboro.ie

Rent A Tent Marquees T: 045 442509 E: info@rentatentmarquees.com www.rentatentmarquees.com

Synergy Security Solutions Ltd T: 01 2945044 / 087 669 8000 E: info@synergysecurity.ie www.synergysecurity.ie

Event Safety Consultants Association of Irish Festival Events (AOIFE) T: 090 9643779 E: info@aoifeonline.com www.aoifeonline.com

Samba

Event Tech T: 087 9293501 E:liam@eventech.ie www.eventech.ie

Inishowen Carnival Group T: 074 93 73375 E: info@inishowencarnival.com www.inishowencarnival.com

Litton Lane T: 01 435 1600 E: info@littonlane.com www.littonlane.com

Unique Events T: 021 4638044 E: info@uniqueevents.ie www.uniqueevents.ie

MaSamba Samba School T: 01 4163901 E: info@masamba.com www.masamba.com

Murt Whelan Sound Ltd. T: 086 8541204 E: info@murtwhelansound.ie www.murtwhelansound.ie

VSC Events T: 01 6432314 E: info@vscevents.ie www.vscevents.ie

Puppets

Soundtrax T: 021 4509888 E: info@soundtracks.ie

Marquees

Synergy Security Solutions T: 021 4550200 E: south@synergysecurity.ie www.synergysecurity.ie

Budget Marquees T: 087 2243460 E: johnj.doran@life.ie www.budgetmarqueesdublin.ie

Events Safety Stage Hire Ltd. T: 048 4173 7988 cooper.stuart@btconnect.com www.safetypassports.co.uk

Eventus T: 093 24472 E: info@eventus.ie www.eventus.ie

Specialist Product

Julie-Rose McCormick Puppets T: 01 2873643 M: 087 2486751 E: julie-rose@iol.ie www.mccormickpuppets.com Custard Pie Puppet Company T: 071 961 6465 M: 086 175 3841 www.custardpie.ie Your Man’s Puppets M: 086 3997196 E: info@yourmanspuppets.com www.yourmanspuppets.com Heritage Montague Heritage Services T: 087 2623024 E: info@montague.ie www.montague.ie

Avtek Solutions Ltd T: 01 294 1677 M: 086 2584303 E: graham.lowen@eurotek.ie www.avtek.ie Event Management & PR 2FM Roadcaster /Modern Media T: 090 964 2147 M: 087 1235 839 E: mod@fletchers.ie www.fletchers.ie Approved Productions T: 066 9796898 M: 086 8519928 E: info@approved.ie www.approved.ie

Senan O’Reilly Entertainment T: 053 9144634 E: info@wexlive.com www.wexlive.com

AOS Security Management M: 086 6001054 E: aossecurity@eircom.net Approved Prouductions T: 066 9796898 E: info@approved.ie www.approved.ie

Hire All Event & Party Hire T: 01 2953821 E: info@hireall.ie www.hireall.ie

Bay Media Ireland (Lamp Post Banners) T: 01 4545234 / 086 8580959 E: colm@baymedia.ie www.baymedia.ie Environmental

Leisure Domes T: 022 23318 E: sales@leisuredomes.com www.leisuredomes.com

Green Hospitality Programme T: 021 4354688 / 087 9198167 E: maurice@greenhospitality.ie www.greenhospitality.ie

North Down Marquees Ltd. T: +44 28 90815535 info@northdownmarquees.co.uk northdownmarquees.co.uk

Greening Your Festival T: 061 496844 E: pmcdonogh@managewaste.ie

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Financial Overview AOIFE Revenue 2012

€7,000 Corporate Advertising Total Membership Fees Training Fees/Seminars Conference Sales/Income €50,000

€58,133

Sponsorship Grant Aid Commercial Services Income Total Income 12 Months: €200,633

€26,000

• 87% of All Network Income is independently earned of subsidies.

• Only 25% of AOIFE's income comes from the Membership Fees.

• Nearly 30% of AOIFE's Income comes from our Commerical Services to the sector.

€39,500 €16,000

€4,000

AOIFE Expenditure 2012 €11,000

€950

€6,000 €11,000

€6,500 €31,000 €16,500 €3,500

€1,750

€8,500 €45,650

€24,000

€18,500

€11,500 Total Gross Estimated Expenditure: €200,000 €3,650

Office Rent Insurance Executive Expenses International Affiliation/Liaison Annual Conference Research/Report Commissioning Executive Training/Skilling Network Marketing Activities Training/Seminars Administration Costs Legal/Accountancy Fees Website/Info Technology Wages & Salaries Commercial Services Banking Charges & Interest • Just 17 % of All Network Expenditure is goes towards Rent, Insurance, Admin, Exec, Overhead Expenses.

• Approximately 22% of the Networks Income goes on Staff Costs.

• Approximately 61% of the Associations Income is spent directly on Members Sector benefits.

• A Full Set of Audited Accounts is returned to the AGM each year and filed with the CRO. Note: A full set of Audited Accounts is available each year to any member upon request to the secretariat.

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2012 Festival & Events: Year in Review

AOIFE Team 2012 AOIFE LTD / Board of Directors / National Executive

Secretariat

Miriam Dunne Former Programme Director Waterford Spraoi Festival, Current Freeland Festival and Arts Producer.

Maria Moynihan M.D. Milestone Events, Former Director of Dublin St. Patricks Festival, Cultural Day of Welcomes and Galway Volvo Port Stopover Festival Director 2010.

Geoffrey Kane Director Wicklow Arts Festival.

Jan Rotte Director of the Imrama Travel Writing Festival, Lismore, Co. Waterford.

Denise Rushe Freelance Online Media and Cultural Consultant, Sligo.

Formerly Social Media Marketing Co-ordinator of Temple Bar Cultural Properties.

Karen Bonner Former Director of Greystones Arts Festival, Current Committee Member Greystones.

Gerry McColgan Former Events Manager Derry City Council.

Executive Director: Colm Croffy Special Projects Assistant: Eileen Kelly Network Development Officer: Claire Heskin Membership Development Officer: Ciaran O’Connell Third Level Interns/Trainees: Administration, Communications, Special Events, Online Marketing, Research and Training.

AOIFE has been an official TRAINING Host Organisation for a number of European Programmes and Third Level institutions and has utilised the grateful involvement in 2012 of the following organisations: • • • • • • •

FÁS National Jobsbridge Scheme Erasmus/ Davinchi Vocational Training EU Programmes University of Limerick NUIG Galway GMIT Galway In Holland University, The Hague Ecole de Gestion et de Commerce de la Vendee

AOIFE would like to thank the following Work Placement Students/Interns from over eight different European countries who assisted us in delivering our programme: L-R: Claire Heskin (Network Development Officer); Eileen Kelly (Special Project Assistant); Barra Ó Crofaigh, Ballinasloe; Ciarán O’Connell, Corofin, Clare; Daniele Gerlin, Italy; Elena Hilp, Russia; Geoffrey Grolier, France; Nadine Wziontek, Germany; Niamh Begley, Dunhill, Waterford; Maja Pegan, Slovenia; Merel Jansma, Netherlands.

Michaela Rosso, Italy; Róisín Gannon, Kiltoom, Roscommon; Síofra Mannion, Kiltullagh, Galway; Tina Boh, Slovenia; Veronica Diliberto, Italy; Alvaro Lopez, Spain.

2012 Festival & Events: Year in Review

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Training / Mentoring Clients & Partners

Belfast City Council

Cork City Council

Please contact colm@aoifeonline.com for a bespoke event/festival organisers training and mentoring programme for your area.

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2012 Festival & Events: Year in Review

Forward Fast

by Jane Mullaney-Anderson Jane Mullaney Anderson is J&J Consulting and Former Executive Director, Milwaukee Irish Fest, the AOIFE Annual Conference Keynote Speaker 2008, 2010, Irish Celtic Festival Gathering Founder.

It’s often said that the only constant is change. I’ve certainly found that to be true after leaving Milwaukee Irish Fest this year to start a consulting firm with my colleague Judie Finnegan. Now we’re in the change business, advising festivals and events on ways to evolve both structurally and culturally in order to grow. My experience to date confirms what I’ve learned over two decades in Milwaukee: With strong relationships, not only can you respond to change, you can embrace it.

As we talk and meet with colleagues at other festivals, it’s clear there are some trends impacting the future of our events: Social and mobile technologies becoming must haves The saying “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” just doesn’t have a place in our industry, especially when it comes to technology that can increase engagement with event guests and volunteers. True, having a Facebook page or a mobile version of the website requires additional resources. However, when technologies open the door to closer relationships with the target audience, they’re worth it.

Technology can facilitate golden opportunities for enhancing the guest experience, too. For instance an interactive map of your festival grounds that’s downloadable to smartphones. Guests could use the map to navigate their way to a stage and download the stage schedule. For festivals with extensive grounds and many stages, this feature surely would be a huge hit with guests. Mobile technology is here to stay.

Adopting new technologies is a must-do in order to attract the younger generations to our festivals. You might want to engage some young volunteers to spearhead a Facebook page or research mobile applications that could be leveraged. Just be sure there’s clear direction from the start for integrating their work into the big-picture marketing plans.

Sponsors need increased value for their Investment When I became a festival director, the sponsorship scene looked very different. The decision to invest monetarily or in-kind was a solid balance of fiscal evaluation, good corporate citizenship, and basic goodwill. With the global economic downturn and reduced government support for the arts, the balance has shifted. Out of necessity, event sponsorship has truly become a financially-driven business decision.

To address this change, explore opportunities to form partnerships that achieve multiple goals. Introducing yearly showcases of Irish counties and Celtic countries, we developed partnerships with the people in those areas. The countries and counties provided funding and support with the exhibits in exchange for featured visibility with event guests, while the festival could affordably offer something fresh and new each year.

Another strategy is to expand existing partnerships with sponsors. Look for creative yet simple ways to offer companies a chance to reach their target market. Product sponsors are interested in activation beyond

your event. You might offer festival admission coupons with the store purchase of their product. A business sponsor interested in families could underwrite a program for children: Families could participate in a passport program. As the kids seek “stamps” from the different areas of a festival, families learn more about all the festival has to offer and the sponsor gains greater visibility with its target audience.

There’s a growing market for family-oriented events There’s plenty of fuel for this trend, and it already aligns with many events that showcase music and culture. I’ve found that family participation opportunities can be big draws without requiring a big investment of resources.

What can families do together at a festival?

• Try hands-on opportunities to learn music, artistic crafts or sports • Go on a treasure hunt throughout the grounds • Contests: Red hair, freckles, be creative.

And don’t forget, “volunteer as a family.” Volunteering at festivals often becomes a treasured tradition for families, with responsibility for specific areas passed down from generation to generation. It’s a wonderful way to grow relationships within the greater family of volunteers.

Looking Back, Moving Ahead When I think about some of my milestones as a festival director, and how I can encourage similar successes for our clients, it always comes down to people working together to make things happen. We began building relationships with civic representatives of Ireland long ago, and eventually that led to a visit by one of Ireland’s ministers. As we expanded our relationships, more Irish ministers and government representatives from Northern Ireland came to be honored festival guests. Ultimately, their ongoing support made the visit by Ireland’s President Mary McAleese a reality. Her visit to Milwaukee was a great recognition for all that our volunteers had accomplished.

Relationship-building has become an ongoing theme for us as we talk with colleagues and work with our clients. I can’t say enough about the role of relationships – with guests, volunteers, sponsors, the featured participants, our colleagues – when it comes to our accomplishments as event-makers. I believe that if you build bridges and link a growing circle of people around a shared commitment, you’ll create an event that flourishes.

The other theme we discuss more and more is this: Growing the cultural component of your festival. It was an important part of fulfilling our mission, and it stemmed from the partnerships we built. As our friendships deepened with the people of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Nova Scotia and Scotland, they became our speakers, storytellers, teachers, performers and vendors. We were united in our delight in sharing their cultures with our festival guests. Your cultural area may not be the reason people first walk in your gates, but once they experience it, it will draw them back year after year.

Jane Mullaney Anderson served as Milwaukee Irish Fest’s executive director for more than 20 years. Under Jane’s leadership, Milwaukee Irish Fest became the largest Irish festival in the world, routinely drawing crowds of 100,000+. Now, Jane partners with Judie Finnegan, former Milwaukee Irish Fest executive assistant, using their combined 30 years of experience to take new and established events to the next level. Jane can be reached by emailing her at jtanderson713@gmail.com.

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AOIFE Conference

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2012 Festival & Events: Year in Review

street and circus performers for all events, direct to you Street Theatre Ireland, with over 10 years experience, provide entertainment for festivals, corporate events and schools nationwide.

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