Thursday, June 22, 2006
Féile facing funding cut
Féile has been the big daddy of community festivals for some time now. For many years, I was involved in a local community festival and was part of a national group of festival organisers. Throughout this time and since, Féile has been seen as the event at the forefront of development and innovation in communinty festival matters. I remember when they did an economic impact assessment years ago, when making the direct link between a festival and an economic impact had not been contemplated before.
It is not surprising that the news that there has been a £100,00 funding cut has been greeted with dismay. Indeed Danny Morrison goes one further and tries to find an equation between the millions spent as a result of rioting last September and the reduction in funding. There is no equation and no logic to be found. Investment into ventures such as Féile build capacity within communities and provide an alternative to unproductive or violent behaviours.
Bairbre de Brún has commented that:
This is not the way to reward community effort and entrepreneurship. The organisers of Féile an Phobail, and the thousands of volunteers behind the scenes must be applauded for their sterling work over this past eighteen years in putting West Belfast on the map, when others tried to denigrate and demonise this community.
And I believe she is correct. Tourism in Belfast has increased 400 fold since 1994, and the City Council see tourism as a stable and growing economic basis for the future. Part of the marketing package of Belfast is Féile, so it seems shortsighted to reduce funding and place it at risk. In many cases, the rationale is that such events should be self-funding and develop a delf-sufficiency, but this may not be wholly achievable in a deprived area such as West Belfast. To quote again from Danny Morrison on this area of the issue:
Given the historic deprivation in the area prices were kept at a minimum and all literary, political events and lectures were deliberately free. The events which made some profit – marquee concerts, comedy night, tribute nights – helped to defray the costs of some of the cultural events which had received only limited funding, but it was never easy.
The Northern Ireland Events Company (NIEC) – which is funded by the Department of Arts, Culture and Leisure (DCAL) – likes to subsidise the occasional Elton John or Pavarotti concert in the grounds of Stormont.
Four years ago it refused to fund the Harlem Gospel Choir at Clonard Monastery for spurious reasons, including that it made no “significant contribution to promoting social cohesion.”
Miss Fitz @ 08:10 PM
“What still strikes me as odd is that we are made to pay for “parades” or “traditions” “ first i heard of it, the orange order charges nothing to view the spectacle,the inla,ira or lord mayor dont charge to see their parades,as for the special olympics it is a low blow to bring disabled kids to this forum in the light that you do,their lives may be short their lives are more for living the moment,money should never be an issue in catering to their needs and how dare you compare a corporate event funded by the public pot and big business againt the special olympics for very special children
Posted by on Jun 22, 2006 @ 10:36 PMSo the Feile goes the way of every other popular annual festival of our time.
Are you really surprised?
The writing was on the wall when there was no marquee erected for the last one. Christy Moore would have filled that easily, all locals could have afforded entry blah blah, but the Feile is just too big now to be easily contained in what is essentially a residential area.
Sounds like Notting Hill Carnival, or even Glastonbury which turned from a CND benefit hippy festival into the corporate sponsored load of shite that it is today.
Pity, a community festival gets so poular that the local community feel alienated by its very presence.Posted by on Jun 22, 2006 @ 10:36 PMI went to the 1994 20 years after internment Feile and stayed somewhere in Andytown where little 11-year-old street urchins warned us freestaters against bumming their women and Mano Negra played every night until 3am in a housing estate in Springfield.
Then it was off to the Ardoyne for some semi-naked techno in the GAA club.
I don’t care how much it costs but if it’s half as crazy today it must be kept. I’ll even donate.
Posted by on Jun 22, 2006 @ 10:38 PMThe question would be, Miss Fitz, the extent of involvement of local representative assemblies, from whom such public funding would be provided, in the organisation of those festivals.
And I’ll point again to the fact that it was Bairbre de Brun who raised the issue of entrepreneurship.
Posted by on Jun 22, 2006 @ 10:39 PM“I went to one event in the big marquee in Andersonstown, and I will never return. They had portable loos which smelt to high heaven, and the floor of the marquee was all stained with booze. Rickety tables and chairs, and the behaviour of people wasn’t good. It was very shabby I thought. Perhaps it is just me, as when I go out, which isn’t often due to cost I like the surrounding to be nice. There was no niceties in the marquee.”
I can see you aint a big festival goer Brenda
Posted by on Jun 22, 2006 @ 10:42 PMPete
I suspect that the reference to entrepreneurship was more to do with the subsidiary growth of business in the area, as opposed to the festival itself. As you can note in the intro, I can recall Feile commissioning an economic impact assessment in about 1997. I dont recall exact details, but they were able to prove the point that Feile brought tourist pounds to West Belfast that would not otherwise have come. I see Bairbre deB has put that figure currently at £3m.If we proceed with this area as a Gaeltacht quarter, and if the City Council continue to promote and support local tourist fora, well they will have to continue to have something for the tourist to see.
Or has Feile outlived its usefulness in the new Belfast, and is it time to shine the light somewhere else?
Posted by on Jun 22, 2006 @ 10:44 PMm the festival, a lot of the stuff on it, is run by organisations where they open their doors to others and have open days etc. Thats local people paying for the events they run, I dunno maybe they get some money. Some of the bus runs they have, there’d be like one bus on a first come first served basis. Some times there is ‘do’s’ in the big bingo hall facing curleys, and a neighbour of ours went to see dominic kirwan for £5, and there was no drink. But that is the type of crowd Kirwan attracts, middle aged ladies etc. I heard good reports about that but it was more the exception than the rule.
Then there is the other side, there is a lot of drink, a lot of the stuff in the marquee is sponsored by beer companies, and it does flow free and fast. I don’t think its any cheaper. It does spill into communities in the early hours, and for some it must cause a nuisance. Knowing how people can behave.
Perhaps a balance is needed to run the thing a little better. I know the parade last year at the end of it, left the falls park in a dreadful state. Litter bottles, tins you name it, was all left.
Maybe theres room for improvement.
Posted by on Jun 22, 2006 @ 10:45 PMIndeed. The horror that I encountered in thgew first toilet I walked into at my first bg music festival will stay with me for the rest of my life.
While it is probably relevantly straightforward for this to pay it’s way £100,000 is not a big lot of money, the points raised about keeping it in the community are pertinent. However, surely some sponsors would be interested in this, which would solve a lot of the problems.
With this reportedly bringing in something like £3 million to the city in revenue, this is utter and complete madness. Is it too much to hope the council will sort this out?
The cracker in the Irish News yesterday was that the funding body had reportedly told them they could “become a good festival”.
Posted by on Jun 22, 2006 @ 10:48 PM“Or has Feile outlived its usefulness in the new Belfast, and is it time to shine the light somewhere else?”
This is like asking if Edinburgh needs it’s festival. We are currently trying to develop more of these, what with the Cathedral Arts Festival and a few other small festivals too.
Killing this is utter madness. It needs support to develop and expand into something truly world class, while remianing unique to belfast.
Posted by on Jun 22, 2006 @ 10:51 PMandy town rebel, the special olympics has a office in dublin where they organise and raise their own funds, they don’t get much funding at all. Its also very well run, there are ppl there to bring your child and look after it and return it to you. I know of one child (28) and adult child who went to the last one in dublin and they go as a group, but the people who look after the olympians do so voluntarally they are paid NO MONEY. Neither do the organisers recieve any money for what they do, and they do it year in and year out.there no comparrison with special olympics and wb festival. None what so ever.
Posted by on Jun 22, 2006 @ 10:52 PMMiss Fitz
The figures from Bairbre de Bruin remain, I’d suggest, open to question.. it did seem like she was suggesting that the Féile was, itself, a successful example of such entrepreneurship.
But if the festival does bring in such a profit, overall, then the onus is on the organisers to make the Féile itself self-sufficient.. otherwise those who invest in the Féile, through the public subsidy, should have a say in what is put on and the fees charged.
Again, the comments by Danny Morrison imply that is the farthest thing from the organisers’ minds.
Posted by on Jun 22, 2006 @ 10:56 PMYou wimps have never suffered the horror of the open “Shite pit” of the 80s free festivals… so quit yer wingeing & enjoy the relative delights of portaloos.
p.s. yes atleast 1 person per event used to tumble in…
Pariah status of victim… understandable.
No, it was never me.
Posted by on Jun 22, 2006 @ 11:14 PMAndy,
some of the time and work involved in such events as the Special Olympics is voluntarily. But suppliers will still look for their money. It has to come from somewhere. .
Everything you properly didn’t see at UTV today from the opening ceremony had to be made first.
You have no idea. What makes your comment irrelevantPosted by on Jun 22, 2006 @ 11:31 PMA festival? With loos? Nick, they don’t know they’re living…
I remember the day when we had nowt but a stereo in a field, a carryout and a hedge to cover the oul modesty… etc…
Posted by on Jun 22, 2006 @ 11:33 PMyou had stereos? and hedges?
Obviously a better class of festival than I’m used to.Posted by on Jun 22, 2006 @ 11:36 PMI find it a little odd that a festival in a republican area is looking to the british for funding. It seems to suggest a lack of real independent-mindedness and an instinct for dependency that need not, and should not, be there.
£100,000 is not a lot of money. There’s billions of euro floating around this island. Between what is available in Ireland and the Irish communities of Britain and the States, as well as opportunities for fundraising resulting from the festival itself (webcasts, podcasts, musical highlights CD etc.), it should be no real problem to get what’s needed to bankroll this event. With a decent cameraman and lighting it’s no problem to mix CD’s and video programmes on an ordinary computer.Posted by on Jun 22, 2006 @ 11:37 PM“you had stereos? and hedges?
Obviously a better class of festival than I’m used to.”barbed wire & police brutality
& we had helicopters telling us to do one !whoops that wasn’t stonehenge in 85
it was Drumcree / Garvaghy Road..... should have spotted the lack of crusties.Posted by on Jun 23, 2006 @ 12:42 AM“There is no equation and no logic to be found.”
There is a simple logic on the changes to festival funding, one festival in one area should not receive the lion share of festival funding in all of Northern Ireland. There was £300,000 of funding from DCAL towards festivals so at £150,000 Feile were getting half of it.
Also this new policy has seen the budget increase for festivals from £300K to £450K. More money for more festivals seems like a reasonable approach.
DM forgets to mention that the festival funding was closed to new applications for a two years while a review took place in that time the Feile’s money was guaranteed and new, smaller, or existing but unfunded couldn’t get a look in.
“Investment into ventures such as Féile build capacity within communities and provide an alternative to unproductive or violent behaviours.”
Yes they can. Hence the need to spread the investment to other communities.
As to Morrison’s jibe about the performance of Unionist parties, if Unionists are so bad and Sinn Fein so great how come this decision came about?
Posted by on Jun 23, 2006 @ 08:57 AM“Also this new policy has seen the budget increase for festivals from £300K to £450K. More money for more festivals seems like a reasonable approach.”
As long as you don’t, you know, kill the bigges and most successful one while your at it. That would be spectacularly stupid, particularly when thay festival is being in net revenue for the city.
I will interested in the success of any of the oher festivals.
“As to Morrison’s jibe about the performance of Unionist parties, if Unionists are so bad and Sinn Fein so great how come this decision came about?”
Don’t know about the ins and outs, but Unionism still has an inbuilt majority, e.g. on Belfast council.
Harry’s points are valid, however. This isn’t a great deal of money, and Feile should be able to generate it without impacting on services too much. Though to be fair, they probably would have needed to start planning for less funding last year.
Posted by on Jun 23, 2006 @ 09:06 AMFD
I see you are doing your best to disagree with me here, so I will try and help.For many years, the protestant community complained about not getting funding for events, indeed you still hear the odd moan about it, or two.
It seems to have escaped their attention for a long time that you had to APPLY for the funding. They now seem to have that particular act together and are becoming succesful.
Fair dues. I am really pleased about this, and it can only be a postive step forward.
The issue here is really about several things:
1. The manner in which the money was cut, ie one fell swoop or gradual agreed reduction
2. The need to cut at all. Make the pot bigger by recognising these events are critical to our tourism toolkit and we require a vibrant, funded series of inclusive events all around Belfast.
3. The size of the cut. Wow, from 145 to 45? Thats not an easy thing to live with, no matter who or where you are.
4. Shared issues. If this happens to Feile, how are the lads in Tigers Bay going to feel when they get their festival up and running and in a few years the legs are cut out from under them too? This should be a shared issue as it will ultimately affect all organisers of local events
5. The basic issue here is the whole concept of funding vs. self sufficiency. These are not professional people running these events, they are volunteers who want to see their community improve. Yes, some of them go on to employ staff as they become more succesful but there is always going to be a level of reliance on funding and sponsorship. It is also the councils’s way of investing in the good relations of the area and should be seen as an essential piece of spending.
These issues could actually be used to bring communities together and allow us to work as one for a dedicated statement towards the growth of these events in a planned and stategic way. And then I think, aye right, not when one side or tother can use them as political missiles.
Posted by on Jun 23, 2006 @ 09:15 AMkensei
“but Unionism still has an inbuilt majority,”
This wasn’t a BCC decision, these were decisions by the Department of Culture Arts and Leisure and Department of Social Development during Direct Rule.
Posted by on Jun 23, 2006 @ 09:15 AMThis is typical cynical antics from the Brits. Féile was set up by a community demonised by British and Irish media outlets because of their very resilience, and the festival has been a glowing success. It reflects a vibrant, progressive and confident community’s tenacity despite all the odds.
It is very telling that the British have waited until a time when the Peace Process is utterly dead in the water to make such a decision. While things are quiet, institutional sectarian discrimination begins to grow like a cancer yet again, and where are the defenders of the people? Discussing support for the PSNI!
The aregument voiced by several people here that the Féile should be self-sufficient simply doesn’t stand up. There are many festivals throughout Ireland that don’t make an immediate, direct profit, but result, by highlighting the positives of an area and building confidence, if considerable indirect profit. This is one of them, and it is disingenuous that people should obfuscate the clear political relevance of all of this.
Posted by on Jun 23, 2006 @ 09:19 AMFéile an Phobail at GotoBelfast.com.
August Féile was essentially set up to highlight the creative and dynamic community that resides in West Belfast
As its formation roughly coincides with the beginning of the ‘peace process’ perhaps its real purpose was to sanitise the PIRA paramilitary organisation? Is it a good idea to market fascism in this manner?
Posted by on Jun 23, 2006 @ 09:32 AMSpecial Olympics: Would this include all the locals the Provies kneecapped doing three legged races around Milltown? West Belfast is “represented” in Stormont and Westminster by Gerryv Adams, who was on the dole before he got his current “jobs”.
The dole funded the armed struggle. And the same mentality lingers. The price system works by people paying for what they want to see and, in this case, drink and puke up.
Here is an idea:
1. have a cross community approach next time to this festival.
2. Tender out for a professional group to run it.
3. Let the SDLP be the links on the nationalist side and UUP/UVF on the Orange side.
4. No Sinn Fein involevement, except as financial sponsors.Posted by on Jun 23, 2006 @ 09:37 AM“I see you are doing your best to disagree with me here,”
No I am trying to disagree with a line of argument and in a number of points I specifically identified DM as the source of them. Slugger isn’t personal its just business.
“It seems to have escaped their attention for a long time that you had to APPLY for the funding. They now seem to have that particular act together and are becoming succesful.”
1. Really you have to apply for funding you don’t say? Also if a Dept doesn’t tell people about its festival funding stream or advertise for applications how are people supposed to apply to it? If MBW/BRO teams in belfast operate radically different approaches to festivals ie very supportive to little interest applications to teams with little interest don’t get very far.
2. If a scheme is closed for two years how do you apply?
3. As someone who has run festivals in Unionist areas applications were made and got turned down or offered very little. An oft cited reason was we weren’t cross-community enough.“1. The manner in which the money was cut, ie one fell swoop or gradual agreed reduction”
The review was ongoing and it was pretty clear which way it was going so it wasn’t a bombshell. A group chose to expect the same level of resources without any funding agreements in place. They made a bad management choice.
“The need to cut at all. Make the pot bigger”
The pot was made bigger from £300K to £450K.
“these events are critical to our tourism toolkit and we require a vibrant, funded series of inclusive events all around Belfast.”
This is exactly what this new policy aims to achieve so what is the problem? Also the policy will ensure festival activity the year round rather than a fortnight in one area, tourists need something to do the other 50 weeks of the year and in different places.
“3. The size of the cut. Wow, from 145 to 45? Thats not an easy thing to live with, no matter who or where you are.”
No it isn’t easy to live with but so is trying to do something with no funding. Also the £45K is focused on festival events, the cut seems to be staff costs not the actual festival programme.
“Shared issues.”
Nice theory but how could the two areas have a shared issue when one was receiving substantial investment in this type of work and the other wasn’t?
As regards a few years down the line the answer should be that festival activity is taking place across the communities and receiving comparable levels of support. If the growing festivlas by that stage want bigger budgets they need to look to non-public sources.
“funding vs. self sufficiency. These are not professional people running these events, they are volunteers who want to see their community improve.”
The DM piece mentions 5 staff lay offs so the volunteer and non-professional arguments are thus questionable. Feile boasts of its size and professionalism so they cannot suddenly plead they are amateur unfortunates. It has also received sustained investment by government for over a decade. If you check its accounts you will also see it has accumulated cash reserves. Its constitution is a good read too if you ever require a system of absolute control for a very small number of people over a group.
Posted by on Jun 23, 2006 @ 09:42 AM
