Council sounds rallying call for festival organisers

March 24 2005 For immediate use

Council sounds rallying call for festival organisers

Belfast City Council this week has sounded a rallying call to anyone involved in organising festivals to come together to drive forward a coherent strategy for the future development of such events in the city.

The Council has brought together key players from Belfast's arts and community sectors to form a Festivals Forum and develop an action plan to address the needs and development of festivals within the city.

The principal roles of the Festivals Forum will be to share and present ideas, coordinate event dates, programming, marketing and skills training, consider data sharing and share information on funding opportunities.

Festival organisers are being encouraged to get involved in this exciting initiative and play an important role in developing a sustainable festivals programme for Belfast.

The Council therefore is keen to hear from anyone involved in developing local festival activity, no matter how big or small. To get involved in the Festivals Forum, contact the Council's Culture and Arts Unit on 028 9027 0461, or via email at cultureandartsadmin@belfastcity.gov.uk

The Festivals Forum will seek to develop a coordinated approach to the planning, programming, promotion, managing and monitoring and evaluation of all festival activity taking place in Belfast. The group has produced a draft action plan to address key issues such as festivals skills development, marketing and ticketing co-ordination, staffing, performance venues, sponsorship and grants, programming and audience development.

A festivals calendar for Belfast will be supported by a coordinated approach to marketing, and integrated ticketing is also being planned.

A Carnival Skills Development Programme already is underway and providing training for 50 artists in visual and performance art forms, while festival organisers will receive skills training in governance, planning and organisation.

Councillor Tom Hartley, Chairman of Belfast City Council's Arts Sub-Committee, said the Festivals Forum would build on the existing strengths of Belfast's festivals.

"Belfast repeatedly has demonstrated that it can sustain and develop both flagship and community festivals that are the envy of cities throughout Europe. We now need to take the next step and develop a co-ordinated festivals programme that is attractive to visitors and residents alike and which complements the work to develop cultural tourism," commented Councillor Hartley.

Siobhan Stevenson, the Council's Culture and Arts Manager, added that there were enormous opportunities for the development of festival events in Belfast, and that developing this potential is a key aspect of the Council's ongoing Culture and Arts Plan.

"To realise the full potential of our city's very rich and diverse festivals skills resources we must work as a cohesive unit and pool our knowledge and experience to coordinate programming, marketing and skills development," she said.

RELEASE ENDS

ISSUED BY CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS, BELFAST CITY COUNCIL

NOTE TO EDITORS:

The Festivals Forum working group is comprised of 40 festival organisations and other key bodies and funders.

Belfast City Council recognises the need to develop, deliver, market and promote:

• a major international festival - to attract visitors from outside Belfast as well as local residents
• community festivals that celebrate and provide services to local communities, but also may attract people from outside those communities
• civic events for Belfast residents
• specialised arts and cultural festivals, aimed at Belfast residents, but also attracting people from outside the city.

Belfast City Council has adopted the following principles which underpin its support for festivals:

• to ensure festivals provide tangible economic and social impacts
• to balance community, city-wide and international festivals
• to ensure equality of access to festival provision across all communities
• to support a festivals forum to ensure delivery of the 'City of Festivals' product
• to commit to consultation and co-ordination between funders
• to agree to define criteria and benchmarks and undertake clear and consistent evaluation
• to ensure festival organisers are provided with sufficient information on opportunities from funders
• to recognise the importance of training and skills development for festival organisers.

For further information, please refer media enquiries to: Mark Ashby, Media Relations Officer, Belfast City Council. Tel: 028 9027 0641.