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At a time when it's being suggested that Council Arts and Culture funding could be cut, organisers of a Newry City Festival that has been running since 2014 have expressed concern that this years event could be in doubt if sufficient funding isn't found.
Iúr Cinn Fleadh is in it's eighth year and is planned for 24 - 28 August 2023. It is a celebration of the best in Irish Traditional and Folk music but it doesn't limit itself to that. Arts, classical music, poetry, film, comedy, dancing, walks, talks, cycling and a water festival have all featured. Over the years the festival has played host to Paul Brady, The Four of Us, Hothouse Flowers, Kieran Goss, Sands Family, Matt McGinn, Frances Black, Sharon Shannon and Kilfenora Ceili Band to name a few.
The festival was started with the aim of being a signature festival for Newry City, due to the lack of such an event being in place, in what is the largest populated part of the Council area. It is organised on a completely voluntary basis by community group Newry 2020 with a dedicated Iúr Cinn Fleadh Committee, who in 2022 put in an incredible 900 hours of their own time to make it happen. Last years Fleadh had over 100 events and cost almost £40,000 to run.
Columba O'Hare from the festival committee explained. "Iúr Cinn Fleadh is an event we invented to benefit Newry, by highlighting the wonderful talent here, attracting top class acts, and bringing thousands of people into the city. In the early days with a few thousand pounds at stake it was easy to manage but in 2022 a small loss was made by the Fleadh. In 2023 with the festival estimated to cost in the region of £60,000 the stakes are extremely high for a community group like ourselves who would be liable for any potential losses incurred and that is extremely concerning."
The Iúr Cinn Fleadh Committee met last week with Newry Councillors to highlight concerns and have requested an urgent meeting with Newry DEA and Council officials to discuss on-going funding for the festival. In 2022 Newry, Mourne and Down Council funded a total of £29,000 from 5 different applications. Other funders also contributed. This year the fleadh to date has only been able to apply for a maximum of £21,000 from Council.
The largest, the Tourism Events fund requires a spend of £35,000 to get just £15,000, something so obviously geared for commercial organisations and not community organisations who just don't have those sort of funds sitting there. Arts and Culture Council funding that was available last year is not yet in place and amount available could well be cut when it is. It's planned to discuss this at the Enterprise, Regeneration and Tourism meeting in mid February, ratification will then be required at full Council meeting it will most likely be the start of March before that funding stream goes live.
Belfast has Féile an Phobail with funding of £542,307 from Belfast City Council while Derry has its Halloween event with funding of £328,000 from Derry City and Strabane Council. While obviously Iúr Cinn Fleadh is presently on a much smaller scale than these, organisers have big ambitions, but these can only be achieved with realistic funding from Newry, Mourne and Down Council. Unfortunately if proper funding isn't found organisers will have to pull the festival, something they do not want to do.
O'Hare concluded "Newry 2020 volunteers have a vision, one which sees Iúr Cinn Fleadh grow into a massive festival instilling pride in Newry and being up there with the likes of Féile an Phobail, Rose of Tralee, Halloween in Derry or Galway Arts Festival. Unfortunately lack of funding will kill that dream and vision. That should not be allowed to happen."
