€50,000 for 20 Wexford festival events

By Dan Walsh

Wexford County Council has announced that 20 Festivals throughout the county have been awarded funding in 2024 through the Arts Office Small Arts Festival Fund and Fáilte Ireland Festival Scheme. This amounts to a total investment of €50,000 in local communities.

This year the Grant Scheme was broken into two strands:  Strand 1 – Small Arts Festival Grant Total Fund €25,000; This grant supports a diverse range of small arts festivals or experimental artistic events throughout Co. Wexford. The focus is on festivals of artistic quality and have a strong emphasis on public engagement.

Strand 2 – Fáilte Ireland Festival Grant Total Fund €25,000; This strand supported by Fáilte Ireland aims to support festivals that drive domestic tourism, help to improve the visitor experience in Co. Wexford, focusing on historic festivals, traditional culture festivals and festivals promoting food culture.

A total of 20 festivals were awarded funding of between €1,000 – €3,000 each, out of a total of 37 applications. These include The Gap Arts Festival 2024; The Gorey May Bush Féile 2024; Flow Youth Dance Festival – a two-day festival of dance workshops and a live dance performance in New Ross aimed at young people; New Ross Guitar Festival; FuddleFest in the rural environment of Fuddletown Farm, Killinick; Jazz at Johnstown Castle; ‘Write By The Sea’ Literary Festival in Kilmore Quay; ‘SpringMoves’ Dance Festival, in partnership with the National Opera House; One Voice Festival: Wexford Reflections 1974-2024 – A festival celebrating new playwrighting voices in Wexford, culminating in eight short monologue plays, performed over a series of evenings in Wexford Arts Centre; The Wexford May Bush Festival 2024; Coolcotts Halloween Fest 2024, a festival of music, magic, opera and extreme rhythm for young people in Wexford town.

Fáilte Ireland Awarded Festivals 2024. Rockin’ Food & Fruit Festival Enniscorthy; Leo Carthy Weekend in Our Lady’s Island; Rosslare Harbour Festival 2024; North Wexford Traditional Singing Féile; The Eugene O’Neill International Festival of Theatre at New Ross; Blackstairs Blues Festival 24 at Enniscorthy; Festival of Ferns; Kilanerin Food & Heritage Festival; Rebellion Day & 1798 Summer School with a programme of special guest lectures and guided tours at the National 1798 Rebellion Centre, Enniscorthy Castle and Vinegar Hill focused on the events of 1798.