News – Festival funding

A Community Festivals Fund has been established by the Department of Culture Arts and Leisure in Northern Ireland, which will ring-fence funding for festival activities. The Fund, which will be administered by the Northern Ireland Events Company, aims to make community festivals more financially sustainable and thereby enable organisations to celebrate the cultural identity of their communities and strengthen community relations.
Core funding for posts in festival organisations will not be eligible for funding, but support will be directed to event costs and performers, and also training to increase effectiveness and capacity. A consultation process about the scheme will now take place, ending on 30 September, to allow people to respond based on their experience of the programme in its first year.