Envelope!

You got us a nomination for the Aisling Awards, and now we need one more big push in the vote before the committee decides the winner! This could be our first Aisling Award win, let’s get the word out and make it happen To vote, click on this link, select us and off we go!

We’ll make sure to make it up to you at Féile an Earraigh. As well as a line-up that is (literally!) the hugest current bands on the folk and traditional scenes on Ireland and the surrounding islands, we will also have cool competitions… More to come, votevotevote (click here)!

Tweet and Facebook wherever possible! If you’re want to, you can also forward this to all of your Hotmail, Gmail and Yahoo! friends by clicking here.

Thanks a chairde,
It’s freeezing and I’m sitting out the back of the office listening to music, must get back up to my cosy room! Go raibh míle maith agaibh!

Eamon Phoenix

Dr Jörg Rademacher

Féile an Phobail and the Belfast Telegraph are proud to commemorate the centenary of a visit to Belfast in November 1909 by James Joyce, one of the great innovators of literature and author of the landmark novel Ulysses and Portrait of the Artist as Young Man.

On Saturday 27th November, 1909, James Joyce visited Belfast to look for premises in which to open a cinematograph (cinema), a flourishing enterprise in which he was then very much interested. What was the cultural and political life like in Belfast one hundred years ago and who were Mr Joyce’s friends and acquaintances at the time?

On the centenary of this visit of Ireland’s foremost twentieth century novelist, historian Dr Eamon Phoenix sets the scene for a talk by Dr Jörg Rademacher (author of James Joyce, Ein Leben in sieben Stationen, and biographies on Oscar Wilde and Victor Hugo). Download flyer →

Aisling Awards

Thank you so much a chairde for all of your support and nominations! Thanks to you as always, Féile an Phobail – The West Belfast Festival has been nominated for a Belfast Media Group Aisling Award. Founded in 1997, the awards have been dubbed ‘The Belfast Oscars’ and awards people, organisations and events for their contributions to the community.

This nomination means so much to us, the awards being based in West Belfast. The ceremony will take place at the Europa Hotel on November 19th 2009. Past speakers at the ceremony have included, among others, the President of Ireland Mary McAleese and Rev Jesse Jackson. For more information, check out the Aisling Awards.

Ó bhun ár gcroíthe,
Thank you, so much.
The Féile team

7UP Go Belfast Awards

Doubly excited are the team at Féile! Thanks to you, this happened:

We’re very excited here in Féile this week as we have been short listed for not one – but for two sets of highly prestigious awards with which we are delighted! Before reading, thank you for your ongoing support a chairde chaoin [...]

First up, we have been announced as finalists in the Go Belfast Awards – The Gongs 2009 in the ‘Festival Event of the Year’ category. This is an amazing achievement for us and we owe it all to you, our supporters, who voted for us in your thousands last month!

The winners will be announced at a glamorous red carpet awards event hosted by Justin Lee Collins at the Europa Hotel on Friday 13th November. Keep your fingers crossed – We’ll keep you posted!

Allianz Arts & Business Awards 2010

Even more exciting is the fact that we have been short listed for three Allianz Arts & Business Awards 2010. The eagerly awaited short list was announced last week. Seven judges from across the spectrum of commerce and culture had the difficult job of short listings the best examples of excellence in partnerships from a record number of entries.

The awards pay tribute to a total of 22 short listed arts and business partnerships jostling for first prize in five categories. Féile is short listed for its brilliant partnerships with festival sponsor’s Tennent’s NI (formerly InBev) and Sainsbury’s.

Féile and Sainsbury’s has been short listed for the ‘A&B Community Award’ while Féile and Tennent’s NI (formerly InBev) have been short listed for the ‘A&B Sustained Partnership Award’ and also the ‘A&B Employee Engagement Award’.

The Allianz Arts & Business Awards ceremony will be a glittering affair at the Ulster Museum in Belfast on Thursday 21st January 2010, when the winners will be announced in all categories. So watch this space!

Download programme

The programme for this year’s amazing Childrens’ Arts Festival “Draíocht” is now online to download! Falconry, meeting amazing authors in your schools, Pumpkin carving and the Monster Moviehouse, we have everything to make this Halloween extra cool, and extra magical. Share the programme with your children, and check out other cool events for adults in this years’ programme. You can also view the programme online at Issuu! For more information on the festival, contact Féile an Phobail on the ‘Connect‘ page. Happy Halloween!

Noam Chomsky to talk in West Belfast!

Update: Noam sold out within hours on Thursday, we even had to get another room to videolink the activist and author’s talk! We are more than excited to have Noam with us on Halloween as a renowned and learned educationalist and philosopher. Everyone who got tickets, enjoy the event!

Féile an Phobail are immensely excited to announce that American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, political activist, author, and lecturer Noam Chomsky is to speak at a one-off event presented by Féile an Phobail. The event is free, but entry is by ticket only!

Noam, who has been at the forefront of political and social analysis for the past 70 years (having written his first article aged 10), will be giving a talk at St. Mary’s University College, Falls Road on October 31st at 1pm. This special event is a great opportunity for us all to hear a great insight into what is going on around the world now and what the future will hold.

Chomsky’s lecture ‘Hopes and Prospects for the Future‘ is bound to sell out very quickly, therefore early booking is advised.

Aisling Award

Féile an Phobail West Belfast are delighted at the news that the Aisling Awards are back in town!

To nominate Féile an Phobail for the award this year, write "Féile an Phobail" into the "Movie House Culture & Arts Award for Outstanding Achievement in Culture & Arts" section on the nomination form (click here).

The awards are given to businesses and people who have been involved in the education and promotion of the arts in Belfast, as well as those who have a passion for community involvement and participation.

Féile an Phobail runs four festivals every year: August Féile has just past and our children’s Halloween festival Draíocht is just a few weeks away, with dozens of community events for children. As well as this, our Christmas celebrations are in planning, as are Féile an Earraigh, our traditional music festival and the 2nd Laugh At The Bank comedy festival.

For more information on why to nominate Féile, check out the website, or if you’re in a rush, vote now!

Go raibh míle maith agaibh as bhur gcuid tacaíochta bliain i ndiaidh bliana,
Thank you everyone for your support year after year, let’s make this happen!

The Féile Team / Foireann na Féile

Sean Paul O’Hare, Director of Féile an Phobail, Brona Whittaker, Arts Manager at Arts and Business, Jeff Tosh, Regional Director of Tennent’s NI and Jitterbug Jackson at the launch of ‘Outside the Box’

Féile an Phobail launched ‘Outside the Box’ in Belfast today. Professional magicians, orchestra players, theatre directors – even the former female vocalist with The Beautiful South got involved!

‘Outside the Box’ is a programme of arts based training for the business world. Festival organisers Féile an Phobail designed the bespoke training for their long term key sponsor Tennent’s NI (formerly InBev Ireland). The programme is supported by Arts and Business NI through their Reach Investment Programme. The five week programme devised for the Tennent’s Sales Team offers training as never experienced before!

The programme which launched today plays out over a series of five training workshops. The very unique thing about the programme is that each workshop is delivered through the medium of the Arts; from orchestra performance, to magic, to theatre performance, to creative writing. Each module focuses on specific business skills; from communications, to problem solving, to lateral thinking, to presentation. Féile have organised that each workshop takes place at arts venues across the city, further immersing the beer sales team in the artistic and creative world.

The programme represents the coming together of the arts and business worlds, during very difficult trading times, to explore the fact that each has something very significant to offer the other, and by working in partnership respective objectives can be realized.

To find out more about Arts & Business NI, click here

Top artists have been called in to deliver the programme; Colin Stark is a principle with the Ulster Orchestra, and is in his third decade of professional music making of orchestral concerts, chamber music, solo recitals, commercial recordings and broadcasting. Briana Corrigan was the female vocalist with The Beautiful South from 1988 to 1994 where she sang various hits including ‘You Keep it All In’ and ‘A Little Time’. Andrea Montgomery is a Theatre Director with 26 professional productions to her name. She has worked for 17 years as a producer in London , at Edinburgh Festival Fringe and across the UK and Ireland . Paul McEneaney is the founder and artistic director of the children’s theatre company Cahoots NI.

With the difficult time that’s been for all businesses this year, Tennent’s NI felt that turning to the Arts and their partnership with Féile could be just the ticket to re-motivate, invigorate, focus and challenge their sales team. From this ‘Outside the Box’ was born. Sean Paul O’Hare, Director of Féile an Phobail stated that while sponsorship of leading festivals such as Féile is largely about building brand equity and awareness, it is also extremely important to consider the value the arts can add to individuals lives. “By offering this arts based training programme to Tennent’s NI, we are integrating with their staff at every level of the partnership while also delivering on their key sales training objectives, whilst they are discovering the holistic value of contributing to the arts, and the knock on benefits that this has on the individual and in the community.”

Tennent’s NI Sales Team, Jitterbug Jackson at the launch of ‘Outside the Box’

Jeff Tosh, Regional Director, On Trade NI, Tennent’s NI says ” In an ever-changing business environment we had to look outside the box for new and invigorating ways to train and develop our staff. In partnership with Féile and A&B we have achieved something special which will challenge traditional training methods. Thanks to the creative input and execution from the Féile, the Tennent’s team will be equipped to deal with these challenges today and into the future.”

‘Outside the Box’ is made possible due to the support of Arts and Business NI. Brona Whittaker, Arts Manager with Arts & Business NI says “Arts & Business Northern Ireland is delighted to have supported the relationship between the Tennent’s NI (InBev) and Féile an Phobail through the Reach Investment Programme. Reach exists to encourage and inspire sustainable relationships and to maximise the benefits of business and the arts working together. It is especially exciting that this Reach project enabled the Tennent’s NI (InBev) sales team to work with some of the most exciting and inspirational creative trainers to develop lifelong skills on both a personal and professional level.”

Thriller!

Féile’s annual Halloween festival ‘Draíocht’ is coming up, and the programme to be launched in the next few days! We need one more thing… bands for our Halloween Acoustic Sessions!

Are you a member of a talented band, or are you a talented musician? Féile an Phobail want to give you a chance to perform at our Halloween children’s festival, Draíocht! Tell us about your band and upload a track below, or send us a link to your music and you could be picked to perform acoustically in our mini-marquee (The Féile Teepee!) in Falls Park, Saturday 31st October ‘09.

BEWARE!! There is a spot-prize going for the scariest song you can perform and £50 for all chosen bands! it can be anything at all from ‘Thriller’, to the ‘Monster Mash’ or even ‘Ghostbusters’!

Most important rule, dress code: Scary!

Vote Féile an Phobail best festival!

A chairde chaoin,
The Annual ‘7UP Go Belfast Awards’ have added a new category this year – it’s called Festival / Event of the Year. Winners are chosen on public votes alone & there’s only THREE days left to vote! (until Fri 25th)

After all the hard work from you, our supporters and the rest of the guys and ladies at Féile’s office and Féile FM’s studios in hosting and supporting Ireland’s best community festival, your votes mean so much!

It will take 30 seconds to vote for ‘Féile an Phobail’ – and you’ll be in with a chance to win a £400 watch… Just type ‘Féile an Phobail‘ into Category H box, by clicking here.

Click here to send this to all of your friends & ask them get behind us & vote too! Go raibh míle maith agaibh as bhur gcuid tacaíochta bliain i ndiaidh bliana; thank you for your support, year after year.

Foireann Féile an Phobail, Iarthar Bhéal Feirste,
The Féile an Phobail West Belfast team.