Birr festivals unite to launch future vision plan

Birr Vintage Week & Arts Festival is one of the oldest festivals in the country. Over the past fourteen years, Birr town has seen the development of four more festivals: Hullabaloo! Offaly’s Children’s Arts Festival; OFFline Film Festival; Scripts Ireland’s Playwriting Festival and Birr Festival of Music, each a celebration of the essence of Birr and its community.

Throughout the past year, the five festivals in Birr have come together, with Birr 20:20 Vision to reflect, reshape and plan for the future of festivals in Birr, producing a development strategy ‘Seeing the Beyond – Birr Festivals Planning for a Shared Future’.

Chair of Birr 20:20 Vision, Salters Sterling maintains “the Birr festivals separately and collectively are essential to the social and economic wellbeing of Birr and surround region”. Sterling went on to say “they provide occasions for celebration of our togetherness, for the sharing of that togetherness with others, for the affirmation of our historic identity, for the generation of revenue and for the enjoyment of a community spirit generating pride in place”.

The report was launched virtually from Birr Theatre & Arts Centre on Tuesday last by Anna Marie Delaney, CEO Offaly County Council who welcomed the publishing of the report and commended the collaboration and partnership among the festivals steering group. Ms Delaney said the “importance of festivals development cannot be underestimated in terms of their value, firstly in terms of community cohesion, and secondly, in terms of the impact that festivals can provide to the growth of the social, economic and cultural well-being of the community”.

Karl Wallace, Head of Festivals at The Arts Council acknowledged that “festivals are nothing without the valuable and indefatigable spirit of the community that supports them, anchors them and upholds them.

Birr 20:20 Vision and the festivals in Birr are very grateful to all those who have contributed to the shaping of this report and in particular Dermot McLaughlin (Creative Strategic Solutions), Offaly Local Development Company, Sally O’Leary (Arts Officer, Offaly County Council) and Karl Wallace (Arts Council).

Seeing the Beyond – Birr Festivals Planning for a Shared Future is now available to download through the websites and social media platforms of each of the festivals and at www.birrtheatre.com