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Féile an Phobail was established in 1988 as a direct response to the conflict in the north of Ireland. Its purpose was to celebrate the positive side of the community, its creativity, its energy, its passion for the arts, and for sport. It furthermore aimed to provide events and entertainment at a price that the majority of the community could afford.
In August 1988 the first Féile opened with a relatively humble parade of floats, bands and GAA clubs walking in their club regalia to an open-air party in Dunville Park. Street parties were organized throughout the West. Door-to-door collections were made to fund day trips to the seaside for pensioners and outings for young people.
Soon the street confrontations associated with the week around August 9th were displaced by a positive display of the community and its creativity. The August Féile has proved a resounding success, growing from strength to strength and inspiring other troubled areas to organize similar festivals. Our carnival parade routinely brings over 50,000 participants for a colorful, musical procession with specially-designed floats representing a chosen theme, dancers and children in costume and face-masks.
We have grown from a one-week festival to a year-round programme with many events.
For more information on Féile an Phobail, don’t hesitate to get in touch!
About our organisation
Féile An Phobail is a registered charity/company limited by guarantee, based in West Belfast, and provides a programme of activities throughout the year. It runs a major festival, the August Féile for ten days and an increasing number of specialist festivals with Draíocht, an arts festival for children and young people and Féile an Earraigh, focusing on Irish culture, music and language, as well as Féile an Earraigh, a Springtime festival featuring some of the world’s best renowned Irish traditional and folk musicians, as well as local music groups. We also run ‘Laugh at the Bank’, a weekend comedy festival which is growing every year and features a world-class line-up of stand-up comics. Expand this section [+]
Féile An Phobail means ‘festival of the people’ or ‘community festival’ and was established in 1988 as a community reaction to challenge the negative and damaging portrayal of the West Belfast community. It was also a community response to funnel the tensions each August around the commemoration of Internment on August 9 into a positive celebration of the area.
The August Féile, the flagship of Féile An Phobail, has grown from being a small local festival into a ten-day (or more!) festival with a reputation that attracts artists and speakers of the calibre of Oscar winner Michael Moore, acclaimed journalists and writers such as Robert Fisk and Naom Chomsky and the hottest headline performers in comedy and music such as Ardal O’Hanlon, Westlife, Girls Aloud and Christy Moore. On top of that it provides the performance arena for showcasing local talent in drama, literature and music and gives local people and visitors an opportunity to experience West Belfast in new ways by partnering with local community groups to put on open days, and organising tours, hill-walking, nature trips and other sports-day type activities for children.
Féile An Phobail is first and foremost a community-led festival with a strong local committee, elected annually, together with sub-committees on different areas (Entertainments, finance, drama, for example), Working Groups and a series of established partnerships and networks with over 200 groups. It has the support and good-will of the local community as evidenced by the sponsorship from local businesses, the audience attendances, the range of events co-ordinated with local groups, the number of volunteers and the positive press coverage.
However, it does not fall into the common conception of a community festival for a number of reasons. Firstly the unique location of the festival in West Belfast means that it attracts a significant number of visitors from outside the area who come out of political and historical interest. Secondly, the scale of the festival, with attendance records in excess of 250,000 people, takes it out of the normal range of community festivals. Thirdly, the content of the Féile programme which has a strong focus on debate on political and contemporary issues – be it expressed in drama, literature or in a debating forum – widens the appeal of the festival to a greater number of people from outside the area.
The continuing success of Féile An Phobail is attributed to the dynamism and creativity of the people of West Belfast, and the wealth of talent and community spirit that exists here.
What are Féile an Phobail’s aims?
Féile an Phobail West Belfast’s main aims are:
- to continue to demonstrate, promote and celebrate the experiences, culture, creativity, skills and potential of West Belfast and its people
- to continue to promote social inclusion and the celebration of diversity by providing opportunities for the expression of Irish Culture in all its forms, encouraging interchange with other cultures and communities through traditional and modern forms of artistic expression
- to actively participate in the economic regeneration of West Belfast
- to provide a diverse range of opportunities for community participation and the expression of self-esteem and identity through arts, culture, Irish language, sporting, environmental, educational discussion and other activities
- to maximise the income generated by Féile and secure a funding base that will enable sustainable development
- to ensure that the resources, skills, infrastructure and planning processes needed to fulfil the aims and objectives are put in place
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