Good luck to Chanele McGuinness (#allingham 2015) & SlowPlaceLikeHome (#allingham 2014) who both make their debuts @othervoices in December. If you ever needed an excuse to go to Dingle (in december), this is it. Enjoy folks, onwards and upwards.
Some interesting stats coming in. Thanks to everyone for all the likes shares and visits this year. It all helps to raise the profile of the festival and brings a few more in every year. With over 2,700 attendees this year to events/workshops/concerts etc, our online audience was through the roof. www.allinghamfestival.com alone had 23,560 views in 2015, twitter with over 50,000 impressions and Facebook going through the roof on reach and engagements.
All good stuff and invaluable for our marketing reports. This all makes our case for further funding a little more credible each year. Thanks for all your support folks. Chat again soon in the new year with some more ideas already cookin'.
In the days since #allingham2015, we have received so much positive feedback. The variety of content has gone down well and this years lineup offered something for everyone. The mix of Helen (Art) and William Allingham (literary) is starting to gel and we already have plans to improve things for next year.
You may have viewed some of the highlights on social media and we will have a gallery up soon on our homepage www.allinghamfestival.com.
There is one group that we would like to say ‘Adieu’ to (in an official capacity at least), and that is the students and staff of #designatmagee. The Allingham Festival committee received a collection of 10 second short clips from the students that directly addressed their feelings about the course and the current cuts at Magee, Ulster and across the higher education sector in NI.
If you attended the Friday afternoon/evening ‘Inspire Creativity - Engage Enterprise’ events, you will have felt the positivity that this cohort brings to our town and this festival. We collated a best of #designatmagee at #allingham to follow the student clips and as you will see, they brought a wealth of creativity and a vibrant creative culture which we have no doubt, has helped grow this festival to its new levels.
From what we have heard, the course has been a victim of the cuts and the ship has already sailed. We cannot understand the thinking behind this, as the outreach and civic engagement of this relationship has inspired so many and resulted in a multitude of highly creative projects and cross border collaborations, including employment and internships with a world leading VFX company SpinVFX in Toronto for a Strabane man, an Enniskillen woman and a Ballyshannon native.
The ‘Era Of The Scissors’ as the Wood Burning Savages put it, is most definitely upon us and we are sorry to see the sword fall on such a vibrant cohort of staff & students.
We want to wish the past and present staff and students the very best for the future, and extend an open invite to them all to visit the #allingham Festival and Ballyshannon whenever they please. We are sure that whatever they do next will be worth watching and we hope to see them back to showcase new ideas, ventures & creative thinking in 2016 and beyond.
They arrived in 2011, they left in 2015. They left their mark.
Adieu to Design At Magee. Here are your #bestbits.
The Allingham Festival
“Even if the hopes you started out with are dashed, hope has to be maintained.”
Seamus heaney
Many thanks to the local newspapers and radio stations in 2015. Social media is fine for some promotion but without printed press and radio support, we would not have the same impact regionally.
See attached a pdf of some of the press snippets from the Donegal Post and Donegal Democrat. There is more radio coverage on our press page with one of or sponsors Ocean FM.
Congratulations to Niamh Mc Kinney on winning the Allingham 2015 Songwriting Contest. The final was held in Dicey Reilly's Bar, Ballyshannon, on November 6th. 12 finalists performed in front of a large audience, MC John Meehan and three judges: Cathy Jordan, Ian Smith and Chanele Mc Guinness. The judges had the unenviable task of selecting one song out of 12 to win the grand prize of €1000.
Niamh's song is titled 'Down Near the Sea'. She was accompanied by her brother on guitar and her father on accordion. Although Niamh is new to songwriting, have only started writing quite recently, she has written poetry and other short pieces from a young age. Her influences include Joni Mitchell, Fairport Convention, Kate Bush, Paula Cole, Leonard Cohen and La Lugh.
Thanks to everyone who entered the competition, and everyone who helped make the final night a great success.
Particular thanks to all of our judges, fantastic MC John Meehan, sound engineer Michael Liston, and Dicey Reilly's/Donegal Brewery Company for the use of the venue and sponsoring raffle prizes.