The Arts Council in partnership with Drama and Theatre Studies at the University of Galway and Creative Europe Desk Ireland will present the Festival Makers Conference (formerly Change Makers) on Thursday 11 and Friday 12 May 2023 in Galway City. The two-day conference will provide opportunities for festival makers, festival stakeholders and artists making work in a festival context to exchange ideas, share, map sector developments and discuss practices relevant to festivals in Ireland. 

Tickets

Conference tickets are €35 for the two days and includes a light lunch on Thursday 11th May. To purchase tickets please click on the link below:

Programme, Travel and Accommodation

Programme details can be found by clicking the links below along with helpful delegate information such as: discounted/preferential accommodation rates, and travel to/from and in Galway City. The Arts Council’s Green Conference actions are also available.  

For conference enquiries or if you require assistance please contact Conference Producers at festivalmakers@milestoneinventive.com

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30.03.23

Help us create a GREENER CONFERENCE!

The Arts Council has published a series of measurable greener actions to ensure that the Festival Makers conference has a low environmental impact and lower carbon footprint. Those attending the conference programme can help by committing to the following actions:

1. Use public transport where possible for your journey to and from the conference. Information on transport links can be found here along with information on e-bike schemes which are available in Galway City.

2. Where public transport may not be an option use electric vehicles; where electric vehicles are not available consider car-pooling with other conference delegates so that more people can travel by vehicle.

3. Bring ‘keep-cups’ for tea and coffee and/or water bottles for reuse to reduce plastics and one-use materials.

4. Reduce reliance on printed materials. We encourage you to reuse any print such as brochures, pop-up banners etc. Where possible we encourage you to share your information through digital means (websites, cloud-based platforms etc.).

 5. B.Y.O.L. (Bring your own Lanyard!) If you are a conference delegate, you should bring lanyards with you for your conference pass to reduce production of these materials.

6. Recycle – Where printed materials are used, consider using recyclable materials to ensure that they can be reused.

The Arts Council’s Greener Conference commitments can be found here

 

29.03.23

Free Artist Conference Tickets Available

The Arts Council in partnership with Drama and Theatre Studies, University of Galway and Creative Europe Desk Ireland are providing a limited number of free tickets for artists to attend the FESTIVAL MAKERS Conference on Thursday 11^th and Friday 12^th May 2023 in Galway.

Tickets will be made available to individual artists; in particular, those making work in a festival context in order to provide networking opportunities with festivals. Artists will also have the opportunity to provide their perspective in panel discussions over the course of the two days.

Free Artist Tickets will be allocated on a ‘first-come first-served’ basis. Only one ticket is allowed per person. Free Artist Tickets will only be made available to individual artists making work in a festival context; festival organisations cannot apply but can purchase tickets using the ticketing link above.

Those artists that wish to avail of a free ticket should click on the link provided below. This facility will be available from Wednesday 12^th April 2023.

Please note that there is limited availability; therefore, registering your interest as early as possible is recommended.

23.03.23

Bring your Own Lanyard – A call to action for festival conference delegates!

As part of its partnership with Drama and Theatre Studies University of Galway and Creative Europe Desk Ireland the Arts Council will adopt approaches to reduce its environmental impact at the forthcoming FESTIVAL MAKERS CONFERENCE in Galway on 11^th and 12^th May. The conference theme, ‘the changing landscape of festival’ informs a diverse programme of workshops, panel discussions, side bar and networking events, capturing how festivals have adapted and evolved in recent years.

The two days are dedicated to supporting festivals capacity building. The conference will provide a unique and valuable opportunity for arts festivals, festival stakeholders and artists making work in a festival’s context to come together to learn from each other and share skills and knowledge.

Information on the full day conference programme can be found here.

Informed by the Arts Council’s new Climate Action Policy, the conference team will adopt approaches to reduce its environmental impact with a series Greener Event  commitments; actions by which we will benchmark our evaluation.This includes reducing, reusing and recycling materials, utilising local vendors to reduce environmental impacts and a call to action for delegates to use public transport/carpool.

Creative solutions will be found in achieving these actions, including the production of digital conference programmes and reducing conference materials.

With that aim in mind, we are asking delegates to bring their own lanyards and ‘totes’, ‘keep cups’ in order to reuse and repurpose these materials for the two days in Galway.

20.02.23

The Arts Council seeks speaker submissions from festival organisations, festival stakeholders and artists making work in a festival context

Elevator Pitch Session

As part of the FESTIVAL MAKERS conference programme we are seeking short five minute in-person presentations which share developments with the festival sector. We are dedicating time in the conference programme to facilitate festivals or those working with festivals to share news, updates or new initiatives.

                                                                                                                                                                     

We intend to select 10 speakers who will pitch their information to fellow conference delegates. Speakers can be individual artists, local authority arts officers, festival organisations or festival stakeholders. Contributors are asked to present for up to five minutes on a single topic. The purpose of the session is to provide festivals with an update of developments in festivals across the country. The topic should be something that is relevant to festivals in Ireland. The list below provides some suggestions as a guide:A request for festival partners to join an initiative or project

• An update on research a festival has undertaken
• Sharing partnership models (such as resource pooling or information sharing/ networking)
• Sharing a festival consortia model (how it evolved, the purpose of the organisation and its work to date)
• A festival organisation seeking mentorship
• Information on new initiatives that you wish to share, such as climate actions, equality and diversity developments, slow festival modelling,
• Sharing local authority festival strategies/ festival initiatives
• How your festival works collaboratively with the public (social engaged practice/ citizen artist development).
• Working with International partners or how to develop International connections as a festival.

How to make a submission

To make an Elevator Pitch submission please send an email to festivalmakers@artscouncil.ie including ELEVATOR PITCH in the subject heading.  Provide us with your contact details and the name of the festival it relates to along with no more than 150 words which outlines your idea and what you would like to share. Please note in selecting speakers we will consider the idea, the model of practice and the geographical location to ensure a broad and representative selection of works from across the country.

Deadline for submissions Friday 3 March 2023. 

If you have further questions please contact martin.rochford@artscouncil.ie