Festival of world cultures to be scrapped

Run_to_da_hills

This is a total shame and short sighted move by the council.

http://news.eircom.net/breakingnews/19126663/?view=Standard

mikemac

Over a half a million over budget, the council can't sustain that

Anyway, are local businesses making contributions to it? If not, many should be since they get extra custom from it

CharlieCroker

doesnt suprise me, DLRCC are masters at shooting themselves in the foot!!!!

Whiskey Devil

Seemingly a commitment has been made for the festival to go ahead in 2012. Is that correct?


For anyone interested, a petition to save the festival is here:

http://www.petitiononline.com/FoWC/petition.html

Slideshowbob

Not suprised it's been scraped.

Horrendous cost to the council without any real stars being involved from what I could see.

If there is so much momentum to keep it going can't those concerned organise a lower scale self-sustainable event from here on?

What did they spend the €500,000 on last year? Dear God !!

Cookie_Monster

boosting security to tackle anti-social behaviour were blamed

ah, Ireland's wonderful scumbag culture strikes again.

Splendour

That is such a shame...

Run_to_da_hills

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

ah, Ireland's wonderful scumbag culture strikes again.

The ones that gained at last years festival were the Gardai, I wonder what they did with all the booze that they confiscated?

Council say they lost 1/2 a million, how much did the town gain from consumer spending and local tourism?

Slideshowbob

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

The ones that gained at last years festival were the Gardai, I wonder what they did with all the booze that they confiscated?

Council say they lost 1/2 a million, how much did the town gain in consumer spending and local tourism?

Probably about 20 euro - alot of free loading hippies in attendance

Cookie_Monster

Whiskey Devil wrote: »

Seemingly a commitment has been made for the festival to go ahead in 2012. Is that correct?


For anyone interested, a petition to save the festival is here:

http://www.petitiononline.com/FoWC/petition.html

Here's a better one :D
To: Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council

Dear Dún Laoghaire Rathdown Councillors and County Manager,

Please use the money saved by cancelling this event to fix the disgraceful state of the roads in the local area, particularly Glenageary Road Lower which looks like several dozen mines have gone off along its length.

Sincerely,

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Council say they lost 1/2 a million, how much did the town gain from consumer spending and local tourism?

The pubs would have made an absolute killing, so packed you generally couldn't get into them after 8. Hotels / hostels / B&Bs no doubt did well as would the buses and DARTs. Shops probably less so but still a general gain I would have thought.

slideshowbob wrote:

Probably about 20 euro - alot of free loading hippies in attendance

That angel shop in the centre must have been printeing money with all those artsy hippy types around :pac:

Run_to_da_hills

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

The pubs would have made an absolute killing, so packed you generally couldn't get into them after 8. Hotels / hostels / B&Bs no doubt did well as would the buses and DARTs. Shops probably less so but still a general gain I would have thought.

That was my point, a short sighted move. this festival was promoted more a "smarty festival" in that it did not really carry on after dark, stalls shut early and the music was stopped after 10pm. If it went on to the early hours It would have drawn a different crowd from the city, ie late music in bars and people drinking on the streets.

The issue of antisocial behaviour is nonsense, Gardai did a great job keeping idiots from spoiling the main events, cops were every where confiscating booze, and moving potential trouble makers on.

brayblue24

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

The ones that gained at last years festival were the Gardai, I wonder what they did with all the booze that they confiscated?

Don't make snide assumptions-it was destroyed. Who in their right mind would drink that sh*t knowing that it was most probably p**sed on beforehand in case it was seized?

HavingCrack

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

That was my point, a short sighted move. this festival was promoted more a "smarty festival" in that it did not really carry on after dark, stalls shut early and the music was stopped after 10pm. If it went on to the early hours It would have drawn a different crowd from the city, ie late music in bars and people drinking on the streets.

The issue of antisocial behaviour is nonsense, Gardai did a great job keeping idiots from spoiling the main events, cops were every where confiscating booze, and moving potential trouble makers on.

But this did happen, I was there . All along the Dart line and around the lanes and on the pier was full of hundreds if not thousands of people drinking outside.

Cavehill Red

Long overdue measure, especially in the current economic climate. It's not the council's responsibility to fund non-indigenous cultural celebrations.

Sofa King Great

How did they manage to overspend by €500k in just 3 days??

That is an overspend of nearly €7k per hour!! Clearly it was just mismanaged

u140acro3xs7dm

Sofa King Great wrote: »

How did they manage to overspend by €500k in just 3 days??

That is an overspend of nearly €7k per hour!! Clearly it was just mismanaged

Well look at the state of the roads, clearly these people are not up to managing much. They have to drive on these roads to get to work. Tivoli road at the mountown end is also pretty shocking.

Morlar

This is the same council who spends countless hundreds of thousands on seafront consultation reports ? I think there are more pressing things for them to attend to.

This festival should be privately funded and self sustainable. having attended a few of them I am not entirely sure what it brings to the area, a weekend of having loud drunken urinating idiots all over the place ? Also a weekend of residents being unable to either move their car, or, if they have already moved it unable find a parking space.

Cookie_Monster

Morlar wrote: »

Also a weekend of residents being unable to either move their car, or, if they have already moved it unable find a parking space.

true. I reckon the traffic wombles could easily make up that half million over the weekend if they get them all working :pac::pac::pac:

BobbyJohn

Have to say I'll miss it. It certainly was something extra for the Summer weekends. I never went at night, only during the day - so can't comment on drinking. Certainly ate and drank in the pubs at lunchtime. Enjoyed the some of the free concerts and the exhibitions.

Run_to_da_hills

brayblue24 wrote: »

Don't make snide assumptions-it was destroyed. Who in their right mind would drink that sh*t knowing that it was most probably p**sed on beforehand in case it was seized?

One would be foolish to drink out of any can or bottle without washing it first, weil's disease is deadly.

Cookie_Monster

Poster on another forum said it was due to be replaced by several smaller events.

Fratton Fred

I've always thought it a bit odd to have a festival like this in DL. It's not exactly the most multiracial area in Dublin.

Morlar

I'd be curious about the total cost of this - not just last years overrun. Also whether or not those people involved in the organising committee etc are drawing salaries even though the event is not going ahead this year. It would be odd (to me at least) to pump money into an event like this while many residents in the area do not have a reliable water supply.

Cookie_Monster

A friend of mine who was quite involved in last years said they did not so much overspend as use a lot of this years budget last years, meaning no money is available for it this year cos it's already spent. I must ask her if/ what is planned this year instead.

melekalikimaka

Morlar wrote: »

I'd be curious about the total cost of this - not just last years overrun. Also whether or not those people involved in the organising committee etc are drawing salaries even though the event is not going ahead this year. It would be odd (to me at least) to pump money into an event like this while many residents in the area do not have a reliable water supply.

its not salaried its sub contracted to a production company, unfortunate ended to a great festival run by sterling people with an otherwise perfect resume of events under their belts

Run_to_da_hills

Fratton Fred wrote: »

I've always thought it a bit odd to have a festival like this in DL. It's not exactly the most multiracial area in Dublin.

Probably the best place for it, plenty of coastline, harbour, Dart access, etc, other options could be Bray,Graystones, Clontarf, Howth. or Malahide.

Exclamation Marc

Shame its gone however this year was a huge mess.

Cutting off the free public acts at 7pm was a very silly idea, it just left loads of bored intoxicated people wandering around looking for something to do.

Public drinking, I know I know, its illegal but previous years there was always an ideology of the gardai turning their heads the other way whereas in 2010 it was a complete crackdown and just forced people away. I know its illegal but it was always quite an aggro-free event but they must have paid so much for the use of the Gardaí.

I remember 2 years ago going to Óstán Kiev at the Royal Marine at midnight and it was an epic show, whereas this year there was just nothing great going on, and at 7pm it was either pay 25quid into a venue or go home, which was so frustrating.

Overspending on acts when there's no revenue was an absolute balls-up in my opinion and such a shame as those who volunteered did a great job as usual. Whether they ran over budget or deliberately ate into 2011 budget, its a total cock-up as its not a revenue generating event and they really should have tightened their reigns if they had a strict budget.

I will miss it, but it really fell down in my opinion in 2010.

Saadyst

Will miss the festival a lot. Something I looked forward to in summer.

dammitjanet

Can't help but feel that this is the final nail in Dun Laoghaires coffin (and I really hope i'm wrong). That town just seems to keep going down hill, very different to the DUn Laoghaire I grew up in. Is it true that DUnnes Stores are considering closing their clothes store in the town? That's just a rumour I heard, hopefully no truth behind it.

Last years world cultures festival was on the same time as the Bray festival wasn't it? COuldn't have been the smartest move, I imagine it would have effected the profits, and as someone else said- it seemed like more takeaway stalls than anything else.

dRNk SAnTA

I'll miss the festival, it was always a good weekend.

I have to say, I've never seen as much security as was there last year. It must have cost a fortune, there were swarms of Gardaí everywhere. I don't see what the big deal is with a bit of public drinking, I think after a certain time (8pm or whatever) it's not a big deal. I've never seen anything bad happen, people exaggerate the whole "young people out of control" angle.

partyndbs

D.EVO

should gd crack last yr i got brought home in a riot van hahah good times altho sunday was **** no atmosphere