About Photo Ireland Festival 2010

Dear Anouilh, kensutz, democrates, elven, ThOnda, artyeva, Covey, sheesh, Fenster, and all in Boards.ie who love Photography, the Arts and Culture in general:

Thank you for your interest in PhotoIreland.

As you have noticed, currently our web site explains our intentions quite openly. We are still at a stage where decision makers in institutions such as the Arts Council, Culture Ireland, IMMA, etc. are our target audience. Soon, there will be an enhanced site, with more general information about submissions, competitions, workshops, etc. that I am sure we will all enjoy.

We would like to highlight that we are very open, friendly, and welcome anyone that makes an effort and contact us. In fact, part of the process of setting up this great event for Ireland involved conversations with a large number of key people involved in photography, the arts, festivals, cultural organisations, galleries, museums, etc. And so it has been for the last 12 months.

We also thought that opening this thread would help our open discussion.

We are currently working extremely hard to establish this, the first International Photographic Festival in Ireland. And I am sure you are as excited as we are to be able to enjoy and celebrate the art of Photography.

We are very proud to have some of the most important cultural institutions on board at this time. It is true that this, the first year of this event in Ireland will be based in Dublin. But the reasons are none other than the lack of time and resources in year one. However, the aspirations of the Festival go much further than this. We are already in discussions with many institutions outside Dublin and have a comprehensive long-term plan for this project.

The Festival is going to be realised through hard work, dedication and the pursuit of a dream to have a permanent International Photography Festival in Ireland. As this is a new idea and this is the first of it's kind in Ireland, you can be sure the constraints and obstacles have been wide ranging.

So if any of you consider that you can help us to achieve this dream, we will be always open to you.

We have been receiving correspondence of all kinds; some people understand very quickly the extent and importance of such an event, some others rejoice in an unhelpful begrudgery, and others concentrate in asking whether they can show their own work. We endeavour to answer all of them personally as swiftly as possible, with the same love and constructive passion that drives me to bring forward this idea.

Do not think that you will be the first or the last to compliment or criticise this idea, the festival or even the web site: We have been listening for the last year carefully, and have heard great critical questions like 'Why another festival?' (In an international arena), or 'Why in Ireland?', 'Why in Dublin?'. And also have been told some preposterous reasons not to celebrate it in Ireland at all, like 'the weather is horrible', 'there is no audience for such event', etc.

Answering these questions has made our concept stronger. Mind you, the most helpful questions we received were often accompanied by a helpful answer. We need your criticism; it is part of the process. We would ask you to be constructive, informative, positive and passionate, if you share our vision and love for Photography.

We are aware of the large amount of ‘photographers, active photographic clubs, professional companies and single enthusiasts’ in Ireland. We see evidence of their work everyday thanks to sites like Pix.ie, Boards.ie, and through the different professional and amateur photographic organizations. We have seen how exhibitions like that of David LaChapelle attracted around 10,000 people even do it was held in an alternative location. We also appreciate IMMA’s constant effort to promote Photography, lately with 'Picturing New York: Photographs from The Museum of Modern Art IMMA'. And of course, the great Gallery of Photography in Dublin, and many other great institutions not necessarily in Dublin, like The Sirius Arts Centre in Cobh.

We also have seen a growing interest in international cultural organizations exhibiting photography in Ireland, like:
- 'MOLL 31' by Wiebke Loeper at the Goethe-Institut
- [URL="tp://dublin.cervantes.es/FichasCultura/Ficha53368_16_2.htm"]Unknown Pacific 1862-1866[/URL], Closing the 12th Dec. Instituto Cervantes ht
- ‘EXHALE’ by Mandy O’Neill, at the Alliance Francaise

We are heartened to know that photographers in Ireland are very active and have a growing number of ways to enjoy photography, distribute and exhibit their own work.

The festival comes to celebrate you all.


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How can you help right now?
- Become a fan in Facebook http://www.facebook.com/PhotoIrelandFestival
- Follow us on Twitter (http://twitter.com/PhotoIreland)
- Spread the word
- Join The National Campaign For The Arts http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-National-Campaign-For-The-Arts/135604445372
- Promote Photography related events locally
- Find out about other Photography festivals
- Keep an eye for news: subscribe to our newsletter in http://www.photoireland.org/2009/

Do you have any photographic projects you want to put forward? Please, submit them to info@photoireland.org

If you would like any more information, or have any proposals that can help to support this development and our hard work, you are very welcome to contact us at info@photoireland.org

Kind Regards,

Angel Luis Gonzalez
Festival Director

PHOTOIRELAND FESTIVAL
PhotoIreland will start in July 2010 and it will be Ireland's first International Festival of Photography.

64 Lower Mount Street, Dublin 2, Dublin, Ireland.
info@photoireland.org | http://www.photoireland.org | +353876856169

Follow us
Twitter: http://twitter.com/PhotoIreland
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/PhotoIrelandFestival

The thread was started in response to this one: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055760758
[Kind thanks to Darragh Doyle for assisting me on how to better use Boards.ie]