Sasanachs in charge of a VERY Irish festival
British company wins tender to plan major Halloween event
A BRITISH-based company is behind a new festival celebrating the Irish origins of Halloween, the Irish Mail on Sunday has learned.
Production company Curated Place won the tender for the Púca festival which is due to take place in Drogheda, Co. Louth, and Athboy and Trim, in Co. Meath, from October 31 to November 2 and aims to ‘celebrate Ireland as the birthplace of Halloween’.
A total of €1.5million has been allocated to the festival by Fáilte Ireland, Meath County Council and Louth County Council for the first three years in a bid to develop it into a ‘world-class festival’.
This is the first year of the festival which, according to Fáilte Ireland, could attract 100,000 overseas visitors to Ireland during the tourism off-season, and generate €12million for the region. The British company is not mentioned on the festival’s website, while others involved in the project such as Fáilte Ireland, Meath and Louth county councils, the Office of Public Works and the Department of Heritage, Culture and the Gaeltacht are all listed.
The Curated Place website does, however, list the company’s involvement in the festival and details the concept of the new festival. It reads: ‘Since ancient times, the time of year that the light turns to dark has been celebrated in Ireland. It is a moment in time when the rules can be broken as a cavalcade of Púca take to the streets, transforming the night into a playground.’
The festival will open with a large ceremonial procession at ‘one of the earliest sites to host Samhain’, Tlachtga in Athboy.
The festival consists of a number of free but ticketed events, including ‘stunning light installations and performers, playful interactives and awe-inspiring bespoke projections at ancient sites of Ireland’s Ancient East’.
There will also be a number of paid events, including contemporary Irish concerts at Trim Castle and Crescent Concert Hall, featuring Pillow Queens, Jerry Fish, David Keenan, as well as Kormac and the Irish Chamber Orchestra.
A spokeswoman for Fáilte Ireland told the MoS that a public procurement process was launched in December 2018 which asked suppliers to tender for services to programme, produce and promote the festival.
‘Five tenders were received through this process. Curated Place emerged as the top-scoring tenderer from this competitive process and were awarded the contract.
‘Curated Place is a multi-awardwinning arts, festival and event company specialising in site-specific experiences of light and sound, performance and storytelling and has delivered successful light and music festivals, events and installations across Europe,’ she said.
Curated Place did not reply to a request for comment.
‘A moment when rules can be broken’ ‘The festival will open with a large procession’