Festival in the frame for awards!
HAVING carved out a sterling reputation since the inaugural festival back in 2012, Wexford Spiegeltent Festival received a major boost last week after being nominated for a host of awards.
In the Irish Festival Awards, it was nominated both in the ‘Best Small Festival’ and ‘Best Line-up’ categories, which will now go directly to a public vote. Further endorsement in the form of a nomination for ‘Best Small Festival’ and ‘Best Tech Crew’ at the IMRO Awards - nominated by musicians. This is the first time the festival has been nominated for any of these awards and it was a source of great excitement for Director at Lantern Presents Brian Byrne.
‘In particular it was great to be nominated for best tech crew,’ he said. ‘That category includes the big festivals so it’s nice. We’ve invested a lot in the tech end of things and we’ve come a long way in the last couple of years with sound and lighting. As well as that we use all local people for that. Cian Redmond ran tech last year and the PA came from Joe Murphy of ITECH in Glenbrien and the lights were done by Seamus Reck, another Wexford man.’
‘It’s nice to be recognised in all these categories,’ Brian said. ‘It can be difficult to be heard over the noise of the Dublin stuff and the summer festivals, so it’s nice to get a bit of recognition, particularly from the artists who love to perform in front of a Wexford audience.’
While the results of the IMRO Awards are expected out on February 26, voting is now open for the Irish Festival Awards and those who attended the Spiegeltent Festival are urged to give them a vote at www.irishfestivalawards.ie.