Kilkenny Arts Festival is a welcome cash bonanza for city

The importance of the Kilkenny Arts Festival to the local economy was highlighted at the launch of the 2019 programme in the city last week.
Director of the festival, Olga Barry took the opportunity to emphasise the impact of the 10 day cultural and artistic extravaganza on business.
Addressing sponsors and supporters she revealed that the festival was responsible for generating 18,000 bed nights in Kilkenny city and environs in 2018.
“The combined estimated broadcast and print advertising value of the festival last year was over €2 million,” she told a large audience at the Pembroke hotel on Patrick Street.
The spend per day per head (excluding accommodation) by visitors was €170, according to independent analysis commissioned by the arts festival.
Value of Festival
“The total value of the festival to the local economy is €5 million,” Ms Barry added.
“Domestic and overseas visitors spent a total of €1.4 million on accommodation last year during the 10 days of the festival.
“The direct visitor spend on over €3 million while 43% of visitors stayed three nights or more in the city and environs during the festival,” she said.
From outdoor theatre to contemporary dance, the Festival is dedicated to staging events of the highest calibre, thrilling audiences of all kinds.
Classical music has been at the core of the Festival from the very beginning, with concerts featuring globally acclaimed artists such as Victoria de los Angeles, Alfred Brendel, Jordi Savall, Steven Isserlis, Dawn Upshaw, Nigel Kennedy and Joshua Bell, among many others.
New Initiative
In recent years the Festival has enriched its music programme with major new initiatives like The Marble City Sessions, a cross-genre series of unique musical collaborations featuring a range of artists, hosted and co-curated by the great Irish traditional musician Martin Hayes.
The festival’s orchestra-in-residence, the Irish Chamber Orchestra, collaborates with leading national and international performers on a range of concerts combining the traditional with the thrillingly modern, while in recent years the position of poet-in-residence has been graced by everyone from Paula Meehan and Eavan Boland to Billy Collins and Robert Pinsky.
Experience the Rollercoaster sessions and discover two up-and-coming bands from the thriving music scenes in Kilkenny and Dublin.
And returning to the festival after seven years, is Mayo-born troubadour Seamus Fogarty.
Full details of the programme are on pages on 87, 88 and 89 of this week’s paper.