Tourism and Cultrual infrastructure to be Prioritised.
www.tcs.gov.ie

Over €360 million will be spent on capital projects across the Tourism, Culture and Sport sectors over the next four years said Minister Mary Hanafin T.D., today (24th November 2010) following the publication of details of the Governments National Recovery Plan.The Minister said in an emailed press release that:

“All Government Departments are making their contribution towards the economic recovery and the Government has made some very difficult choices. The adjustments in allocations for the three sectors, while not easy, are proportionate and measured.”
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Fáilte Ireland and The Arts Council look to increase visitors by driving tourism in the arts
www.failteireland.ie
www.artscouncil.ie

A full scale mobilisation of the arts sector to support Irish tourism could reap great benefits. This was the clear message delivered today as Fáilte Ireland and the Arts Council today hosted a cultural tourism seminar in Farmleigh designed to give almost 100 arts organisations from around the country the practical tools needed to attract visitors.

Culture and heritage is a key driver for Irish tourism contributing an estimated €2 billion to the Irish economy last year with research showing that cultural visitors spend almost twice as much as city-break visitors. Furthermore, overseas visitors experience high levels of satisfaction with what Ireland has to offer with almost four out of every five overseas visitors citing “interesting history/culture” as a motivation for choosing Ireland for a holiday making it a viable area for the growth in visitor numbers and revenue.

Today’s event provided arts organisations with practical insights into the tourism industry. Attendees heard from a number of speakers on how they can look at how their own business can become involved in tourism and begin working with local tourism businesses to grow their audience and improve their business while maintaining the high quality and creativity of their work.
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www.sharonshannon.com

Collaborations is the new album from accordion player Sharon Shannon. The album features 15 tracks with 15 different guests on vocals and showcases Sharon’s extraordinary range and diversity of styles.
Featuring five brand new tracks, two remixes and eight of her previously recorded material including the original version of The Galway Girl recorded in 1999 with Steve Earle on vocals, Sharon moves effortlessly through styles and genres. The album also includes the new recording of Fiesta with Pogues frontman, Shane MacGowan.

Also the new version of the 1960’s hit Muirsheen Durkin with the legendary Johnny McEvoy on vocals. The album also features Imelda May, Kirsty McColl, John Prine, Jackson Browne and many more.

Gleneagle Hotel, Killarney, March 2nd – 6th, 2011
www.thegathering.ie

If you have a good photo of the Gathering Traditional Festival then you could be in with a chance of winning a pair of weekend passes for the 2011 festival which takes place from March 2nd – 6th. The Gathering team are looking for some of the best images from over the years to upload onto the festival’s Facebook page and the winning image will receive a pair of weekend passes to the 2011 festival.
Simply send your favourite image to email:aoifeod@destinationkillarney.ie before December 1st, 2010. Please note all images should be in jpeg format and no bigger than 500kbs in size.
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www.itma.ie

The Irish Traditional Music Archive will be open for research on Saturday November 20th. Their most recent publication is The Francis O’Neill Cylinders which was reviewed recently in IMM. This Double CD from the Ward Irish Music Archives in Milwaukee features 32 tracks remastered from original wax cylinders of c.1904. The CD’s are available for purchase from the Ward Irish Music Archive website within the US. They can also be purchased from ITMA in Ireland.
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Mary Hanafin TD, Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport announced on the 1st November funding in excess of €1 million towards Cultural Tourism Technology projects. The projects to be funded are those which were successful under the Cultural Technology Grant Scheme – an initiative aimed at using technology to promote Irish arts and culture announced by Minister Hanafin in July 2010.
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www.sligolive.ie

Once again Sligo’s dynamic musical heritage was celebrated over the October Bank Holiday weekend at SLIGO LIVE SESSIONS, Ireland’s foremost International Roots Music Festival bringing leading Irish and International Artists to Sligo.  The Festival had an attendance of nearly 30,000 people at the 100 different concert, club, session, café culture, street entertainment and market events that made up the festival weekend and brought an estimated €4 million into Sligo over the 5 days.
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The National Council for the Traditional Arts
(NCTA) announced today with Mayor Karl Dean and the Compass Records
Group that Labor Day weekend, September 2-4, 2011, has been chosen as
the date for the 73rd National Folk Festival.
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