Comment: I have moved this to draft space, which is the better place for this draft. It needs some work on it, but it should be possible to get through the hurdles here. The critical aspect that is missing is independent coverage - newspapers typically - reporting in significant length about the festival. The sources currently used are primary and/or non independent. See the panel above for more guidance. There is also use of Wikipedia as a source, which isn't allowed. When are strong claims - such as "33rd county of Ireland" then that needs a direct source to it (which won't be difficult). Also the promotional tone needs to be dialed back a bit, we are an encyclopedia, we aren't here to promote anything. Not a reason for a decline, but the latter sections would benefit from a more concise phraseology, it's a bit heavy going in places and parts are unsourced.There are some signs that AI was used here, given all the fake categories, kindly avoid AI like the plague. ChrysGalley (talk) 09:35, 15 June 2026 (UTC)
LIVERPOOL IRISH FESTIVAL
The Liverpool Irish Festival is an annual multidisciplinary cultural festival held in Liverpool, England, celebrating Irish arts, culture and the historical connections between Liverpool and Ireland. Founded in 2003, it is described as the UK's largest Irish arts and culture-led festival,[1] distinguishing itself by its comprehensive programming across multiple art forms rather than focusing on a single discipline or faith-based celebration. Its tagline is "Liverpool Irish Festival brings Liverpool and Ireland closer together using arts, culture and heritage".
History
Founding and early years (2003–2008)
The Liverpool Irish Festival was established in 2003 following an initiative by John Chandler, who conceived the idea after attending the Ennis Traditional Music Festival in County Clare, Ireland in late 2002.[2] The Festival was created to celebrate the Irish contribution to Liverpool's cultural identity and heritage, with Liverpool being home to one of Britain's largest Irish communities.[3] The inaugural festival took place over four days in October 2003, with founding funding from Liverpool Culture Company and Arts Council England.[2] The programme featured over twenty events, primarily musical performances, including appearances by local singer-songwriter Anthony John Clarke and the traditional band Garva, with poet Tom Paulin leading the poetry programme. The festival expanded significantly in its early years. By 2006, it delivered over sixty events across three weeks, including performances by Van Morrison and Jimmy McGovern.[4] The timing of the festival's development coincided with Liverpool's preparations for becoming European Capital of Culture in 2008, with the festival forming part of the city's cultural bid.
Development and institutional recognition (2008–2020)
In 2005, the Festival secured regular funding from Liverpool Culture Company.[2] By this period, the organisation had established partnerships with venues including the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall and recruited its first part-time festival manager. The Festival's significance to events management practice was documented in the fourth edition of Events Management (2023), a major academic textbook by Bowdin et al., published by Routledge, where Liverpool Irish Festival is cited as an example of best practice in transparent and accountable event organisation.[5] The organisation's annual reviews have been held up as exemplary models of good practice by Leeds Beckett University, the Irish Government and Liverpool City Council.[6] By 2015, the Festival reached record-breaking attendance of 20,000 visitors across 50+ events at over 30 venues. This was in no small part due to a large scale public realm work that featured that year: Meta Perceptual Helmets by artists Cleary Connolly and Neil McKenzie, funded by Arts Council England, which engaged approximately 10,000 participants.[7] Emma Smith was appointed as Artistic Director and CEO in 2016, bringing experience from her previous roles at LOOK (Liverpool's International Photography Festival) and The Bluecoat. Under her leadership, the Festival further developed its thematic approach to programming and expanded its heritage work, taking over custodianship of the Liverpool Irish Famine Trail in 2021. The Festival's annual themes from 2016-2025 have been: Conviviality (2016), What is 'Irishness'? (2017), Migration (2018), Unique stories, creatively told (2019), Exchange (2020/2021), Hunger (2022), Anniversary (2023), Departures (2024), and Arrivals (2025). Future announced themes include: I Am Here (2026), Returning from the Dark (2027), Cultural Awakenings (2028), Domestic Pleasures (2029), Hands that Made Us (2030), and Thought and action (2031).
Contemporary operations (2020–present)
The Festival operates as a registered charity (No. 1100126) and company limited by guarantee (No. 4800736).[8] It receives regular funding from Liverpool City Council's Culture and Arts Investment Programme, the Irish Government's Department of Foreign Affairs Emigrant Support Programme, and project-specific grants from National Lottery Heritage Fund and Arts Council England's National Lottery programme. The organisation also received UK Government Cultural Recovery Funding in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic and has been supported by Plus Dane Housing and Tourism Ireland. The Festival holds a directorship position on the LCR Culture Network CIC, co-chairing the network's EDIA (Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Access) working group.[9] It also maintains a committee seat on the Irish Government's Department of Foreign Affairs' Emigrant Services Advisory Committee, advising on £6m+ of grant awards across Great Britain and the United Kingdom as well as sitting on its diversity subgroup, which offered advice on Ireland's Diaspora Policy and has informed the recruitment and shape of the committee. The organisation's founding chair, John Chandler, served in that role for 21 years (2003-2024) before being succeeded by Dr Ann Hoskins in 2024. The organisation is certified as a carbon literate company and maintains environmental policies aimed at reducing the Festival's carbon footprint, including encouraging public transport use and partnering with environmentally conscious venues.
Programme and format
The Festival typically runs for ten days each October, presenting approximately 35-50 events annually across various Liverpool venues. The programme encompasses multiple disciplines including music (both contemporary and traditional), theatre, film, spoken word, visual arts, children's activities, heritage tours and academic talks. Annual attendance is estimated at approximately 8,000-10,000 visits per year. #GlobalGreening - run for St Patrick's Day - involved 20+ civic centres across the region lighting green in honour of the Irish diaspora, gaining 40,000+ views. For the past few years, projects have also run for Brigid's Day, complementing Ireland's adoption of a bank holiday in her name. The Festival maintains an "all-Ireland approach," representing cultural content from both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, as well as addressing dual and multi-heritage Irish communities and diaspora experiences. The Festival's artistic policy, overseen by the Board of Directors but directed day-to-day by the Artistic Director and CEO, emphasises progressive and inclusive programming. A stated minimum of 25% of programming is generated by or aimed at audiences from LGBTQ+, disabled, ethnic minority, and dual/multi-heritage communities. The organisation published a Black Lives Matter solidarity statement that underwrites these values. Notable past performers and contributors have included Van Morrison, Jimmy McGovern, Christy Moore, Lisa Lambe, The London Lasses and The Armagh Rhymers. The 2025 programme included a world premiere literary salon with multi-award-winning novelist Eimear McBride.
Liverpool Irish Famine Trail stewardship
In 2021, Liverpool Irish Festival — with the blessing of the remaining members of the Liverpool Great Hunger Commemoration Committee — assumed custodianship of the Liverpool Irish Famine Trail, a heritage project originally established in the 1990s. The organisation has secured three rounds of funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund totalling over £160,000 by 2025, for regeneration work on the trail.[10] The trail comprises fifteen sites of historical significance across Liverpool and Wirral related to An Gorta Mór/The Great Hunger (1845-1853). Under the Festival's stewardship, the trail has been connected to the Global Irish Famine Way through partnership with Strokestown Estate, the National Famine Way (Ireland) and the Irish Heritage Trust.[11] In 2024, representatives from Liverpool Irish Festival participated in "The Walk of the Bronze Shoes," a commemorative 165km pilgrimage along Ireland's National Famine Way from Strokestown to Dublin, transporting a 3kg pair of bronze shoes to Liverpool. This walk received extensive international media coverage including RTÉ, CBC, The Irish Post, Liverpool Echo and other outlets, and connected Liverpool's trail to an international network of famine commemoration sites spanning Ireland, England and Canada. The Liverpool pair of bronze shoes are the only pair in the world to have completed the entire walk along the National Famine Way.[12] The Festival has published two books documenting this work: Liverpool Irish Famine Trail: Revive (2022, ISBN 978-1-7396640-0-8), peer-reviewed by the Institute of Irish Studies at the University of Liverpool, and Liverpool Irish Famine Trail: Reveal (2025, ISBN 978-1-7396640-2-2), peer-reviewed and distributed by Liverpool University Press. The organisation also produced "The Bronze Shoes of Liverpool" documentary film, which premiered in October 2025, and commissioned "The Ullaloo", a commemorative song by Ian Cantwell and Marty Snape (2024), performed annually at their memorial service. A volunteer History Research Group, led by ArtsGroupie CIC director John Maguire, conducts ongoing research. In 2024, the Festival launched a state-of-the-art web application featuring in-browser GPS technology that triggers interactive content at trail sites or remotely, developed in partnership with Gazooky Studios and Second Stride. In 2025, Emma Smith delivered the official closing paper at the Famine Summer School (Strokestown County Roscommon, Ireland) titled "Liverpool: A City of Benevolence?" marking further academic recognition of the Festival's heritage work.[13]
Cultural significance
Liverpool is often referred to as the "33rd county of Ireland" due to its substantial Irish-descended population. Over 50% of Liverpool's population have some Irish ancestry according to the Office for National Statistics 2011 census, a demographic characteristic dating particularly to the Great Irish Famine of the 1840s when approximately 1.3 million Irish refugees passed through the city, with an estimated 300,000 settling permanently. Between 1849 and 1852 alone, 1,241,410 Irish immigrants arrived in Liverpool, with some 7,000 perishing within the city in a single year at the height of the migration.[14] The Festival addresses this historical connection while also engaging with contemporary Irish identity and diaspora experiences. Academic partnerships include collaboration with the University of Liverpool's Institute of Irish Studies. The Irish Embassy in London has endorsed the Festival, stating it "truly represents the breadth and innovation of modern Irish culture". The organisation positions itself as "a representative voice for Irish people in Liverpool, England, Ireland and diaspora communities" and operates with the principle of not competing with other Irish service providers but rather collaborating and acting as "a loudhailer for Irish influence in the city."
Organisational structure and governance
Governance of the organisation is primarily handled by a Board of Directors, while day-to-day artistic programming and operations are managed by the Artistic Director and CEO, currently Emma Smith. The organisation employs a small team of contractors to deliver the artistic programme. The Festival runs volunteer programmes including front-of-house recruitment (typically August/September), the History Research Group for Liverpool Irish Famine Trail research and an open trustee recruitment process for Board positions. The organisation maintains transparency through annual reviews and public accountability reports, with feedback mechanisms for event attendees that inform both internal improvements and communications with funders.
Publications
The Festival prints an annual newspaper, usually featuring 20+ commissions from Irish creatives. Books published by Liverpool Irish Festival:
• Liverpool Irish Famine Trail: Revive (2022), ISBN 978-1-7396640-0-8
• Liverpool Irish Famine Trail: Reveal (2025), ISBN 978-1-7396640-2-2
• Brave Maeve (children's book), ISBN 978-1-7396640-8-4
• Brave Maeve: Kind Dagda's Harp (children's book), ISBN 978-1-7396640-6-0
Academic and institutional recognition
The festival has received recognition and support from:
• Routledge academic publishing (citation in Events Management textbook, 4th edition, 2023)
• Irish Government Department of Foreign Affairs Emigrant Support Programme (ongoing funding and committee representation)
• National Lottery Heritage Fund (three grant awards 2021-2025)
• Liverpool City Council Culture and Arts Investment Programme (multi-year funding)
• Arts Council England (National Lottery Project Grants) • University of Liverpool Institute of Irish Studies (2021 peer review and academic partnership)
• Liverpool University Press (2025 peer review and distribution partnership)
• Irish Heritage Trust and the Strokestown Park Estate and National Famine Way (partnership and Famine Summer School platform)
• Leeds Beckett University (recognition of best practice models)
The Irish Government has maintained involvement through successive Ambassadors to the UK (Martin Fraser and others) and Consul Generals (Sarah Mangan, Ciaran O'Kelly), who have attended festival events including the annual An Gorta Mór Memorial service.
References
- Liverpool Irish Festival official website, https://www.liverpoolirishfestival.com/about/
- Liverpool Irish Festival, Festival History, https://www.liverpoolirishfestival.com/about/
- John Belchem, Irish, Catholic and Scouse: The History of the Liverpool-Irish, 1800-1939, Liverpool University Press, 2007
- Liverpool Echo, October 2006
- Glenn A.J. Bowdin et al., Events Management, 4th edition, Routledge, 2023
- Liverpool Irish Festival Annual Reviews, https://www.liverpoolirishfestival.com/about/festival-review/
- Draiocht, Meta Perceptual Helmets exhibition, https://www.draiocht.ie/gallery/exhibition/meta-perceptual-helmets-cleary-connolly-and-neil-mckenzie
- Charity Commission for England and Wales
- LCR Culture Network, https://culturenetwork.co.uk/
- National Lottery Heritage Fund project pages, https://www.heritagefund.org.uk/
- Department of Foreign Affairs Ireland, Global Irish Famine Way, https://www.ireland.ie/en/canada/global-irish-famine-way-the-longest-heritage-trail-in-the-world/
- The Bronze Shoes of Liverpool documentary, 2025
- Strokestown Park, Famine Summer School 2025
- Wikipedia, List of memorials to the Great Famine
External links
• Official Liverpool Irish Festival website • Liverpool Irish Famine Trail • National Lottery Heritage Fund project pages • Global Irish Famine Way network • National Famine Museum, Strokestown • LCR Culture Network CIC Category:Annual events in Liverpool Category:Irish diaspora in England Category:Festivals in England Category:Irish culture Category:2003 establishments in England Category:Arts festivals in the United Kingdom Category:October events Category:Heritage festivals Category:Multidisciplinary arts festivals