Clonmel Busking Festival in doubt due to drop in grant aid, council meeting warned

A councillor has warned Clonmel Busking Festival may not be staged this summer because of a drop in grant aid that will mean the volunteer organisers can’t cover the financial costs of staging the event.

Workers & Unemployment Action Group Cllr Pat English, who is the festival’s chairman, issued the warning at the monthly meeting of Clonmel Borough District councillors where it was revealed the Busking Festival will receive €10,000 from the

Tipperary Festivals & Events Grant Scheme this year down from €15,000 in previous pre-pandemic years.

Festivals in Clonmel Borough District have been allocated a total of €72,000 under the Tipperary Festivals & Grant Scheme.

Clonmel Junction Arts Festival is receiving the largest allocation of €30,000 with Clonmel Busking Festival and Clonmel Applefest receiving the next largest allocation s of €10,000 each.

Eight other festivals, cultural and sporting events in Clonmel district are being awarded grants of between €3,000 and €500.

On viewing the list of grants Cllr English bluntly told council management: “I don’t know if the (Busking) festival will go ahead with that money.”

District administrator Jim Dillon explained there had been a two-fold increase in the number of valid applications for festival grants for this year but there hadn’t been any increase in funding.

He said the €10,000 grant was still a substantial amount of money towards the cost of running the Busking Festival and he understood that money will fund the artists that will perform at it. While the Busking Festival received €15,000 grant aid in 2019, the number of applications for funding was lower then.

Cllr English responded that it costs at least €20,000 to run the festival, which meant the organising committee had to raise a further €10,000. He noted the portion of the €10,000 grant allocated from Tipperary County Council’s central coffers was down to €1,000 from €6,000.

The problem wasn’t with the amount Clonmel Borough District allocated through its General Municipal Allocation (GMA) fund.

Cllr Siobhán Ambrose proposed the approval of the grants scheme and said she was delighted so many festivals were coming on board. The allocation of €72,000 from the council to local festivals and events was fantastic, she added. Cllr John Fitzgerald seconded the adoption of the grants.

Cllr Richie Molloy welcomed the €72,000 grants to festivals but he echoed the concerns raised by Cllr English about the Busking Festival. He pointed out this festival was run totally by a voluntary committee and it attracted large crowds to Clonmel on the weekend it takes place.

“It was worth a lot of money to businesses but it has become more and more difficult for voluntary committees to run these type of events.”

He wondered whether the council could allocate more funding “down the road” to the festival.

Clonmel Borough District director of services Sinead Carr indicated the council could go back and look at the GMA to see if more funding could be allocated to this festival. But she warned it would mean taking some funding from other areas it was intended for and re-allocating it to the Busking Festival.

However, she did point out that sometimes some events and projects allocated GMA funding drop out and some flexibility may arise that will enable the council to increase its funding to the festival.

The discussion concluded with the Mayor of Clonmel Cllr Michael Murphy saying the council would work with the Busking Festival and Cllr Ambrose suggesting that for next year a workshop be held for councillors before the GMA was formally approved.