City Soul Festival launches new bid to find funding

THE organisers of one of Dublin’s more unique music festivals are in a race against time to raise money for the event.

The 9th annual Dublin City Soul Festival is scheduled to take place in the beautiful surroundings of Merrion Square Park on Saturday, May 23 and Sunday 24.

But the people behind the

‘Soul Picnic’ need your help in ensuring that the event returns to the park this year.

They have launched a crowd funding campaign to try and raise the funds needed to make Merrion Square festival ready and are asking members of the public to become Official Festival Supporters of Ireland’s feel-good festival by pledging financial support.

They say that as little as

?¬10 can make a huge difference.

Since launching in May 2007 the Dublin City Soul Festival has attracted over 250,000 visitors generating in excess of

?¬8 million for the Irish economy and showcasing some of the best live bands from Ireland and around the world.

Previous performers have included Hozier, Gavin James, The Riptide Movement, The Hot Sprockets, Dublin Gospel Choir, The Barley Mob, The Commitments, The Rance Allen Group, Ms Nicki & The Memphis Soul Survivors and Ruby Wilson – Queen of Beale Street, to name but a few.

The festival is a former winner of the prestigious Living Dublin Award for Culture & Tourism and has helped children’s charity the Musical Youth Foundation provide over 200 kids with access to free life-changing music education classes in the last two years alone.

The festival is made possible each year by the generosity of a small but dedicated team of volunteers and supporters and now there is a chance to become part of that team.

There are loads of rewards to choose from depending on how much you are willing to pledge.

Festival founder and CEO Chris Maher said:

“The advertising and sponsorship market for events such as ours has been pretty much decimated since 2008 so we need to look at new ways in which to raise the funds needed to make vital events like ours sustainable.

“Crowd funding is one such possibility that we’re trying out. We need to raise

?¬15,000 in just three weeks so it’s a bit of a long shot but if people get behind it together we can make something very special happen over the two days in Merrion Square Park in late May.

“This will be the 9th year of the festival and we’ve some special performances already lined up, if only we can raise the money needed to make the park festival ready.

“Despite the amazing generosity of our volunteers who give their time to help organise, build and perform there are some costs like insurance, VAT and health and safety that we just can’t avoid.

“While we usually get some funding from Dublin City Council and Failte Ireland it usually covers about half of the overall cost.

“With your support we can ensure the survival of Ireland’s feel-good festival and provide the Musical Youth Foundation with an opportunity to collect vital donations to help at-risk kids access life-changing music education programmes in local community centres across Dublin and beyond.

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Dublin City Soul Festival has no paid employees. All funds raised via Fundit will go towards the cost of festival infrastructure. For more details and to pledge support visit: www.fundit.ie/project/2015-dublin-city-soul-festival