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  • irishtimes.com - Posted: October 29, 2009 @ 6:26 pm

    DEAF call it a day and a night

    Jim Carroll

    After eight merry years, this year’s DEAF festival is set to be the very last one as the organisers have decided to wrap up things after this weekend’s closing events.

    The reasons for the decision will not come as a surprise to anyone: “arts funding cuts, no sponsorship, & a lot of overheads each year”.

    All of which means that Saturday’s various events – see here for the full list – will be DEAF’s final hurrah so if you can, please turn out to send the festival off in style. Naturally, OTR wishes festival chiefs Eamonn Doyle and Karen Walsh the very best with all their post-DEAF activities.

    • 13 Comments

    1.
    October 29, 2009
    6:46 pm

    Never been myself, but sad news. Closer to home we have the only arthouse cinema in Cork closing – regardless of what Bord Snip has coming, it’s clear that funding to the arts are struggling.

    Comment by Joe
    2.
    October 29, 2009
    7:57 pm

    sad to hear, hopefully something on a smaller scale will come out of this.

    i for one can’t wait for the twinkranes bash tomorrow night. they got 9/10 in this weeks NME album reviews

    Comment by petee
    3.
    October 29, 2009
    8:23 pm

    joe – the problem is as much where the funding is going as the amount of funding. Less flagship buildings and more money into small, tourism-friendly fests please

    Comment by Jim Carroll
    4.
    October 30, 2009
    1:12 am

    A great shame. Had blossomed into a fine festival. And it kinda feels like it would only have gotten better too.

    Comment by NaRocRoc
    5.
    October 30, 2009
    11:00 am

    That’s shit news. DEAF will be sadly missed. I remember the first one at the Guinness Storehouse with Slam. Some great gigs over the years. Best of luck to them in the future

    Comment by nerraw
    6.
    October 30, 2009
    11:13 am

    Really sad news this, but completely understandable, this kind of thing is not easy to do, takes an incredible amount of hard work and dedication, especially when the financial support is lacking. Thanks for eight great festivals Eamonn and Karen, best wishes for whatever you’ve got planned next.

    Comment by enda
    7.
    October 30, 2009
    11:40 am

    Probably a festival we took for granted as its been around so long. Real shame as a lot of effort was undertaken every year to bring the quality of acts and arts to Dublin we don’t see as often as we should. Its just another sign of Dublin going backwards not forwards.

    Comment by Shock
    8.
    October 30, 2009
    11:44 am

    Enda/Shock – I think you’ve both hit nails on the head. It does take a huge amount of work and dedication to do a festival like DEAF year in and year out, especially when people either take it for granted or just go “oh not DEAF again”. We only miss events like this when they’re gone.

    Comment by Jim Carroll
    9.
    October 30, 2009
    2:24 pm

    I for one think its a total shame. Not only did DEAF bring in quality overseas acts who would otherwise not be seen in Ireland they championed great Irish artists. It will be sorely missed.
    Well done to all involved for keeping it going for so long. Id imagine it was a lot of work for the love of music and not the financial gain. I wish more music promoters were this altruistic.

    Comment by Sufi
    10.
    October 30, 2009
    2:48 pm

    @Sufi Oh, I dunno, I think they’re are lots and lots of promotors out there who are similarly dedicated and mainly in it for the music and not financial gain. Which is just as well really as you aint gonna make big profits bringing more leftfield acts to a small country like ours. The large profit making concerts here are generally put on by a quite small number of promotors and companies (MCD, Aitken, etc). There is a far greater number of smaller promotors, and most of those do it mainly for the music and just hope to break even financially.

    Comment by enda
    11.
    October 30, 2009
    3:43 pm

    From what I hear the festival was being run on a fraction of what would be considered the norm so not terribly surprised but so sad to see something so vital and worthy to Dublin being trampled underfoot. Sigh.
    This was actually the best so far I think. The most coherent with a clear sense of a festival centre in Filmbase to work from. Would it be pointless to try and rally support or make it clear to the arts council that DEAF is vital to the dublin music calender for so many from so many sectors or would that fall on deaf ears? (buh bum, sorry couldnt resist. Yellow card accepted)

    Comment by Tom
    12.
    October 30, 2009
    7:09 pm

    great wee festival so it is/was, r.i.p. (or not hopefully)

    Comment by jim comic
    13.
    November 2, 2009
    11:42 am

    @enda. I do realise that there are many promoters that put on gigs regularly for no financial gain. I was speaking more about the sheer scale of the DEAF festival. Even the most dedicated promoter would be hard pressed to commit that much time and effort into a festival for the love of music.

    Comment by Sufi

    Comments on this article are now closed.


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