Last month’s announcement that the Tourism Events Fund is to be scrapped put a dampener on

many festivities across the region. This funding with-drawal has put over 60 cultural events in jeopardy with some events organisers already conceding they will not be able to continue.

Another potential blow to the cultural calendar is the introduction of the Super Councils next year. There is a general consensus that this move will involve a further tightening of public spending purse strings.

With this bleak future to look forward to, you might expect local festivals to be taking on a more sombre mood at this time.

Walking along Portstewart promenade at the week-end, I wondered had anyone told those involved in Atlantic Sessions of this grim state of affairs.

With streets thronged and venues packed out, this festival, now in its fifth year, is bigger than ever. 48 free music gigs were hosted, over four days and nights, in cafes, restaurants and bars in the coastal towns of Portstewart, Portrush and Portballintrae.

The audiences, an eclectic mix of locals, music fans and day trippers - the old and the young added to the buzz. From talking to those present, I discerned an overriding sense of pride that the festival has become so successful, but more importantly a strong optimism that this is only the beginning.

Anthony Toner cites a combination of social media and the demographic of the artists involved as the key to Atlantic Sessions rapid rise: “It’s just spread like crazy over the last few years. All of the artists in-volved are young emerging singers who are hungry for profiles. When they get a gig at Atlantic Sessions all of them are Facebooking and Tweeting like mad to their followers.

“If you bring in older, more established acts, they think, well that’s your job to promote it not ours, but these young people are going mad for it! If you go on twitter today, it’s a wildfire of Atlantic Sessions stuff. I think that’s why it’s a success and maybe that points the way for festivals to come.”

“We’re from Glasgow. We were visiting here last year. We heard some of the

performers and wanted to take part. We write our own songs and try to get our own material out as much as we can. This is such a benefit to us we just thought we can’t miss the opportunity”.

http://twitter.com/daisywheelsbandFacebook.com/daisywheelsbandsoundcloud.com/daisywheels

“This is my first year taking part and I would be back in a heartbeat.

Getting the music out there, that’s the whole point. I didn’t expect to sell any albums tonight but we sold out. Who knows where those cds will end up. Today was brilliant. Often playing in bars you just become background noise - at Atlantic ses-sions the people are rarin’ to hear the music”.

paulcaseymusic.com facebook.com/jpaulcaseysoundcloud.com/paulcasey

“It’s great that cofeeshops and restaurants, as well as bars take part, so that families can enjoy the music.We get a different type of customer coming and we wouldn’t be this busy normally”

JacquiOwner of Warke’s Deli.

“We get a very big crowd in during the bands. I want it to grow. I would prefer if there were more venues taking part and that the bands played for longer. It’s still a little bit too spread out and the coordination could be improved to allow fans time to move from one gig to another”

Richard HopkinsOperations Manager at Shennigans

“It does benifit Portstewart but it has to be bigger.They need to get the town halls involved and adver-tise it more”

Stephen O’KaneBar Manager at Anchor

“It went down really well, everyone was enjoying it. The town is a lot busier today. It’s a great benifit ot the town”

Rebecca PattersonWaitress at Roghans

Atlantic SessionsIn the face of funding cuts to the arts, the Atlantic Sessions music festival is going from strength to strength. I called into Portstewart’s Flowerfield Art Centre to ask Anthony Toner what the secret

to this festival’s success is, and why he is so confident about its future.

By Richard O’Connor

The Acts

PAUL CASEY

DAISYWHEELS

The Hosts

Daisywheels playing to a packed crowd in Warke’s Deli, Portstewart

The quality of the acts involved couldn’t harm things either, with performers appearing from all over the province and beyond. Anthony singled out Wilfury Gilburt and John McCullough for mention: “Will’s a great songwriter; John’s a dazzling keyboard player playing in Kiwis for nothing. Last night we had the 4-Of-Us in here, it was a full house.”

Locals also have a significant presence. This year’s line-up includes Hanah McFolmy, Mandy Bingham, The Grave Robbers and Chris Keys, all rising-stars from the triangle area.

I put it to Anthony that maybe there was some other reason that this festival of, what Anthony calls “acoustic roots” music, works in this area that means it might not in others . I suggested an Ulster-Scots or maritime heritage.

While he conceded that this area always had a strong following for country and folk players, he didn’t think that was the major reason for its success. He claimed that the organizers had chosen the “roots” genre out of simple practicality.

Anthony, who has his own blues band, said: “in a blues festival you have to allow an hour between each band whereas acoustic is an easy form of music to move around with. With acoustic instruments you just pack it in a case and go down to the pub. It’s easy for a band to play a venue at three o’clock and be at another venue at six.”

I asked him if he was concerned at all about a dearth in funding next year. His answer suggested that so-cial media alone won’t protect the festival but he was not worried. He said: “It’s a very successful brand now and the council would be mad to tinker with it. If cuts are going to be made then my advice would be to go for private sponsorship.

“wThen it becomes another thing, you have to jump through a few more hoops, but it would be a shame to let something that has built up so quickly and so effectively wither on the vine.”

Before I left Flowerfields to check out a few of the many acts Anthony had recommended, he related to me a story about the festival’s Thursday opening night.

The centre was showing a screening of the rare Johnny Cash documentary, San Quintin, hosted by the BBCs Ralph McClean. During the intermission Anthony got talking to a couple who had driven from Banbridge just to be there.

Anthony, who originally supposed that the couple were staying up for the weekend, gave one final salute to the power of social media by saying: “If people know about this festival in Banbridge and are willing to drive 90 miles in horrendous weather just to watch an hour long documentary, that’s great.”

www.atlanticsessions.comwww.northcoastWni.comwww.facebook.com/atlanticsessions@atlanticsess

Paul Toner is the Assistant Manager at Flowerfields Art Centre, Portstewart.

ARTS FEATURE 15.11.14Page 7