Birr Festivals Collective
The Birr Festival Season celebrates the essence of our town.
Running from May-November each year, it includes:
Scripts Ireland's Playwriting Festival
Birr Vintage Week and Arts Festival
In 2020, Birr 20:20 Vision CLG commissioned the report, Seeing The Beyond | Birr Festivals Planning for a Shared Future, with support from Offaly Local Development Company), to produce a set of recommendations to support sustainable festival development in Birr into the future.
One of the key opportunities identified was for all the Birr’s festivals to work collaboratively to address strategic goals in artistic development, audience engagement, and strengthening Birr’s position as an attractive and accessible cultural destination.
And so, the Birr Festivals
Collective was born.
We are committed to taking a position of leadership through our collective values, actions, and ability to work cohesively and strategically.
Our collective approach is underpinned by the following set of values:
01. Quality
A commitment to providing artists and audiences with high-quality experiences throughout their engagement with the festivals in Birr; this means fair remuneration for artists and contributors, a safe environment for artists, crew, staff, volunteers and audiences, and excellent production and presentation standards.
04. Inclusion
A commitment to designing and producing events in Birr in ways that extend a welcome to as many people as possible, particularly to those whose circumstances mean that they are infrequent attenders at festivals and events.
02. Sustainability
To lead by example in adopting and implementing principles of sustainability in how events are produced and promoted; and to avail of the benefits and economies of scale that are possible through planned collaboration.
05. Innovation
A commitment to adapting and changing the ways that we devise and produce our events sustainably and effectively in Birr (ranging from organisational arrangements and planning to programming, the use of technology and changed funding models).
03. Accessibility
A commitment to ensuring that as many people as possible can engage with, and benefit from, the festivals in Birr.
06. Partnership
A commitment to thinking, planning, and working together, and with others, to increase our resilience and to broaden our resource base for creative programming.