Féile an Phobail

Féile an Phobail (The Community's Festival), also known as the West Belfast Festival is a community arts organisation known for its August Féile (Festival). The organisation is prominent for its promotion of Irish and international culture. The festival takes place on and around Falls Road in Belfast, Northern Ireland.^[1][2][3]

The festival was established in 1988 as a direct response to the Troubles, and specifically after the events of March 1988. The community of west Belfast came under intense media scrutiny and was described by the British Broadcasting Corporation as a "terrorist community".^[1][4]

A small amount of friends and various local groups came together to organise a community festival in order to celebrate the creativity, energy, passion for the arts and sport that existed in West Belfast. The Féile was, and is, aimed at providing events and entertainment at a price that the majority of the community could afford.^[1][5]

In August 1988 the first festival opened with a small parade of floats and bands and Gaelic Athletic Association clubs walking in their club regalia to an open-air party in Dunville Park. Street parties were organised throughout the west of the city. Door-to-door collections were made to fund day trips to the seaside for pensioners and outings for young people.^[5][6]

Féile an Phobail has garnered resounding praise and claims to be one of the largest community festivals in Europe.^[7] The carnival parade routinely brings together over 20,000 participants for a colourful, musical procession with specially designed floats representing a chosen theme, dancers and children in costume and face-masks.^[8]

It has grown from a one-week festival to a year-round programme with many events. It established the first ever children's arts festival in Northern Ireland,^[9] the Draíocht Children's Arts Festival, with activities ranging from sports to multi-cultural and educational events through both Irish and English. In 2003, 6,000 children and young people participated in Draíocht events.^[10]

The festival also has its own radio station, Féile FM. The station initially broadcast across Belfast for two one-month periods in the spring and summer, during which young volunteers were professionally trained in media and management skills for free. In 2007, the radio was successful in securing a full-time licence, and now broadcasts seven days a week, throughout Belfast. Some trainees have gone on to find employment in the local media, including UTV, BBC Northern Ireland and Irish News Online in Belfast.^[11]

In May 2009, Féile an Phobail launched Belfast's first dedicated comedy festival, Laugh at the Bank.^[12]

During the 15 August 2021 event, DUP councilors called for public funding to be stopped due to pro-IRA chanting during The Wolfe Tones performance.^[13]

Féile an Phobail runs numerous festivals throughout the year. Among the festivals are:

• August Féile (Féile Lúnasa) – oldest project. Among Europe's largest community festivals, runs in August
• Féile an Earraigh – Springtime Irish traditional music festival
• Draíocht – annual children's festival beginning in mid-October
• Stand up in the West – monthly comedy night in Belfast's Western Bar, no longer running
• Laugh at the Bank – Belfast's first comedy festival. Launched May 2009

Féile an Phobail has rostered national and international acts to perform with local musicians, catering for all tastes in dancing and music: from Irish traditional music to world music and pop. Notable acts include Altan, Brian Kennedy, Mary Black, the Afro-Cuban All Stars, the Harlem Gospel Choir, Westlife and Status Quo.

Local poets and writers have read their works on the same podium as renowned authors such as Patrick Mc Cabe, Roddy Doyle and Evelyn Conlon. In the early years drama was to the fore and the festival hosted work from some of Ireland's leading playwrights and theatre companies, such as Frank McGuinness's Someone Who'll Watch Over Me and, in 1994, Marie Jones' A Night in November by Dubbeljoint Productions.

Discussion and debates have included talks by world-class journalists and documentary makers including Robert Fisk (The Independent), Michael Moore (Oscar Winner). In the years just before and immediately after the Good Friday Agreement when few unionist and nationalist politicians appeared together in public for debate, the annual West Belfast Talks Back afforded such an opportunity, for example in 2003 Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party) spoke on the same panel as Alex Maskey (Sinn Féin). ^[14]

In 2015 the Chief Constable of the PSNI spoke on a panel discussion at the Féile where he stressed the need for courage in facing the past. George Hamilton (Northern Ireland police officer) appeared alongside Martin McGuiness, an unthinkable line-up in the early years of the Féile.

^[15]

Féile an Phobail has hosted notable artists and painters from Ireland and abroad and hosts a festival-long exhibition in St. Mary's University College. Other community exhibitions take place around West Belfast, organised by community groups in association with the August Féile.

• Official website
• 20 Years On – BBC documentary about Féile an Phobail

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