Smithsonian Folklife Festival in US a huge success

27 July 2007

A festival held in Washington, DC, the United States, showcasing the culture of Northern Ireland generated a lot of interest and was attended by over one million people.

Richard Kurin, director of the Folklife Centre at the Smithsonian Institute, said the Northern Ireland program had exceeded their expectations.

The Smithsonian Folklife Festival, held over 10 days in late June and early July 2007, coincided with a major promotional push in the United States by Northern Ireland’s power-sharing executive.

There were also a record 33.2 million hits on the festival’s website, with 3.2 million page views and over one million visits.

A survey of people those who attended the event indicated that 68% of them would visit Northern Ireland as a result of the festival, with almost a quarter saying they would consider it.

Chiefs of tourism industry in Northern Ireland said they hoped that the festival would have a similar impact as it had on Scotland, where the tourism authority recorded an extra 44,000 US enquiries after it was held four years ago.

In fact, there was some kind of a controversy when six Executive ministers of Northern Ireland and a junior minister attended the Smithsonian Folklife Festival.

A review of the festival by BBC said: “The executive will see this official review of the trip as vindication of the decision to send so many ministers out, though officials say the cost of sending politicians, civil servants, and festival participants has not yet been added up.”

Between them, the ministers attended a total of 100 meetings and events in various cities, mostly aimed at encouraging investment and tourism in Northern Ireland.