The Atlantic Sessions music festival in Portstewart, Northern Ireland is thriving despite funding cuts to arts events. Over four days, 48 free music performances were held in cafes, restaurants, and bars attracting large, enthusiastic crowds of locals and visitors. Festival organizers credit social media with spreading awareness of emerging artists. While funding remains uncertain, organizers believe the festival's success will allow it to continue growing.

1. 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/daisywheelsband
Facebook.com/daisywheelsband
soundcloud.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/jpaulcasey
soundcloud.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”
Jacqui
Owner 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 Hopkins
Operations 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’Kane
Bar 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 Patterson
Waitress at Roghans
Atlantic Sessions
In 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.com
www.northcoastWni.com
www.facebook.com/atlanticsessions@atlanticsess
Paul Toner is the Assistant Manager at Flowerfields Art
Centre, Portstewart.
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