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Status
Received: on time
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Income
£47.5K
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Spending
£42.9K
Public benefits
Direct benefits flowing from the purpose of Newry Musical Feis include: (i) a growing level of support for other performing arts activities in the local area – including existing and start-up businesses specialising in the delivery of formal training in music, dance and speech. The inclusive nature of all the activities provided by Newry Musical
Feis facilitates the advancement of community development and contributes to the promotion of religious harmony, while facilitating greater understanding and acceptance of ethnic and racial differences. These benefits can be experienced simultaneously by four generations of one family, due to the availability of performance opportunities for people of all ages (ii) the practical support for individual and group performers through their receiving of constructive feedback from professional, specialist adjudicators; this input enables performers to develop and perfect their work and to build their standard year-on-year. In this way there is an input into the advancement of education particularly in the areas of arts and culture - locally and within the wider region (iii) the development, in co-operation with the Newry, Mourne and Down Museum at Bagenal’s Castle, of a significant archive of materials encompassing over ninety years of primary evidence, which tracks the creation and development of what is now the largest adjudicated festival of its type in the English-speaking world. The archive enriches the work of amateur and professional researchers in the areas of arts, culture and heritage and will continue to do so into the future. The benefits from the purpose of Newry Musical Feis are demonstrated: (i) through the notable growth in the number of community choirs that have been set up in the past decade. The choirs perform in Newry Musical Feis with some members reliving experiences they first had there as children, while others are fulfilling a life-long ambition to perform on the Town Hall stage. The performers range in age from early 20s to mid 90s and the contribution of this community involvement to the personal well-being of the choir members is immeasurable. The opportunity for members of the local community to assist the Committee in providing over four thousand hours of voluntary service during the run of the festival also has a very positive impact on the self-worth and well-being of those who get involved. (ii) through the raising of performance standards locally and regionally, as identified by the visiting adjudicators affiliated to the British and International Federation of Festivals, who use a standardized marking system that allows for year-on-year comparability. There are consistent numbers of young people from the locality progressing to prestigious third level study programmes in the performing arts – the ready availability of professionally adjudicated performance opportunities has been identified by them as a significant factor in their success (iii) through the periodic, professional curating of exhibitions by the museum staff at Bagenal’s Castle that have traced the growth and development of the performing arts in the local District and of Newry Musical Feis in particular. A rich variety of audio, video and paper archive material is incorporated and these public events contribute further to community development and cohesion and serve as a reminder of more than nine decades of successful and productive cross-community co-operation by dedicated amateur volunteers. The trustees have not identified any harm flowing from their purposes. The charity's intention is to make its charitable purposes available to all. The range of performance classes and volunteering opportunities, available across the six Sections, ensure that there is something available for everyone who would like to be involved. Particular music classes for children and young people with special needs and speech classes designed to encourage children for whom English is a recently acquired second language, ensure that these particular sections of the public have an opportunity to take part. There is no private benefit flowing from the purposes of this charity.
... [more] [less]What your organisation does
Newry Musical Feis provides an annual festival for adjudicated performance in six Sections: Music (Instrumental, Choral, Vocal), Dance (Ballet, Modern, Lyrical, Tap, Contemporary, Character, Hip Hop, Choreography), Speech & Drama (Open), Speech & Drama (Schools) Irish Dance, Traditional Irish Music. The festival, which is scheduled across 44 days
with three sessions per day, provides a platform for approximately 14,000 performances annually. The age of performers typically ranges from 4 to 94. As an affiliated member of the British and International Federation of Festivals for Music, Dance and Speech, Newry Musical Feis can draw on the services of highly-trained, specialist adjudicators who, in addition to making decisions about the relative merits of performances, provide brief masterclasses that support and encourage aspects of personal and professional development. In addition to the annual festival project Newry Musical Feis organises occasional adjudicator-led workshops designed to meet the specific learning needs of teachers and young performers. The Newry Musical Feis team has close links with the Newry Mourne & Down Museum at Bagenal’s Castle where a significant archive of materials spanning more than ninety years of Feis performance has contributed to the wealth of cultural heritage information already held there for educational, reminiscence, and academic research purposes. Teachers and group leaders register as users on the Newry Musical Feis website www.newrymusicalfeis.com and can process their entries online. Paper entries are still accepted by a few Sections.
... [more] [less]The charity’s classifications
- The advancement of the arts, culture, heritage or science
Who the charity helps
- Children (5-13 year olds)
- Ethnic minorities
- General public
- Language community
- Older people
- Volunteers
- Youth (14-25 year olds)
How the charity works
- Arts
- Community development
- Cross-border/cross-community
- Cultural
- Education/training
- Youth development
