West Belfast Festival: Another key Feile an Phobail funder stresses need to foster ‘good relations’ as it seeks meeting over 2022 Wolfe Tones chant

It follows an outcry over the antics of some republicans during the annual publicly-subsidised festival.

Images circulated online of some attendees wearing “Up the Ra” attire and others engaging in pro-IRA singalongs.

Meanwhile the behaviour of two of the closing weekend’s acts – rap trio Kneecap and rebel band The Wolfe Tones – was also in the spotlight.

Both groups are overtly republican in their lyrics and public image.

The former unveiled a mural of burning police van shortly before their Friday set to a cry of “get your Brits out!” while the latter led the packed crowd in Falls public park in chanting “Up the Ra” on Sunday night.

On Monday the News Letter asked the three main funders of the festival – also known as the Feile – if they are going to keep backing it.

The Feile’s most recent charity accounts show Belfast City Council gave it £542k, the Arts Council gave £117k, and Tourism NI gave £75k.

None of the three told the News Letter that they plan to end their support – though Tourism NI stressed that the organisers must “promote good relations... and a failure to do so may result in Tourism NI withdrawing all or part of our funding”.

Responding to the News Letter on Monday, the Arts Council had said: “[Our] award makes a contribution to the organisation’s core costs only and not programming.

“All programming enquiries should be made directly to Feile an Phobail.”

(In other words, its funds go to the organisers salaries and overheads – not towards staging specific concerts or paying performers.)

Following the News Letter’s coverage this week, the Arts Council (which refers to itself as ACNI) has now issued a fuller statement.

Its new statement says: “On Monday morning, ACNI were made aware of an incident of sectarian chanting which occurred at a Feile an Phobail concert over the weekend.

“As Feile are recipients of our funding, ACNI moved to investigate the circumstances and contacted Feile for initial information on the matter.

“The organisation confirmed that chanting had arisen from the audience at the Wolfe Tones concert, an entirely commercial event.”

(However footage of the concert clearly shows chanting being led by the band, specifically during the song ‘Celtic Symphony’, exactly as happened in 2019.)

The Arts Council added that it supports events which “reach across boundaries and bring people and communities together” and that “sectarianism has no place in the promotion of culture”.

It added: “In light of the commitment to good relations that we ask of all our funded clients, we will seek to further discuss the issues raised by the incident directly with Feile an Phobail.”

More from this reporter:

• Click here: PUP boss Billy Hutchinson indicates black flags bearing UVF slogan and UVF imagery were not put up by the UVF

• Click here: Cliftonville FC stonewalls questions after Ronan Hale pictured with arm around player wearing republican rifle slogan