Limavady: Jazz festival cancelled over a lack of funding
- Published
Organisers say they hope the festival will return in 2023
A County Londonderry music festival will not take place this year because of a funding shortfall, organisers have said.
Limavady's Danny Boy Jazz and Blues Festival was due to take place on the second weekend of June.
But it cannot go ahead after Causeway Coast and Glens Council turned down a funding application, organisers said.
The council said the festival's application did not meet the minimum criteria to justify grant support.
"We are disappointed," Rory Clements, chair of the festival's organising committee told ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio Foyle.
"A lot of people are disappointed, especially coming out of the pandemic".
Organisers say the festival has drawn crowds of about 30,000 people in previous years, with hotels and bed and breakfast facilities in the town usually at capacity.
About 40 acts had been due to play at this year's event.
It had been postponed in each of the last two years because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
'A big thing for Limavady'
Mr Clements said organisers had hoped for a "bounce back " in 2022.
The "non profit community festival" raises about half of the £30,000 needed for the event to go ahead each year, with the council providing matching funding in previous years, he added.
"A lot of people will be disappointed, it's a big thing for Limavady," he said.
Causeway Coast and Glens Council said it had met members of the festival's organisers committee prior to the application being submitted.
"The Council's Tourism Events Grant Funding Programme is a competitive grant funding programme involving the assessment of the event, based upon information supplied by the applicant," a spokeswoman said.
She added: "However, unlike the successful applicants such as the NW200, SupercupNI, Stendhal Festival, Armoy Road Races and the Foyle Cup, the Danny Boy Jazz and Blues Festival was unable to provide the necessary evidence to reach the minimum scoring criteria required to justify grant funding the event".
Mr Clements said the festival committee will now "now work for next year, push on and make sure it is bigger next year".