Waterford City & County Council is seeking Expressions of Interest for the 2024 and 2025 Samhain Halloween Festivals.
The festivals are being run in partnership with Fáilte Ireland and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.
Following on from last year’s pilot Samhain Festival, Waterford Council is interested in working with a strong arts and entertainment based entity with a background in events and festivals that can make this festival an extraordinary annual South East occasion. Fáilte Ireland is working internationally to make Samhain a major tourist contributor to the economy.
The successful applicant will be working with the City Arts Service of Waterford Council and with Spraoi to deliver a City Centre Spooktacular on the October bank holiday weekend. It will have with fun and scares galore from Friday afternoon through to Sunday afternoon. Spraoi are running on a budget separate to this however the festival will include marketing for Spraoi’s major event on the Friday night.
Applicants will have an initial budget from the Council and will be expected to supplement that with sponsorship/partnerships and licensing agreements.
The Fire and Shadows Processions Pilot Scheme was launched in early 2023 to enhance and raise the profile of existing Samhain and authentic Halloween festivals and events.
In Irish and Celtic traditions Samhain is the end of the harvest season, when all the crops have been picked and stored for the ‘New Year’. This was historically a time of celebration, involving lighting fires, feasting on the crops of the harvest, music, gathering, and storytelling. Over many centuries, customs and traditions have been handed down around Samhain, and have travelled around the world through emigrant communities, particularly in the USA where they became established as Halloween customs.
The Samhain festival brings it all back home to celebrate Ireland as the original birthplace of Halloween.
To submit an Expression Of Interest follow this link.