The key cultural event of 2017 that I have chosen to write about is the Galway International Arts Festival. I chose this cultural event because it's something I've heard about in passing but don't really know what it entails, so I used this opportunity to learn properly. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The Galway Arts Festival takes place in Galway, Ireland, an Irish city with an extremely rich culture ranging from theater to music, and therefore the festival covers a range of different art forms. In 2017, in two weeks, 200 events took place in 33 locations with an attendance of 210,000 people. The festival has been around for 40 years and will celebrate its 41st year this year (2018). Galway's first arts festival took place between 6 and 12 April and was described by the Galway Advertiser as; ' Galway Art Society; week of fun." According to the Galway Arts Festival website, previous festival highlights include Brian Wilson, Joni Mitchell, Bill Viola, The National, Grizzly Bear, Bon Iver, St. Vincent, John Grant, The Gloaming, Elvis Costello, John Gerrard, Hughie O'Donoghue, Sophie Calle, Louise Bourgeois, Marina Abramovic, Steppenwolf, Royal Court, New York Theater Workshop and Circa. The festival is unique in the sense that it showcases various artists and productions that are only new and upcoming but also well known and widely loved. GIAF also works regularly with major Irish companies including Druid, an Irish theater company which was founded in Galway itself and has now achieved international and national success , the Galway International Arts Festival also produces its own theatre, touring both nationally and internationally. The organization has produced or co-produced 15 productions in the last five years and, with its co-production partners, has toured to London, Paris, New York, Edinburgh, Chicago, Adelaide, Sydney, Hong Kong and Washington.” In 2017, like all previous years, there was a huge range of events to attend from all different categories, one of the reasons why this festival is so particularly unique; as unlike other large festivals held in Ireland, such as: Forbid Fruit, St. Patricks Day Festival, Dublin Film Festival, it offers attendees a wide range of event types to attend rather than just one main one, e.g. for example music, therefore with different acts. The Galway Arts Festival offers; comedy, conferences, entertainment, theater and opera, music and visual arts. The GIAF Organisation, by creating this festival, has significantly put Galway on the map. Not only as a key center for arts and culture, but also this festival has made Galway a prime location for tourists to immerse themselves in all things culture, in addition to the beautiful scenes of the wild Atlantic Way which was already a popular choice for tourists. In 2017, Galway Arts Festival produced a variety of artists such as The Coronas, Saint Sister and The Power of Words, to name a few. GIAF's CEO is John Crumlish and its artistic director is Paul Fahy. In regards to funding, the Galway arts festival is a not-for-profit organization and a registered charity and therefore all money generated each year goes towards production for the next. party of the year. This money would go towards, for example, light bulbs for the set design, costumes and even flights for artists flying abroad, but it should also be noted that more than 25% of the festival program is free. Since the purpose of this festival is that there are no restrictions forthose who want to have fun or get involved in the arts. He now looks forward to playing a central role in the European Capital of Culture initiative as Galway was the destination of the European Capital of Culture in 2020.GIAF's funders and partners are; NUI Galway, Ulster Bank, Failte Ireland, Wild Atlantic Way, The Arts Council and Galway 2020. The 41st year of the Galway International Arts Festival will take place from 16 to 29 July 2018, where it has been announced that Irish alternative rock band Walking on Cars will play at the Live at the marquee, with additional shows to be announced in late December or early January. On the policy side, I will focus on Culture Ireland's strategy for the years 2017 to 2020 in relation to the Galway Arts Festival. I will then talk about the 2020 European Capital of Culture Initiative also in relation to Galway. The mission of the idea, in its most basic form, is to promote Irish art, increase career opportunities for Irish artists and also cement and strengthen Ireland's global profile and reputation through the arts. There are seven actions in this policy. The first action is to provide resources such as funding, expert advice and promotional support to Ireland's diverse arts and cultural events nationwide. This act would ensure, for example, that funding is provided to any platform needed for the ongoing event. It would also ensure the maintenance and upkeep of social media sites. As for Galway, as some event platforms may be more in need of funding than others, this would be helpful as the more promotion the festival receives, the larger its audience will be. The second act is to showcase uniquely curated Irish art, Irish artists and to provide networking opportunities at key events, festivals, in Ireland and to programmers and suppliers. This act not only ensures effective promotion, but also means the ability to monitor and evaluate performance results. The Galway Arts Festival is one of many examples of this second act in Ireland, showcasing some of Ireland's most unique and rich talents and talented Irish artists. Likewise this act gives the organizers the opportunity to see what went well in other years and what didn't, so in future years the festival will be able to produce what the target audience really likes. The third act is to work with research organizations and achieve key cultural objectives by working closely with Irish cultural centers on an annual funding basis. This act allows for collaboration with resource bodies such as the Irish Theater Institute, Dance Ireland and Music Networks, all organizations which have global reach and will provide further opportunities for Irish artists abroad. The fourth action is to strengthen Ireland's international profile through the promotion of government and statehood. This act also means involvement with government-supported cultural centers abroad and with Irish foundations and associations. An example of government and state promotion is when Michael D. Higgins, President of Ireland, wrote a personal letter to the Galway Arts Festival which was published on their website. In this letter he did nothing but praise the festival, how it has gone from strength to strength and how it has “…sought to bear witness to the power of creative exploration”. Through this letter (and the government's promotional power) anyone would be more willing to go to the festival, especially tourists. The fifth action is to advise and assist the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairsin working with Creative Ireland but also to maximize public investment in wider interests across the country. Action 5 ensures close collaboration with the Arts Council (one of Giaf's funding partners) regarding funding and international promotion of the arts. The sixth action is to maximize and help promote international cultural relations and the search for new global opportunities. This act would include participation in a wide range of cultural sector events to evaluate trends and also to measure and analyze public participation for purposes of informing future funding. In relation to the Galway Arts Festival, many relationships have been formed internationally, as the Galway Arts Fest is not just a festival celebrating national arts but one like many festivals populating talent from all over the world. Examples of upcoming acts include New York Theatre, blah, blah. Likewise, some of the productions' successes have led to the festival's theater productions touring internationally to places such as Sydney, Edinburgh. The international tour will help raise awareness not only of the success of the festival, but also make other countries aware of what we have to offer them in Ireland. The final and seventh action is to leave a global footprint through Irish culture and the creation of a digital economy. presence on target markets. The Galway Arts Festival has achieved this in the sense that it has a main website which ranges from information such as the history of the festival to the program of the next festival. It is also mentioned on many Irish tourism websites such as the Galway tourism website, Discover Ireland and triavgo. It also has an email which will send out frequent newsletters and also has an Instagram, Facebook and Twitter page which are all easily accessible and mean you can keep up with all the festival notifications and proceedings. This last action is extremely important since now that we are in the digital age, most people use their phones and other devices to keep up to date. As I said before, Galway was awarded the European Capital of Culture location for 2020 together with Rijeka (Croatia). The European Capital of Culture initiative was developed in 1985 and has since been awarded to over fifty member cities of the European Union. The objectives of the initiatives are to highlight the diversity and richness of culture across Europe, celebrate the common characteristics shared in culture across Europe and increase European citizens' sense of belonging to a common cultural space and promote the contribution of culture to the development of Cities. This is also an extraordinary opportunity as it raises the international profile of cities, stimulates tourism, breathes new life into cities and improves the city in the eyes of its own citizens. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and it is very gratifying that Galway has been chosen to represent Ireland and showcase its creative and cultural aspects to the world. Regarding the idea of ​​being the winners of this initiative, GIAF, shares on their website that Galway is "...a place where people come for a week and stay forever, a place where artists are inspired and people find their place." As far as theory is concerned, then, realistically the basis of politics is on theory. So basically in this circumstance the theory is about funding, promotion, international profile and government involvement in the cultural spectrum. The way I understand theory is as a kind of cycle with respect to politics, since without theory there is nothing that politics can do about-2018/517193.