“NORTHERN IRELAND AT THE SMITHSONIAN” REPORT ON PARTICIPATION IN THE 41ST SMITHSONIAN FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL, 2007 Report by Pat Wilson NI Project Manager Smithsonian Unit June 2008 1 CONTENTS Page EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 5 - 36 MAIN REPORT 37 -111 1. INTRODUCTION 38 The Smithsonian Folklife Festival 38 The Rediscover Northern Ireland Programme 38 2. BACKGROUND 40 Memorandum of Understanding 40 Financial Memorandum 41 Budget 42 3. DELIVERY STRUCTURES 45 Steering Groups 45 Leadership Group including VIPs 45 Coordinating Group 45 Curatorial Group 46 Administrative / Coordinating Team 46 4. LOGISTICS 50 Transportation and Freight 50 Flights 52 A c c ommodation 53 Insurance 54 5. COMMERCIAL ACTIVITIES 55 Marketplace 55 Food Concession 57 Folkways Recording 60 2 Sponsorship 61 6. COMMUNICATIONS 65 Marketing & Public Relations 65 Website 66 Media Handling 68 7. FESTIVAL 69 Political Support 69 Programming Logistics 70 Research 70 Themes for programme content 71 8 December 2006: reveal of outline programme 72 Administration 72 Issue of invitations, recording of acceptance and 73 associated consequentials Special events prior to attending the Festival 74 Receptions & Events in Washington DC 77 Opening Ceremony 79 8. POST FESTIVAL ACTIVITIES 82 Surveys and evaluation 82 Participants and sponsors’ feedback 82 Smithsonian Survey 82 DCAL survey of participants and sponsors 83 Conclusion of administration matters including 83 payments Capture and collation of research materials, 84 recordings and filmed materials 9. MONITORING AND MEASURING PERFORMANCE 84 3 10. CHALLENGES / LESSONS LEARNED 97/102 11. LEGACY OPPORTUNITIES 103 12. CONCLUSION 110 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank our colleagues in the Smithsonian Institution, Richard Kurin, Diana Parker, Barbara Strickland and especially Nancy Groce who made it possible for Northern Ireland to demonstrate its cultural traditions on the National Mall at the annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 2007. I would also like to thank my colleagues from Smithsonian Unit who worked tirelessly to ensure this was a success and all those from other public and private sector organisations in Northern Ireland who made their own special contributions to the event. Last, but not least, thanks to our participants whose knowledge and enthusiasm brought Northern Ireland’s distinctive cultural traditions to life at the heart of the United States’ capital. The Festival created special memories for everyone who took part or attended. 4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 5 NORTHERN IRELAND AT THE SMITHSONIAN EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1. INTRODUCTION The Smithsonian Folklife Festival The Smithsonian Folklife Festival (the Festival) is an outdoor, professionally curated exposition of living cultural traditions featuring US states, countries or regions of the world or specialised themes. It takes place annually on the National Mall in Washington DC between the Washington Monument and the Capitol Hill. It lasts for 10 days during June and July and incorporates the Fourth of July Independence Day celebrations. It is a free event that attracts around 1 million visitors per year. 2007 was the 41st annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival. In 2007 from 27 June – 8 July, the programme, “Northern Ireland at the Smithsonian” featured alongside 5 countries from the Mekong River region of SE Asia and the “Roots of Virginia” programme which was the US Commonwealth of Virginia celebrating 400 years of the founding of the settlement at Jamestown. The Rediscover Northern Ireland Programme Participation in the Smithsonian Festival is a prestigious, unique, ‘once in a lifetime opportunity. In order to optimise this opportunity, Northern Ireland devised and mounted a coherent series of events that showed many additional facets of Northern Ireland’s life outside the confines of the Festival. A programme of events took place across a sustained period from March until August 2008, depicting the social and economic life of Northern Ireland. This programme was conceived and delivered through the work of the members of the Leadership and Coordinating Groups. Members of the Coordinating Group agreed a strategy for the key messages it would deliver in Washington DC. The overarching strategic message was “To present Northern Ireland as a creative, confident, outward looking region and to develop further strong relationships with the United States that would be mutually beneficial”. These events leading up to, and including the Smithsonian Folklife Festival placed Northern Ireland at the centre of attention at the heart of the US capital on the National Mall. It provided a unique opportunity to demonstrate the transformation taking place in Northern Ireland society. The programme produced an unprecedented partnership between government departments, public agencies and the corporate sector both in Northern Ireland and in the United States. 6 The programme was branded Rediscover Northern Ireland and a logo and strap line See, Feel, Discover was devised under which all of Northern Ireland’s diverse stakeholders could operate. Rediscover Northern Ireland had five core themes: The vibrancy of Northern Ireland’s arts and culture was demonstrated at more than 60 arts and cultural events and residencies in venues such as the Library of Congress and the National Geographic; The quality of Northern Ireland’s food and drink was promoted and sampled at receptions, gala gourmet master-classes and at the Festival itself; Northern Ireland’s world class universities were promoted through Higher Education events, such as poetry and at visual art exhibitions; The significant opportunity to trade, invest and do business with the US was further explored through trade shows and other high level business networking events; Northern Ireland’s tourism potential was promoted throughout the programme, including at Washington’s iconic Union Station, with an exhibition on the Titanic – ‘Titanic, Made in Belfast’. The programme was designed to commence during St Patrick’s week in Washington in 2007 and create a crescendo of interest in the five core themes, culminating in the grand finale of the Smithsonian Festival. The Rediscover Northern Ireland programme was of a magnitude never previously seen in Washington DC in association with any preceding festivals. Northern Ireland’s final programme was diverse, complex and set the bar high for any future participating country attempting to replicate it. 2. BACKGROUND The opportunity to participate in the Smithsonian Festival and develop Rediscover NI arose as an outcome from the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure’s International Strategy for showcasing arts and culture. On identifying the opportunity it was researched and visits to the Smithsonian were made at Ministerial and very senior official level to gauge the potential. This work resulted in an announcement by the Secretary of State in Washington on St Patrick’s Day 2005 and the subsequent signing of Memoranda of Understanding between Northern Ireland and the Smithsonian in May and September 2005. 7 Budget and Finance The project initially concerned financing Northern Ireland’s participation at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival only, mounting a minimum programme of 80 participants. AYear 1 budget of £100k for 05-06 was achieved by technical transfers from other Departments. As the scope of the full Rediscover Northern Ireland opportunity became apparent, budgets for Years 2 (06-07) and 3 (07-08) were achieved through a combination of in- year bids and further technical transfers from other Departments. The working budgets were: Year 05-06 06-07 07-08 Total Budget £100k £498k £970k £1,568k It became clear that there was excellent potential for the involvement of Northern Ireland’s corporate and business sector and by November 2006 a concerted sponsorship drive got underway. However, as sponsorship was being accumulated, plans needed to be finalised with both the Smithsonian Institution and the Washington venues where all the key Rediscover NI events would take place. It was crucial therefore that sufficient public funding was in place to underwrite the costs of both programmes in order to mitigate the two key risks which were sponsorship not materialising and an unfavourable exchange rate during the period between planning and delivery. The total cost of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival was £1,046m which represented contributions to the value of £622k from DCAL’s budget and £424k from the Smithsonian Institution. The Rediscover NI Arts and Culture programme cost a total of £512k which was a combination of separate DCAL funding from its existing international showcasing budget - £320k and additional contribution of £192k from the Arts Council. The cost of the Titanic exhibit at Union Station was £402k and was funded through a combination of corporate sponsorship, DCAL funds, and additional contributions from Tourism Ireland and Belfast City Council. Corporate Sponsorship exceeded all expectations and at £426k in cash donations went way beyond the original target of £250k. In addition to cash, a very diverse range of sponsors and organisations provided additional in kind support in terms of product, services, support for employees appearing at the festival and senior staff time engaging in Rediscover NI activities or providing support and advice. In kind sponsorship has been estimated to be of the value of £155,760. Sponsorship enabled Northern Ireland to enhance its programmes in terms of numbers of participants taking part, ability to show more facets of NI life and better exhibits to tell