Kilkenny Arts Festival expected to generate €8m for local economy

One of the last major cultural events of the summer begins today with the launch of the Kilkenny Arts Festival.

Organisers expect 80,000 people to visit the Marble City over the next 10 days and to generate an estimated €8 million for the local economy. Chief executive officer Geraldine Tierney, who is running the festival for the first time, says "there is something for everyone".

From a huge range of events, Ms Tierney cites as "unmissable" three classical music concerts by the Argento Chamber Ensemble from New York (some tickets are still for sale) and the British comic street theatre company, The Incredible Bull Circus, whose show featuring matadors will hit the streets of Kilkenny next Thursday.

A street theatre show called Kilkenny Hurlers, which will be performed by Wexford company Buí Bolg on August 19th and 20th, is also expected to attract much interest.

The programme gets under way tonight with the Irish stage premiere of a French play, Robert Pinget's The Old Tune (translated by Samuel Beckett) at the Watergate Theatre, and later, a much-anticipated concert by Nigerian jazz band Femi Kuti and The Positive Force at the Ormonde Hotel.

The main visitor attraction this weekend is The Big River Parade, a "spectacular" devised by Macnas and KCAT (Kilkenny Collective for Arts Talent), which will wend through the medieval streets from 4pm. The parade will be restaged in the nearby town of Callan on Sunday afternoon from 1.30.

A highlight of the literary programme is expected to be a reading by novelist Eoin McNamee from his new book, 12:23, a blend of fact and fiction about "the strange events of that Parisian summer" which led to the death of Princess Diana. It will be published next summer.

Bookings for accommodation are said to be "busy", especially over the two festival weekends. But Ms Tierney urges potential visitors not to be deterred, pointing out that Kilkenny is "less than two hours" from Dublin, making it "perfect for a day trip with guaranteed entertainment from early morning to late at night".

The festival, which has a full-time staff of only three, is supplemented by about 60 part-time staff and "an army" of 200 volunteers.