Derry City Council has offered to meet local musicians aggrieved by what they believe is its decision to give priority to acts willing to perform for free during next month’s LegenDerry Maritime Festival.
Foo Fighter Dave Grohl.
A consortium of local musicians came together after a letter was issued by the Council stating: “We will give preference to acts who wish to use this opportunity to showcase themselves at no cost to Council but we welcome all submissions to ensure a broad variety of entertainment.”
A wide range of local musicians and singer-songwriters have reacted angrily to the move.
Among those hitting out are well-known local singer-songwriters Paddy Nash and Paul Casey.
The group have got the support of Dave Grohl from the internationally-renowned Foo Fighters, who said: “I hate seeing no chance given to upcoming artists, in a world where musicians are forced to work for free. It is unfair, and unjust. I wish all of you the best luck with this petition, stay strong and fight your case.”
Sinn Féin Councillor Mickey Cooper said that all musicians in the city should be adequately recompensed for their contribution to major events in the city.
Paddy Nash.
Derry City Council has rejected claims it was “demanding” acts give their services free of charge.
A spokesperson said an “expression of interest” was issued in order to reach as many interested performers, artist, dancers etc across the Derry City Council area to register their interest for the purpose of programming a range of free public concerts across two stages during the festival which run from 21 – 29 June.
The spokesperson continued: ” The stages would provide free entertainment to locals and visiting tourists to the festival.
“In order to ensure equality, this was sent out to all the contacts currently held on the Council’s database and the expression of interest did not exclude any artists, performers or musicians who wish to charge for their performance.”
The spokesperson stressed Council was not “demanding” that artists work for free and the choice was on the individual artist or performer.
The spokesperson added: “A budget has been allocated for this performance aspect of the festival and that for the duration of the nine day festival, programming is required twice a day for both performances stages the budget will be limited per performance.
Concluding, the Council spokesperson said it would reassess the budget it had allocated to programme performances for this section of the festival and organisers would welcome the opportunity to meet with local representatives, “those who have felt aggrieved by the expression of interest.”
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