Vintage Picnic, Arts Creativity and Music Festival

Description

Festivals are not just for the young which is evidenced by the fact that Fingal’s Age Friendly, Vintage Picnic, Arts Creativity and Music Festival for Over 55’s completely booked out in less than 48 hours after the tickets were released.

With over 700 people registered to attend the event and many more disappointed it clearly demonstrates that there is as much of an appetite for over 55’s festival goers as there for under 55’. We are all living longer and want to continue to be active role in community life and have fun and maintain our interests, meet new people, try news things, for as long as we can. Vintage Picnic fully embraces Community Support and Healthy living by engaging with older adult groups from across the county and making it as easy as possible for them to attend the the festival and to participate, to reconnect with old friends, to meet new people and to have fun at a completely free of charge event, Age Friendly event.

Fingal Age Friendly Vintage Picnic will take place in July ‘23 in the stunning grounds of Swords Castle, which is in a central, easily accessible location. Set in the Castles natural Amphitheatre, the stage event will feature a host of Musical acts from local Ukelele and choir groups, a 4-piece act featuring Niamh Kavanagh, famous for winning the Eurovision for Ireland in 1993 and the event headlines “The Swing Cats” who are renowned event band with a set list that spans the 50’s 60’s & 70’s.

A number of Creative workshops such as Hanging basket making, Clothing Sweet Shop, Creativity and Mindfulness will take place in the beautifully restored Swords Castle Chapel while Grafitti, African Drumming, How to play the Bodhran, The Ukelele and Sing along workshops will all take place in the spacious open air event space around the castle grounds. Fingal’s Older Peoples Council published Author – Peig McManus will also be there to give a reading from her recently published memoir.

For those wishing to to relax while exercising there will be range of options such as Thai Chai, Yoga, Chair Aerobics under the ancient orchard on the castle grounds and for those who want to be a bit more active Zumba classes are also available.

Age Friendly Fingal was successful in leveraging Creative Ireland funding under the Creativity in Older Age scheme as Vintage Picnic was viewed as being a sustainable event that demonstrated high quality of creative engagement, supports positive aging, engages with issues surrounding social isolation, develops and establishes new forms of creative engagement for older people in the community and meets the creative needs of older people.

The Vintage Picnic concept received widespread and enthusiastic support from across Fingal County Council with the Active Travel, Arts, Community, Comms, Events, Libraries, Creative Ireland, Healthy Ireland, Sports, and Operations Departments all playing pivotal roles in the success and sustainability of the event as they came together to ensure that the attendees get the most out of attending the event.

To assist the attendees to travel easily and safely to and from Swords Castle and in an effort to reduce carbon emissions and bring the festival in line with Failte Irelands Sustainable Festivals Guidelines 2023, free bus transport will be provided from all corners of the county. Active Travel will also demonstrate their Cycling without age initiatives at on the day to showcase how cycling can be an alternative to travelling by car no matter what age we are.

Significant costs savings were made by the Festival piggy backing on the infrastructure already in place for the Swords Summer concerts – including site layout, food offering, stage management, consultancy, security, insurances and site supervision which allowed the budget to focus on entertainment, workshops and activities that are designed specifically to the age group involved.

Vintage Picnic, Arts, Creativity and Music Festival is ultimately a fun and safe way for our older people to reconnect, feel part of their community, to try new things, to improve mental health and wellbeing, to meet new people and to feel themselves in an environment that is specifically designed for them to enjoy as individuals rather than being brought along to an event as parents or grandparents.

Aim of Initiative

Vintage Picnic, Arts, Creativity and Music Festival is ultimately a fun and safe way for our older people to reconnect, feel part of their community, to try new things, to improve mental health and wellbeing, to meet new people and to feel themselves in an environment that is specifically designed for them to enjoy as individuals rather than being brought along to an event as parents or grandparents.

Who is it aimed at

The Festival is aimed at over 55s with specific time and effort made by the administrative team in engaging with older adult groups from across the county that may not usually engage with Council festival events and initiatives. As well as planning into choosing workshops, entertainment and activities that meet the need of the older adults involved so that they get the most of out the experience.,

3 Steps critical to success

1. Early Engagement with all Fingal Departments to brain storm, form idea, and utilise the range of in-house skills and experience available .
2. Engagement and Support from Fingal’s OPC, Age friendly Alliance, Interdepartmental team in concept design, ideas development and delivery.

   Leveraging of all possible funding to ensure the sustainable delivery of the event.

3. Engaging with older adults groups across the county to ensure inclusion of all and to make it as easy as possible for all groups to attend the event.

3 Challenges in Planning / Delivery

1. Ensuring that we reached as many older aged groups from across the county as possible.
2. The transport was an issue because not all transport providers are set up to cater for people with mobility issues,
3. Organising the many varied elements of the Festival to ensure its success with a small administrative team

3 Outcomes / Benefits

1. 700 older people will get to experience a unique festival atmosphere that is designed specifically for them to enjoy in a safe out door environment that will allow them feel safe to reconnect, to feel part of their community, to try new things, to improve mental health and wellbeing, to meet new people and to feel free to enjoy themselves as individuals.
2. Fingal County Council work together as a whole of organisation to fully utilise the wide range of experience and expertise available to meet the needs of the older people attending the event.
3. The interest generated by the event will demonstrate to the other Fingal County Council departments just how effective it is to engage, consult and include older people in future planning and decision making and to seek their opinions for co-solutions to issues that could be impacting their health & wellbeing and their ability to engage fully in the community and as they age in Fingal .