Funding for Derry's CultureTECH festival under review

There are doubts over whether the CultureTECH festival will take place in Derry this year.

It comes after the group behind the event said it is reviewing their ‘future focus and funding’.

The festival has been running since 2012, and is billed as the biggest ‘technology and creative industries event in Northern Ireland’.

CultureTECH is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the city’s Chamber of Commerce, which has supported the event over the past three years.

The first event ran for three and a half days, with a reported 8,000 people in attendance, according to its organisers.

During the City of Culture year in 2013, the festival boosted its programme to include more public events and worked alongside local schools, with organisers saying that 24,000 people attended, 8,000 of whom were students.

In 2014, CultureTECH hosted over 200 events as part of its programme, including a hugely popular Minecraft event, with those behind the festival reporting 43,000 attendees, with organisers claiming that 60,000 people visited the event last year.

However, funding has been scaled back for any planned CultureTECH event this year, with doubt over whether the event will be staged on a similar scale for both 2014 and 2015.

Padraig Canavan, board member of the Chamber of Commerce, said the review of the festival was being taken in the ‘context of ever tightening public finances’.

He added: "As part of CultureTECH's ongoing strategic positioning and in the context of ever tightening public finances, CultureTECH is reviewing the future focus, target audience, funding, scheduling and organisational support for its acclaimed festival with its key local and regional partners.” Mr Canavan said.

However, Mr Canavan stressed CultureTECH would continue to deliver a number of ‘year-round’ prgrammes.

He added: “CultureTECH continues to deliver its in year round outreach programmes and is delighted to be part of the continuing success of Techies in Residence, various community and educational programmes and more recently the innovative application of Minecraft technology as part of these initiatives.”