A former chair of the Listowel Writer’s Week Festival says heads need to be knocked together to heal a rift between the festival’s board and former voluntary committee.
Last September, the board disbanded the voluntary committee of the festival, which had been in place since the festival was founded.
This was on foot of a report by consultant Dermot McLaughlin, mandated by the Arts Council, which recommended a restructuring of the organisation.
The report said the restructuring was necessary for the festival’s survival and that there’d been a negative culture within the organisation – something the former committee members deny.
Moyvane poet and author, Gabriel Fitzmaurice, who previously chaired the event, says the board should engage with the former committee for the sake of the festival’s future.
Gabriel Fitzmaurice also spoke highly of the voluntary committee’s contribution to the festival over the last 50 years.
