The Rose of Tralee International Festival is seeking a significant reduction in the cost of renting the Kerry Sports Academy from the Munster Technological University for this year’s event.
The facility at the MTU hosted the International Rose Ball, and the televised selection nights of the Rose of Tralee festival for the first time last year.
Documents released to Radio Kerry under the Freedom of Information Act show the festival’s organisers are seeking a significant reduction in rental costs for the facility this year.
A proposal sent to the MTU in January of this year also asks the University to make a contribution to the festival.
The Rose of Tralee International Festival has asked the MTU to allow access to the Kerry Sports Academy for the Rose Ball, televised selection nights, and evening performances or events on the Saturday and Sunday during this year’s festival.
It says this is in line with the MTU’s commitments to engage actively and make a meaningful contribution to the local and regional community; and to make use of both its human and physical resources to facilitate community activities in areas of sports, culture and arts.
The proposal says in line with the latter commitment, it’s requesting that a significant reduction in cost of the venue would be considered for 2023.
It asks the MTU to place what it calls a realistic value on the considerable benefits of hosting these events, and make a contribution to the festival to reflect its commitment to joining the local community in supporting the event.
The festival says these benefits include media and PR exposure from the five-hour televised coverage from the selection nights, opportunities for the MTU to leverage the festival’s social reach, and access to the global networks of the festival for the University’s benefit.
The proposal adds that other key partners who engage with the festival contribute a certain amount financially in return for these benefits, but the figure itself was redacted due to its commercial sensitivity.
The proposal acknowledges one of the main weaknesses of the festival is the absence of a permanent venue, and while festival directors are working to resolve this, this is a three to five-year-project.
The MTU’s response to this proposal shows the University wanted clarification on what exact level of rent reduction the festival wants, as the MTU must only allow access to property for fair, market-related prices.
Festival CEO Anthony O’Gara then wrote back to the MTU to say the intention was for the Rose of Tralee to use the Sports Academy, and the MTU would take advantage of the exposure offered through this partnership in return.
He wrote that the festival would also like an agreement for three years per contract, in order to give reasonable stability to selection night broadcasters RTÉ.
Last year, the festival’s proposal to the MTU said there was no proposed fee from the MTU to the festival, or vice versa.
It said Kerry Rose Festival Ltd would make an annual good will contribution to support a scholarship for a student studying event management.
