Bealtaine goes International

The Bealtaine festival is part-funded by the Arts Council.

While Bealtaine is our festival and a great source of both local and national pride, it is also attracting international attention as a frontrunner in the field of celebrating creativity in older age.

Age-culture.net is a pan-European network which aims to recognise, support and enrich the cultural lives and learning of older people. Age & Opportunity has been part of this network for some years and, in 2008, age-culture.net had their annual conference in Ireland to coincide with Bealtaine. In 2009, one of its coordinating bodies, the IBK (Institut für Bildung und Kultur) placed a student with Bealtaine during the course of the festival, so that they can see first-hand how the festival runs and what makes it successful.

Also in 2009, Elly McCrea represented Age & Opportunity on an international stage when she spoke at the 'Caring for the Arts' symposium in Cologne, speaking about how 'Creative Exchanges' (Age & Opportunity's Arts in Care programme) promotes the arts as intrinsic to life in residential settings.

We also welcomed a delegation in 2009 from Angus Gold, an organisation working with people over 50 in the Angus region of Scotland.

And we applaud the continued success of the Welsh festival, Gwanwyn (meaning 'Spring'). According to its 2008 report, it has received an "overwhelmingly positive" response. Gwanwyn is building on the Bealtaine model and is coordinated by Age Concern Cymru with support from organisations such as the Welsh Assembly Government, Arts Council of Wales, Film Agency of Wales, BBC, Rubicon Dance, Cadw and NIACE Dysgu Cymru. 

Another festival of note is the 50pk festival in the Netherlands. In April 2008, the first 50pk festival was organised in the Netherlands, by Kunstgebouw. Cultural organisations in Southern Netherlands combined forces to present a range of cultural activities.