WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT HEBCELT? – THERE’S AN APP FOR THAT
News Release
Hebridean Celtic Festival
Year of Creative Scotland 2012
- Free iphone app for HebCelt
- Technology keeps you in touch with festival
- Find out who’s on, and where, on your handset
Music fans heading to this week’s Hebridean Celtic Festival will have all the information they need at their fingertips with the launch of a new, free iphone app.
The app provides dates, times and venues for every concert during the four days of the award-winning event which starts on Wednesday and is based in Stornoway in the isle of Lewis.
Developed by Sam Deane who relocated his company Elegant Chaos from London to Stornoway last year, it also has links to band profiles and their websites and information about the festival fringe.
A timeline for each day of the festival will allow visitors to plan their schedule and not miss their favourite acts.
Sam said: “I'm a big music fan, and I really enjoyed attending HebCelt last year, so when the organisers approached me about developing an app for this year's event, I was delighted to get involved.
“As a relative newcomer to the area it was also nice to have the opportunity to work on something with a local community focus.”
He added: “We kept the design of the app really simple,to convey the essential information about who is on, when and where, and the result is something that is clean and easy to use.
“If it goes well this year, it's certainly something that I'd like to repeat so we'd love to hear any feedback that people have.”
Festival director Caroline MacLellan said: “The HebCelt app is a great way for festival goers to stay in touch with what’s happening while on the move.
“It is one of the few – and perhaps the only – free festival app in Scotland. It is a fantastic innovation for the festival and we are extremely grateful to Sam who has developed it for us free of charge.”
The 17th HebCelt will be headlined by The Waterboys, The Proclaimers and Kassidy. Music fans from 19 different countries are to attend the event which hopes to at least match last year’s attendance of 14,500 despite economic difficulties which have affected other festivals.
Already visitors from Algeria, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Romania, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand and the US have booked to attend, as well as many from across the UK.
As HebCelt’s popularity continues, an appeal has gone out to people in Lewis and Harris to help accommodate visitors with hotel and guest house beds already at a premium.
The overseas visitors will help swell the ranks of the 120-strong volunteer army which works behind the scenes. Last year some 60 per cent of the volunteers came from outside Lewis and contributed over 3,500 unpaid man hours over the course of the four days.
Among the visiting contingent will be the Rabb family from Durham, North Carolina, who discovered HebCelt on the internet last year while planning a holiday to Scotland.
Merry (correct), 55, her husband Rob, 56, and their son Cameron, 17, will use a plane, train, car, bus and ferry to travel to Stornoway.
Merry said: “When I mentioned the festival my husband and son were enthusiastic about the idea of attending. My husband then suggested volunteering as a way to be more involved and meet more people.”
Another first time visitor will be Alois Gschwari, 60, a retired petrol station owner from St. Johann in Tirol, Austria. He will join his son Andreas, 35, a computer game designer based in Uppsala, Sweden, who is making his ninth trip to HebCelt and his fifth as a volunteer.
Andreas said his first visit to HebCelt was “one of the best experiences of my life” and he has been going ever since: “Knowing my dad, he will feel the same and he'll become a repeat volunteer as well.
“As volunteers we don’t get paid but who needs money when you get to work with amazing people, see the stunning scenery, listen to beautiful music and be part of something as brilliant as the HebCelt?”
For further information contact
John Ross
Lucid PR
01463 724593; 07730 099617
johnross@lucidmessages.com
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. The 17th HebCelt takes place between 11th and 14th July 2012 and will, for the second year running, have two main stages on the Castle Green in front of the Lews Castle in Stornoway, as well as performances in An Lanntair and throughout the rural community.
2. This year it has been selected for the second year in succession as one of the top 10 UK summer festivals by music magazine Songlines. It emerged victorious as Best Large Festival at the industry-sponsored Scottish Event Awards 2011, in a three-way final with Edinburgh’s Hogmanay and Glasgow’s Celtic Connections.
3. HebCelt injects more than £1.5 million annually into the local economy.
4. It is regarded by critics, performers and festival-goers as one of the top Celtic music festivals in Europe.
5. The festival is made possible through the support of funders, advertisers and a vital and large volunteer workforce- http://www.hebceltfest.com/backstage/sponsors. It relies on scores of volunteer workers who clock up over 3,500 unpaid hours during the event.
6. HebCelt has twice won the Best Event of the Year award at the MG Alba Scots Trad Music Awards, which is voted for by the public.
7. HebCelt has been hailed as one of the UK’s top 50 festivals by the Daily Telegraph and one of the top five by The Scotsman.
8. A large quantity of children under 14 can attend concerts at the Festival Arena each night for free if accompanied by someone who is 18 or older.
9. This year’s headliners are The Waterboys, The Proclaimers and Kassidy. Other artists appearing include Julie Fowlis, Skerryvore, Admiral Fallow, Roddy Woomble, Niteworks, Mànran and Larkin Poe.
10 HebCelt has its own YouTube channel, Facebook and Twitter outlets.
http://www.youtube.com/user/hebceltfest
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hebridean-Celtic-Festival/70400006768?ref=ts
http://twitter.com/#!/hebcelt/
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