- New series of workshops announced in Galway, Mayo and Sligo
- Local businesses and organisations urged to sign up
- €10,000 fund available for businesses
Are you an entrepreneur, culture vulture, or community group? Join a Spot-lit workshop this month in Galway, Mayo or Sligo to discover how to create new products for the untapped literary tourism market in the West of Ireland and bring even more tourists to your region.
Spot-lit, a new EU Funded innovation programme, will shine a light on literary tourism over the next three years, with a focus on developing new literary tourism products or services.
Workshops are being held in Sligo at The Glasshouse Hotel on November 26th, in The Ellison Hotel, Castlebar, Co. Mayo on November 27th, and in The Maldron Hotel, Galway, on November 28th. Attendance at the workshops is free of charge, though registration is essential at https://www.spot-lit.eu/spot-lit-literary-tourism-workshops/
The Western Development Commission (WDC) are the Spot-lit Irish partners and through the programme are working to develop and support organisations and businesses in this culturally-rich region to grow, collaborate and engage with wider audiences and customers.
CEO Tomás Ó Síocháin of the Western Development Commission said:
‘The west has a fantastic story to tell; an area of arresting physical beauty, centres of innovation and economic growth, however Spot-Lit is an opportunity to focus on some of the stories as yet untold. I would urge communities, groups and SMEs to engage with the Literary Business Support Programme, one aspect of the work of the WDC in supporting the Creative Economy.’
Focused on the coastal counties along Ireland’s western seaboard, the Spot-lit programme is open to small businesses, social enterprises, community groups and literary associations with a unique idea for the development of literary tourism in their area. A series of monthly engagement workshops, learning journeys, business advice clinics and individual mentoring supports will be available. Attendance at one of the initial workshops is essential for any organisation that wishes to proceed to the next stage.
Literary Tourism is an emerging niche sector within the wider cultural tourism sector, where places with literary heritage offer author and fiction-related literary tourism opportunities along with opportunities arising from literary festivals, trails and book shops.
In Ireland, this would include literary rich locations such as Sligo, synonymous with the poet WB Yeats, Seamus Heaney and Bellaghy in Derry, Cuirt International Festival of Literature in Galway, Doolin Writers’ Weekend in Clare.
Following on from the workshops, micro-enterprises/SMEs from the West of Ireland, which show potential for the development of their business and the wider region through literary tourism, will be invited to apply to the Spot-Lit programme. The programme provides up to €10,000 per participating business to support their development over the project duration.
Further information on the Spot-lit programme is available online from www.spot-lit.eu or follow on social media @spot_lit_eu
