UCC SU announce Docklands Festival

UCC Students’ Union have announced that they will be holding a music & culture festival on the 5th of October in the Docklands on Centre Park Road. The event, which will be held in the same tent as the famous ‘Live at the Marquee’ series of gigs, as well as Oktoberfest Beag the day after the festival, will be focused on charity, with the proceeds going towards the Raise & Give charities. Speaking to the Express, UCC Students’ Union Entertainments Officer Ben Dunlea elaborate on the charitable nature of the event: “...from the beginning Raise And Give Charities were our priority. We are happy to provide a great event and experience for students but our focus will always be trying to find away to make it benefit our chosen Raise And Give Charities.”Tickets for the event went on-sale late last Friday, with a limited number of ‘Early Bird’ tickets costing €15 (excl. booking fee) and a general entry costing €30. For comparison, tickets to last year’s Clubs & Socs Ball cost between €25-40, and tickets to the much-lauded Trinity Ball cost around €87. Mr. Dunlea explained the pricing-strategy of the Union for the festival: “When it comes to the price we understand that students are on a tight budget and have to pay rent, fees, etc. We felt we had to keep the price low to give all students the opportunity to go. We did this through acquiring sponsorship and trying to be as resourceful as possible with our finances.”This isn’t the first time a UCC SU has tried such an event. In April 2015 the UCC Students’ Union hosted the first UCC Ball. The Ball, which was held in Devere Hall, featured acts like the Riptide Movement, Pat Fitz and DJ Fergo. Despite much publicity, the UCC Ball of 2015 is generally considered a failure. I asked Ben about this year’s event, and about the inevitable comparisons to the UCC Ball, and why they chose to move the event off-campus: “We chose the Docklands over Devere Hall mainly due to the capacity of both venues. We are confident that the caliber of our acts, the exciting location, the timing of year and the promotion that we will do will help us avoid some of the pitfalls of UCC Ball. UCC Ball was ran on 1st of April 2015, which was right after Raise and Give week and just before summer exams. We think that the 5th of October is perfect as it is sufficiently after Freshers' Week and far enough away from the exam period.”Currently announced for the festival are All Tvvins, The Riptide Movement, Pat Fitz, the Band Anna, Bongo Steve and many more acts. And there is still more to come, as the SU have promised that “a massive international act” will be announced in the coming days. “Supporting local and UCC based acts,” Ben added, “was a priority for us from the get go. Because we had to keep this confidential until now, we are yet to contact many UCC acts but we will be doing this over the next week.”Tickets are on-sale now, and are available from Eventbrite.ie. For more information on ‘The Docklands Music & Culture Festival’ check out UCC Ents on Facebook.