09 Dec Tommy Holland and Gerard Kelly
Tommy was born and reared in West Belfast and was centrally involved in the development of the Springhill community festival which was a mainstay of the Féile for well over a decade. Tommy has played a central role in many community development projects in West Belfast including the Upper Springfield Development Trust whose board he still sits on. Tommy has been Féile board member for many years and remains central to local community events committee. He now manages the Upper Springfield Resource Centre.
Gerard was born and reared in West Belfast and spent time imprisoned in Long kesh as a republican prisoner. Upon his release, he lived in Springhill and was involved in setting up the original Springhill festival. He also developed into a renowned mural artist and painted murals across the city, many of which coincided with and were exhibited at Féile. He travelled to New York as mural artist with the Binlids play in 1998. He recently set up an artist’s group known as Gael-Force Art who exhibit art on Belfast’s Black Mountain.