ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — Changes and cuts to the state-funded cultural grants and longer wait times for processing work visas contributed to the decision to end the St. Augustine Celtic Music & Heritage Festival, according to an event organizer.
Albert Syeles has been one of the organizers with the St. Augustine Celtic Music & Heritage Festival since the beginning.
“The last two years, 2025 and 2026, we were named one of the top 10 cultural festivals in the United Sates,” said Syeles.
But this week it was announced the sound of the bagpipes will be silenced and the festival’s 15-year run is over.
“A lot of people are disappointed. I’m disappointed, but I’m old and it’s just gotten too hard,” said Syeles.
Syeles explained money - or the lack thereof - played a big factor.
The first strike was COVID, which cost the festival gravely in 2020, but those loses were compounded by the Governor’s veto of $32 million for all state cultural grant funding in 2024.
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Even after grant funding was restored the following year, Syeles said changes to the scoring system for awarding grants prevented the festival from qualifying for state money ever since.
“If we were to get, say, $40,000 a year for the last four years, we’d have $160,000 more, which is enough to put on the festival one more year,” said Syeles.
And he argued the Celtic Festival is no outlier.
Syeles estimated since changes to the cultural grant scoring system were made, about 80 percent of applications are now being denied.
Action News Jax reached out to the Florida Department of State for the total number of award by year since 2023 and is waiting for a response.
“We’re not the only event in Florida that’s canceling. And that is going to continue to happen,” said Syeles.
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Adding to the money woes, Syeles noted international bands from Canada, Ireland and Scotland have also faced issues getting work authorization from the federal government over the past two years.
He said bands typically apply for those work authorization papers nine months in advance and get approval within a few months, but in recent years approval either didn’t come until a few weeks before the festival, or in one case last year, one band was flat out denied at the last minute.
“We didn’t know until the last minute. So, that’s a challenge and at the same time it gets at your stomach to worry about this stuff,” said Syeles.
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He said he hopes going forward there’s a change in philosophy when it comes to state grant funding to keep other events like the Celtic Festival alive and well for years to come.
“The administration changes every once in a while. And whoever comes in will be different from the one that was there before. I don’t know what that means and I don’t know how it’s going to effect things. We’ll keep our eye on it and hope for the best,” said Syeles.
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