Hard Working Class Heroes are bringing reps from The New Yorker, The Great Escape, SXSW, Eurosonic & more to the festival this year

With applications from over 400 artists closing last week, Hard Working Class Heroes festival has today unveiled its first round of industry delegates for its fifteenth edition this September.

Among the names announced are: New Yorker music scribe John Seabrook; SXSW’s UK/Ireland programmer Casper Mills; The Great Escape head programmer Adam Ryan; Eurosonic team member Oskar Strajn; Reeperbahn Head of Showcase Evelyn Sieber; and Lisa Hresko, associate member relations manager of the American Association of Independent Music.

The weekend will see a mixture of workshops, discussions and panels for bands and musicians at all levels to meet with delegates and garner feedback on their material and professional trajectories.

Live showcases will take place across Friday 29th and Saturday 30th September. On Thursday 28^th September, the opening night, a targeted networking event will take place in the Chocolate Factory where all the international delegates will be invited to network with their Irish counterparts and artists attending the HWCH conference.

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First Music Contact, who run HWCH, work with Irish acts from the very beginning of their careers, and under the Irish Music Export office, Music From Ireland, help fund artists & present Irish showcases throughout the year at Eurosonic, SXSW, Canadian Music Week, The Great Escape, Reeperbahn, Mondo NYC and many more. Some of last year’s big successes to progress from the festival include acts such as Soulé, Elm, Ailbhe Reddy, Maria Kelly, Talos, Barq, Loah, A.S Fanning and Le Boom.

In the past, the festival has showcased many of Ireland’s best-known acts including Hare Squead, Saint Sister, this year’s Choice Music Prize winners Rusangano Family, 2013’s breakthrough act Hozier along with Girl Band, Delorentos, Villagers, Soak, Fight Like Apes, Jape, Coronas, Pleasure Beach, Le Galaxie, The Strypes, Otherkin and many more.

For more info on delegates, click here. The full music line-up for HWCH17 is announced next month.

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