Brent Cassidy – Producer

Brent Cassidy is the Artistic Director and founder of The Irish Festival of Oulu, the world’s northernmost Irish cultural festival and a highly respected Irish cultural festival in Europe.

Brent Cassidy is also a seasoned Irish musician and storyteller as well as CEO of Gaelic Culture Productions, which specialises in creative productions and event management. He has 20 plus years’ experience as Artistic Director, music curator, event production and as a seasoned musician and storyteller performing in Finland, Italy and Ireland. His band Droichead’s 2017 album The Banks of Tuira and his 2023 solo storytelling and sean nós album, The Port Seal, both received positive acclaim from The Irish News.

Brent has been dedicated to the world of traditional Irish music, storytelling, and Irish culture since 2000 when he immersed himself in traditional Irish music and language learning the bodhrán, sean nós singing and to speak the Irish language fluently. Little did he know that this journey would lead him to a life full of Irish music and culture in Oulu, Finland and beyond.

In 2006, Brent Cassidy founded The Irish Festival of Oulu along with a small group of friends who shared the vision of wanting more opportunities to experience traditional Irish music, dance, and culture in northern Finland. The festival is respected for its versatile, inclusive multidisciplinary Irish culture programme that unites people together in a warm and welcome atmosphere.

Since 2006, over 100,000 participants have attended the festival including a who’s who of top Irish musicians, poets, films, theatre performances, storytellers, and artists from Ireland. The festival is recognised by the Irish Government’s 2025 Nordic Strategy as the best example of cultural engagement in the Nordic Countries. Since 2013, the City of Oulu has been labelled as “The Irish Culture Mecca of Finland” by Helsingin Sanomat, the leading newspaper in Finland.

In 2026, Cassidy is curating Cultural Kaleidoscopes, a 2-day street festival bringing the streets alive through a colorful kaleidoscope of multidisciplinary art performances celebrating Irish and Finnish cultural heritage that are inclusive and accessible to everyone.

Cultural Kaleidoscopes is part of the 5-day Irish Festival of Oulu program. Brent has inspired a dedicated team and countless participants through his passion, leadership, and dedication to the promotion of Irish music and culture in Finland, which earned him in 2010 a distinguished Service Award from Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, the global organisation responsible for the promotion of traditional Irish music and culture.