The Big Interview

Avril Stanley: ‘I was like, okay honey, we gotta build a ship, and the ship was Body & Soul’

The founder of Body & Soul in Ireland is planning this summer’s event and says that while the festival may grow again, it will never become so big that it loses sight of what is important

Avril Stanley, founder and creative director, Body & Soul: ‘You’re building an impermanent village, you have to think about everything, from the roads, the car parks, the campsites, the toilets, the power, the water, the infrastructure.’ Picture: Fergal Phillips

From a young age, music and parties were a big part of Avril Stanley’s life.

The Body & Soul festival founder vividly recalls her childhood in Galway, where her parents would be the life of any party they went to.

“And they did it really well. I grew up in pubs, and at friends of my parents’ houses, where they would be singing songs, they’d be up dancing, the pianos would be going. It was ...