The organisation that stages Hard Working Class Heroes, as well as the Music From Ireland showcases at major international festivals such as SXSW, CMJ and Canadian Music Week, has announced its first tour.

The First Music Contact tour will roll into six towns around Ireland next month (Galway, Limerick, Kildare, Cork, Dundalk and Dublin) from November 11th to 13th and 18th to 20th, with three of Ireland’s finest acts: And So I Watch You From Afar, Jape and Fionn Regan.

Chief executive Angela Dorgan said that organising a tour was something of an inevitability, given the body’s involvement with so many Irish acts.

“We can see their bright futures and wanted Irish audiences to do the same,” she said. “Having the support of the Arts Council has meant we haven’t had to compromise on the two key factors in any tour — we were able to keep the ticket price incredibly low to encourage audiences (€15) and we are able to pay the acts the fees they deserve being at this level in their game.” firstmusic contact.com/fmctour