Arts & Culture

A range of exciting initiatives will be possible in Clare Library Service as a result of a €26,743.94 grant from the Dormant Accounts Funding, according to the county librarian. These will include aids to help those with reading difficulties, books in Ukrainian and other languages,­ and a programme of events for recent arrivals in Clare. The funding, announced by Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys TD, will enable the provision of electronic resources both in library buildings and online and will also be used to assist libraries in offering literacy supports across the library network. In recent years Dormant Accounts Funding has helped Clare’s libraries to fund online literacy supports, sensory spaces and gardens, among many other relevant and important literacy-based projects. One of the highlights of the funding this year will be the purchase of “C-pens”, which have a simple scanning mechanism that reads text aloud and will be available for borrowing in a number of libraries, …

BAREFIELD-native Nell Hensey has been selected as a finalist in the Virgin Media Short Film competition for her film ‘Good Chips’. The script goes back to Dublin 1989, where a family of Vietnamese immigrants struggle to keep their takeaway business afloat, while their 12-year-old daughter Tam finds common ground with a local Irish boy in an unexpected way. Hensey is one of three finalists chosen from a shortlist of 10 talented applicants, who all received an investment of €6,000 to develop their script with a mentor. The judges included award winning director and screenwriter Lenny Abrahamson (What Richard Did, Normal People, and Room), rising Irish actress, writer, and star of hit crime drama, Kin, Clare Dunne; Clinton Liberty who played Kiernan in global hit drama ‘Normal People’ and Linus in drama ‘Holding’; screenwriter and executive producer Ursula Rani Sarma (Delicious and Red Rock) as well as representatives from Virgin Media Television, Screen Ireland, and the Dublin International Film Festival. Speaking …

WITH a shared love of photography, members of the Ennis Camera Club have brought their ‘collective vision’ together in a brand new exhibition of works currently on display in the Clare Museum. The exhibition features 25 stunning images in varying styles taken by the club’s members, who range from beginners to experienced photographers, and regularly meet in Power’s Pub, Clarecastle. In an era where images are more likely to be shared online, club chairman Mike Reen tells us members are delighted to be able to showcase their work to the public through this exhibition which runs in Ennis until September 16. “We live almost exclusively in a digital world in terms of photography. It must be that 99% of photographs are now shared digitally through social media and online. We have a sort of standing mantra within the club, ‘A photograph isn’t a photograph until you print it’. “That was something the late Gerry Ryan who founded the club always …

ARTISTS are being invited to take part in an intriguing art exhibition which, for the second year in a row, will raise money for deserving causes in Clare.  The ‘Hush, Hush’ show ran, to huge success, for the first time last year. Such was the popularity of the event that its organisers, Mountshannon Arts Committee, hope to expand on it this year.  Mel White, Chairperson of Mountshannon Arts has just announced a call out for artists nationwide to take part in the 2022 exhibition.  Artists anonymously donate original art work on 2 x A5 postcards. These postcards will be sold for €40 each and the proceeds will be divided between two charities, Clare Haven and Every Child Ireland. Last year, organisers were bowled over when a total of €4,000 was raised and divided between the two charities. The committee of Mountshannon Arts is also inviting art buyers to add to their collections based on their love of a piece. There is then an added …

AS PART of the PIMA Fest in Ennis, there will be another opportunity to take part in an exciting audio project. ‘Sounding Ennis’, is a generative sound installation by artists Kerry Hagan and Nicholas Ward which will be displayed in Glór for PIMA! Fest on October 15 and 16.  There is an open call to anyone who would like to take part and submissions need to be made by September 5. To take part in ‘Sounding Ennis’ record the sounds around you and submit them to be included in the sound artwork. Record interesting moments in your life and submit them to be include in the sound artwork. Recordings can be of anything in your life – sounds of your kitchen; sounds from your commute; something from a sports event or playground; your grandmother telling a story; sounds from your daily walk; anything you find interesting. Getting involved is free, fun, takes a couple of minutes of your time. The …

A CELEBRATION of the wealth of original music being performed by Clare artists is set to take place in Ennis this Friday. Originality Clare is hosting a feast for music fans in The Sanctuary from 9pm on Friday featuring three local acts. There is no cover charge for the gig with Ronan Summerly of Originality Clare explaining the aim of the event is to create awareness of the many talented performers of original compositions in the county. Taking to the stage at the gig will be Clare bands Scoth, APE and Apprentices Daughter. Ronan has been playing music in the live scene for almost 30 years in various formats and he tells us he “has always seen the need for more of a boost for musicians performing original music over bands performing known songs who are more commercially viable”. The idea for Originality Clare began over many conversations Ronan has had with musicians who write and perform original music. “A …

EAST Clare resident Hilary Dully is to make a key contribution to the Write By The Sea 2022 Literary Festival in Kilmore Quay, Wexford, next month. Living in Flagmount for the last 25 years, Hilary has made a huge contribution to the social and cultural life of the area. She will be a much-anticipated presence at Write By The Sea, when she adds her experience to a talk entitled ‘Wexford Women of The Revolution’. A documentary filmmaker, film teacher and writer, Hilary has a family connection to Marie Comerford, a staunch Irish Republican from Wexford, who witnessed events from 1916 to 1923, and was an active supporter of Cumann na mBan. This year, Write By The Sea runs from Friday, September 23 to Sunday September 25. It will be officially opened by keynote speaker Professor Kevin Rafter, Chair of The Arts Council, at 6pm on Friday, September 23. Other key contributors already confirmed include Claire Keegan, Roddy Doyle, Martina Devlin, Liz Nugent, Manchan Magan and Lucy Caldwell. “It’s been said that one of the key …

THE POWER of the Pair in traditional music is the theme of a new series of concerts, curated by musicologist and broadcaster, Feakle’s Paula Carroll, starting at Glór next month. Paula is a presenter on The West Wind on Clare FM and curator of several hugely successful live music initiatives, including Folk Nights at Glór and The Kitchen Sessions, broadcast live from venues across the region. Her latest live series, ’Just the Two’, will feature duos who are in tune musically and emotionally, sometimes linked by bonds of family or friendship. It will explore the power of the pair in music and song. Paula, who has also worked on a number of documentary and oral history projects, believes that if the solo voice is where the authentic expression of traditional music is found, then the duo is where musical communication is at its most creative. When two musicians really understand each other, audiences witness an almost indescribable ‘flow’ between them. …