Arts & Culture

A NEW series of free online art tours specifically available to people of older age in Clare has been launched by Clare Arts Office. The series, ‘Visual Voices’ has come about thanks to funding from the Creative Ireland Programme. Visual Voices links a number of projects and programmes by Clare County Council in the area of arts and health to deliver an in-depth programme of online visual arts experiences to older people who may have difficulty accessing galleries and exhibition spaces in Clare. The series is based on Age and Opportunity’s ‘Azure’ programme, which was developed in collaboration with the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA), Dublin, and inspired by the highly successful art tours ‘Meet me at MoMA’ running for many years for those living with dementia and their carers’, at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. The Arts Office of Clare County Council has over two decades of experience in running arts in health programmes in residential and …

THE 34th annual Feakle Festival gets underway on Thursday (August 5) with a programme that brings together some of the country’s finest musical talent and well-loved local performers. For the second year in a row, the festival is largely online, with all performances available for streaming, free-of-charge on social channels. Festival organisers have been working hard to create an exciting programme which will reach an international virtual audience. “Hopefully, things will return to normal for 2022,” said Gary Pepper of the festival committee. “It’s great that things are now slowly beginning to come back around. Recently, Cormac Begley did a concert by the shores of Lough Graney, for 50 people and it was wonderful. There was a session afterwards with Mark Donnellan outside Pepper’s. “For many of those taking part in the festival, though, this will be their first gig of the year. They’re like children, they’re so excited about it.” The festival will open with a gala concert at …

GLÓR is continuing to put its best foot forward since reopening, with plans in place for some ‘air’ raising events in the near future. Fidget Feet Aerial Dance, in partnership with Clare Arts Office, are bringing the In the Open arts programme to Ennis with a series of outdoor events planned over the coming months. The first event will be Fidget Feet’s brand new outdoor show,  A Handful of Dreams, currently touring nationwide, which is coming to glór’s car park from August 20 to 22. The free ticketed family event will be accompanied by a complimentary performance of traditional Irish music and dance, featuring local musicians and set dancers. “A Handful of Dreams is an awe-inspiring and heart-warming outdoor show that combines aerial and circus arts with live Irish traditional music and dance. Infusing a specially designed outdoor rig with an ancient magic, this beautiful celebration will connect to the hearts of each audience member while restoring the joy of …

ENNIS’ Market Building has been ruled out as a location for potential outdoor events by glór, as its walls means it does not meet standards set out by Fáilte Ireland as an outdoor space. However, the covered market building is being considered as a possible site for planned performances by aerial dance company Fidget Feet as well as outdoor live music performances over the summer. Details of the potential use of the market for hosting outdoor events were released at a recent meeting of the Ennis Municipal District. Councillor Mark Nestor had requested that Clare County Council in conjunction with glór arrange a series of outdoor concerts, to be held in the Market building at times that would not interfere with trading in the area. Responding to the motion, Siobhan Mulcahy, Arts Officer, outlined that Clare Arts Office is currently working with Fidget Feet Irish Aerial Dance Company to provide entertainment in Ennis over the summer months. “If suitable to …

A MAJOR exhibition focusing on Inis Cealtra is under way at the Scariff Library Gallery, to celebrate the fact that the island is in the running for inclusion on Ireland’s tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage sites. Lough Derg’s Holy Island is widely recognised as one of the most important early ecclesiastical sites in Ireland. The island, which is now in the ownership of Clare County Council who are developing a visitor experience centre in Mountshannon, is closely associated with St Caiman. The seventh century saint created a major centre of learning at the monastic site. Organised in conjunction with Mountshannon Community Council, the main exhibition’s main centrepiece comes from the excavations carried out by the Office of Public Works (OPW) in the 1970s. These works unearthed a range of important artefacts and revealed the different phases of activity and occupation on the island. The island’s archaeological remains include the iconic Round Tower, the ruins of several churches, an ancient …

TWO contemporary Clare musicians are set to collaborate with their musical heroes from times past as part of an innovative new project which will premiere on Culture Night this September. The Irish Traditional Music Archive (ITMA) and the Arts Office of Clare County Council have announced that the second Duala: Creator-in-Residence Scheme has been awarded to joint applicants Tara Breen and Nuala Kennedy. The pair have been working on Ag Lorg Ár Líne – Clare Women: Listening and Performing will premiere online on Friday, September 17, as part of Culture Night 2021. They have been listening deeply to archival recordings of their female predecessors, and are attempting to ‘collaborate remotely’ across time and space with some of their County Clare musical foremothers: Kitty Hayes, song/concertina; Nell Galvin, fiddle; Mary Haren, concertina; and singer Nora Cleary.  Through creative use of digital archival recordings, Nuala and Tara will explore and reimagine the details and subtleties of the music of these influential women …

A NEW book celebrating the creative synergies that exist between poetry and the visual arts will be launched in Ennis in September. The Record Break Poetry Art Publication comprises 12 poems and 12 corresponding images of original visual artworks and has been compiled by Sinéad Ní Síoda. Since opening The Record Break seven years ago, Sinéad has built a community of artists, writers and musicians who gravitate towards the shop for its coffee, its collection of vinyl albums and its dedication to contemporary culture. “I hold an art exhibition annually at The Record Break,” Sinéad explained. “In 2019, we brought together 12 artists and 12 poets, and at the end of the year I decided to document the exhibition. “Creative Ireland sponsored the book and just as lockdown was setting in, we managed to get the photos taken of the pieces on the walls of the closed shop.” The relationship between the images and the poems is one that Sinéad …

GLÓR re-opens its doors to the public from this Thursday, July 8 when the Ennis venue’s gallery will host a new exhibition. There are also plans for the return of theatre with an outdoor performance set to take place in the glór carpark later this month. Management at glór have said they are “delighted” to be able to share details of the arts centre’s reopening with the easing of Covid-19 restrictions. The gallery opens at 2pm on Thursday with the group exhibition Sinterella by Martha Cashman, Annita McKee and Insaf Yalcinkaya. “ We are delighted to be able to present this exhibition featuring three exciting female artists,” said a spokesperson for the venue. The walk-in box office will be open once again on Friday, July 9. Glór also has a new mural to show off, The Studio from Mark Cronin. On Thursday, July 29, there will be a performance of In Middletown from the Gate Theatre and Mikel Murfi. The show …