Tag Archives: Creative Ireland

CLARE musician Aisling Lyons is in line for two prizes at a prestigious national awards ceremony next week. The harper has been nominated for this year’s RTÉ Radio 1 Folk Awards in both the Best Folk Instrumentalist and Best Emerging Artist categories. The Folk Awards night will be in Vicar Street Dublin on Thursday, November 17. The following night Aisling will perform with Sean Lyons and Dermot Sheedy in Glór premiering their new work ‘Merfolk’ which has been a collaborative project developed by Glór and Creative Ireland Clare.  Aisling who also plays concertina, performs alongside Seán on vocals/guitar/uilleann pipes/whistles and Dermot on bodhrán/percussion at the Ennis venue. The three began playing together in 2021 and have refined a folk sound that is deeply-rooted in tradition yet brimming with originality. Focusing primarily on the traditions of music and song in County Clare, their music displays a reverence for the past as well as a willingness to embrace modern influences and international …

A HUNDRED years ago the world came out of the darkness of World War One and Prohibition and celebrated in style in the Golden years of the 1920s. Now, as the entertainment industry and theatre in particular emerges from the confines of Covid, Ennis Players will celebrate the All-Ireland drama finals in the manner of the Roaring 20s. ‘Drama at Ennis’, the 2021 All-Ireland One Act finals will be staged in glór from December 3 to the 5. “The finals have been postponed from 2020 and now it is time to celebrate and embrace a wonderful weekend of amateur drama,” said Bernie Harten of the Ennis Players. “Participating groups and their supporters will be welcomed to glór, where they will play to an appreciative audience, deprived of theatre for too long,” she added. The All-Ireland One Act drama circuit is a 32-county competition with the top 11 groups in the country qualifying for the finals. Many amateur groups never get …

CHILDREN and young people across Clare are gearing up for a celebration of youthful creativity on Saturday, June 12. Cruinniú na nÓg is a flagship initiative of the Creative Ireland Programme’s Creative Youth plan. Among its local support organisations are Creative Ireland Clare and Clare County Council. Cruinniú is a component of the already well-established annual programme of activities organised by the Library and Arts Service for children and young adults. Recognising the cultural vibrancy in Clare, the Council has mobilised a strong Creative Ireland Culture Team to deliver the programme in the county. Helen Walsh, Clare County Library is the Creative Ireland Coordinator and Sheila Quinn is the Curator of the programme. Across the county, artists and creative practitioners have been busy working with young people to produce 24 events, which will be hosted online on June 12. Highlights of the local programme of events include a film by Fanore NS, entitled The Magic of the Sea. It incorporates …

THE town of Ennis has been making waves with a new artistic initiative which has proven to be anything but a drain. Reports of something fishy happening in the town began to emerge last week, with sightings of sea creatures on Ennis’s streets. While robots and dinosaurs were also spotted hanging around the drains of the county capital. However there was nothing to fear from these colourful creatures which have been the result of a new ‘drainart’ project of public art instigated by Ennis Chamber. The artwork has already proven to be a massive hit, with the hashtag Everybody Loves Ennis, trending as people from around the world shared photos across social media of the designs. The images were shared on RTÉ’s social media, with Margaret O’Brien of Ennis Chamber telling us that according to the national broadcaster it was one of the most positive engagements they had across all their platforms that day. The paintings were created by artists …

CLARE County Council and Creative Ireland are encouraging children and young people to get creative at home to celebrate Cruinniú na nÓg, which takes place on June 12. This ‘Gathering of Young People’ encourages artistic expression and creativity for everyone aged 0 to 18 years, and is also supported by RTÉ. The one-day event is designed to empower, to develop creative potential and to foster the expression of creativity. The Creative Ireland Clare Culture Team is inviting children and young people to create a piece of art with the theme ‘My Happy Place’. This can be a painting, poem, anything creative. This will give all young people a chance to showcase their creativity. Art work will then be posted on the Creative Ireland Clare Facebook page and Clare Cruinniú Instagram Page. The office will also feature the art work on the Cruinniú na nÓg’s National Day Programme in June. Those who would like to take part are asked to like …

LOOP Head Lighthouse is to play a key role in a moment of national solidarity this month. Photographs of front-line workers are to be beamed onto the Clare lighthouse in tribute to their tireless work during the Covid-19 pandemic. The images were taken by photographer Jeanette Lowe and are one of six projection instalments across the country which will be illuminated in the days leading up to the winter solstice. The art installations will form part of a nationwide multi-platform event Shine Your Light, or Lonraigh Do Sholas. The event will also feature a live TV broadcast on RTÉ One featuring Clare’s Sharon Shannon, and a radio special on RTÉ Radio 1. Funded by Creative Ireland, the Shine Your Light installations by Irish artists will be visible around the country from December 17 to 20 and will bring artworks from the Illuminations online gallery to epic and dramatic locations including Loop Head, bringing light, hope and colour to towns and …

STUDENTS are being encouraged to take a leaf out of the book from one of the county’s most successful festivals. Preparations are already in motion for next year’s Ennis Book Club Festival which is set to take place from March 5 to 7, 2021. Festival director, Dani Gill and the committee are currently working on plans for the 15th festival. Book clubs have always been at the heart of the festival’s programming and this year the festival aims to develop new audiences by setting up the TY Book Club. Ennis Book Club Festival are inviting Transition Year classes from Clare schools to participate in a series of workshops on book clubs with Sarah Moore Fitzgerald. Sarah Moore Fitzgerald is a professor and award winning author based at the University of Limerick. She will host three workshops with TY classes from four schools in November, December and January online. The first workshop will give students tools and techniques to generate sharper …

A FEAST of music, dance, painting, crafts and film is in store for young people across Clare and Limerick, with an event entitled, Scairt na hÓige, A Creative Youth Festival around the Shannon Estuary, taking place from August 27 to 30. The Clare element will see activities in Ennis, Shannon and Kilrush, organised by the Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board (LCETB) in association with Creative Ireland, and involving a range of creative partner organisations. “Creative Ireland are really brilliant in terms of encouraging young people to participate in the arts and in asking them what they want in terms of arts activities,” explained actor and former star of Fair City, Maeve McGrath, who is festival organiser. “This programme is a direct response to that. Creative Ireland supports participation in the arts and raises awareness of creative sectors and roles.” Kilrush will be the focal point of activities on Thursday and Friday, as the majestic tall ship, Ilen, docks …