Packed programme draws crowds to Carlow Arts Festival
A large crowd gathered for the performance of 'Block' at Carlow College
THIS year’s Carlow Arts Festival saw a packed programme, which featured a variety of performances and exhibitions, the vast majority of which were free to attend.
Reflecting on the festival, Mickey Martin, CEO of Carlow Arts Festival, said that the festival was very well attended and that there had been a friendly atmosphere throughout.
The festival began with the launch of three new exhibitions in Visual on 28 May: , which was open to members of the public to submit works and had over 400 submissions; by artist Kate O’Shea, which mainly consisted of textiles that she collected while living in Western Australia that had text hand-printed over them; and , which was an immersive sound and light exhibition that explored the rights and feelings of belonging of people living with intellectual disabilities.
On Friday 29 May, Mickey said that the “park came to life” when three different bands performed gigs from 7pm onwards in the grounds of Carlow College in an event that was curated by Carlow local SexyTadgh. At the same time, Camille O’Sullivan performed her show in Visual, where she sang and celebrated her iconic friends Shane McGowan, Sinéad O’Connor and David Bowie, among others.
Saturday saw a variety of events throughout Carlow town, including the Carlow makers market, a live taping of the podcast , performances by more than ten bands on the O’Hara’s stage, a free outdoor yoga class and a show by Aindrias de Staic and the Latchikos, who blend Irish fiddle, flamenco and blues into a genre-defying musical symphony.
Some acts performed each day of the festival: there was Colm O’Grady and his fusion of circus and Irish culture; ‘Block’ by Motionhouse, which saw acrobats undertake daring stunts on rectangular grey blocks; , which explored one queer man’s journey grieving his father; , which saw performer Kristyn Fontanella reclaim the lost tradition of the travelling dance masters; and an immersive physical theatre performance by A Teen Odyssey from Mallorca.
Local talent was on display all weekend as young Carlovian musicians were invited to perform in a recurring show called ‘Music Generation’.
On Sunday, there was a patch-making session, drumming workshop, comedy gala in Visual, a performance by a folkloric cultural ensemble Maracatu ilha Brilhante and a celebration of world music that featured a live dance lesson.
Monday saw the realisation of new CEO Mickey’s desire to take the festival outside of Carlow town as the festival’s focus shifted to Bagenalstown, where there was a Carlow folklore parade and performances by many of the weekend’s acts.
All in all, another fabulous arts festival that will have left Carlovians looking forward to next year’s programme.
*More photos from the festival in this week's and next week's paper
