The season of summer schools and festivals is upon us and there is something for everyone in ARMINTA WALLACE's selective guide to events nationwide
Earagail Arts Festival, July 4-19
The iconic arts festival of the northwest celebrates its 21st birthday this year with a programme which takes it back to its roots. It features some of the performers from the very first event alongside an array of international names, including Bassekou Kouyate, Mary Black and Waterson Carthy. Donegal’s rich cultural heritage will also be celebrated with performances by homegrown artists.
The centrepiece of the fortnight will be a carnival day in Letterkenny on July 12th, with a parade led by the New Orleans Hot8 Brass Band.
Tel: 074-9168800; www.eaf.ie
Kinsale Arts Week, July 11-19
Kinsale
is a terrific location for a celebration at any time of year, but the fifth annual arts week will see the Cork town mutate into a living gallery and art space, with music, dance, visual art, comedy, literature and film events crammed into just about every nook and cranny. Some of those “nooks” are pretty spectacular – not least the stunning Charles Fort, where this year’s concert programme includes gigs by Imelda May, Terrafolk and Paul Brady.
Tel: 021-4700010; www.kinsaleartsweek.com
Galway Arts Festival, July 13-26
Dance, theatre, spectacle, visual art and music from around the world will, as usual, be on offer in Galway this summer. Top of the treats list is an exhibition of etchings illustrating Six Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm by David Hockney, one of the biggest names in 20th-century British art. One of the biggest names in Irish theatre will also feature, with Tom Murphy’s The Gigli Concert, directed by Garry Hynes, opening the newly-refurbished Druid Theatre. And Australian company Circa return to the festival with their new show. Meanwhile, David Gray and the Glastonbury headliners Bon Iver are among those playing in the Festival Big Top on the banks of the River Corrib. The full programme is announced on June 2nd.
Tel: 091-509700;
www.galwayartsfestival.com
MacGill Summer School, July 19-26
There’ll be plenty to chew over in the 29th MacGill summer school in Glenties, Co Donegal, which will be devoted to the Irish Economy and the Lisbon Treaty. Some 40 contributors from the political, economic, industrial and academic spheres will be taking an in-depth look at the end of the Celtic Tiger – and predicting what comes next.
Tel: 074-9551103; www.macgillsummerschool.com
Boyle Arts Festival, July 23-31
Boyle Arts Festival is well known for its visual art exhibition, which includes established and emerging artists and is held in the magnificent surroundings of King House in Boyle. It is complemented by a music programme which this year includes the pianist Ivan Ilic and a performance by the winner of the 2009 AXA Dublin piano competition. Also appearing will be The Sawdoctors, The Dublin Shakespeare Theatre Company, authors Mary O’Malley and John F Deane, and the comedian Eleanor Tiernan. Tel: 071-9663085; www.boylearts.com
Éigse Eatharlaí, July 24-26
This traditional music, song and dance summer school in the Glen of Aherlow, Tipperary, includes workshops by Catherine McEvoy (flute), Cormac de Barra (harp), Máire Breathnach (fiddle) and Áine Uí Cheallaigh (voice), and others, plus concerts at the cultural centre Tigh Roy, outside Galbally village in the foothills of the Galtee mountains.
Tel: 062-37032; www.eatharlai.ie
Yeats International Summer School, July 25-Aug 7
The Yeats summer school is celebrating its 50th birthday this year, and a stellar cast of poets and scholars, including Roy Foster, Denis Donoghue, Terence Brown and Declan Kiely, will assemble in Sligo for its comprehensive series of lectures and seminars. There will be readings by Seamus Heaney, Michael Longley, Eavan Boland, Bernard O’Donoghue, Dennis O’Driscoll, Vona Groarke and Peter Fallon, among others. The two-day poetry workshop will be led by Sinead Morrissey, and the drama workshop will be directed by Sam and Joan McCready, founders and artistic directors of the Lyric Theatre, Belfast.
Tel: 071-9142693; www.yeats-sligo.com
John Hewitt International Summer School, July 27-31
The theme of the 22nd John Hewitt summer school is Unfettered Thought: Belief in the Future? Held at the Market Place Theatre in Armagh in honour of the eponymous poet, the school features lectures, readings, discussions, talks, theatre and live music. Among those taking part are Helen Dunmore, Yang Lian, Daljit Nagra, Leontia Flynn, Ian Sansom and
John Wilson Foster.
Tel: 004478-35073616; www.johnhewittsociety.org
Spraoi Festival, July 31-Aug 2
The second blossoming of Spraoi this summer will see the city of Waterford host three days of street theatre and world music, including the German band 17 Hippies and the 40-piece French brass outfit In Vito Veritas Banda. There’ll be vertical aerial dance from the Spanish company Circo Delizia, and Le Tennis from the French company Acolytes.
Tel: 051-841808; www.spraoi.com
AUGUST
Kilkenny Arts Festival, August 7-16
The medieval city celebrates its 400th birthday this year, and the festival aims to celebrate this venerable history by presenting the cream of the arts in the fields of literature, music and visual arts. St Canice’s Cathedral is the setting for classical concerts by the baroque choral ensemble Le Concert Spirituel and the Serbian pianist Alexsandar Madzar. On the indie music front there’ll be the American band Low and left-field Icelandic group Amiina as well as Jason Pierce, who follows last year’s acclaimed Spiritualized gig with an intimate solo concert. Kilkenny Castle will form a spectacular backdrop for a show by the Portuguese street theatre company Teatro do Mar. The literary programme – curated by Colm Tóibín – will bring Roy Foster, Seamus Heaney and 2009 shortlisted Orange Prize author Kamila Shamsie to Kilkenny. Eight contemporary Irish artists will make new work in Rothe House. The full programme will be announced on July 1st.
Tel: 056-7763663; www.kilkennyarts.ie
Merriman Summer School, Aug 16-22
The theme of this year’s Merriman school is Are We There Yet? Facing the Future Anew. Some lively debates are in store when Maureen Gaffney, Tom Collins, Paul Bew, Diarmuid Ferriter and Brigid Laffan, among others, address themselves to the topic at the Glór Theatre in Ennis, Co Clare. There will also be a programme of varied cultural and literary events.
Tel: 086-3820671; www.merriman.ie
Festival of World Cultures, Aug 29-30
No need to go abroad to experience the sights and sounds of the world music scene: Dún Laoghaire brings the summer to a sensational close every year with this jam-packed weekend of music, arts and crafts, food, sports and workshops. This year’s theme is “the world on your doorstep”, and topping the bill at the east coast’s most colourful global carnival will be Malian superstar Oumou Sangare.
www.festivalofworldcultures.com
