Clifden Arts Festival Programme 2018 by ClifdenArtsFestival

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41ST CLIFDEN ARTS FESTIVAL – SEPTEMBER 12-23, 2018

NEVER MISS OUT

www.clifdenartsfestival.ie

ANNE UELTSCHI

BILL & DENISE WHELAN

sponsors

JOHN SWEENEY EJ KING’S, CLIFDEN

PROVIDERS OF BROADBAND INTERNET TO THE FESTIVAL

TERRY SWEENEY

We are very grateful to our generous

HELEN & VINCENT FOLEY

ABBEYGLEN CASTLE HOTEL

FOYLE’S HOTEL

ACTON CONSTRUCTION

BOBBY AND TRULY GILMORE

ALCOCK AND BROWN HOTEL

GMT IRELAND

CLIFDEN BOOKSHOP

ALAN AND MARY HOBART

CLIFDEN GLEN

JOE AND JOAN MCBREEN

CLIFDEN LOTTERY FUND

RONNIE AND FRANCOISE MILLAR

CLIFDEN STATION HOUSE HOTEL

KATE AND NOEL NOONAN

CONNEMARA CREDIT UNION

ROSEANNE & PETER O’GRADY WALSH

ANN CORCORAN

PADDY POWERS BOOKMAKERS

JOHN AND FRANCES CORLESS

SUPERVALU, CLIFDEN

MARGUERITE COURTADE

PETER AND PAULA VINE

EDWARD AND MARY DOWNE

CATHAL AND JOAN WALSH

Táimid buíoch de na daoine seo a leanas a thug cabhair dúinn agus an Fhéile Ealaíon á eagrú. We would like to thank the Arts Council and other key funders, sponsors and friends for their continued and vital support. We would also like to thank you, the audience and look forward to seeing you in Clifden in September.

Alcock and Brown Hotel, Michael and Toni Barrett, Rosemary Carr, Celtic Crafts, The Central Bar, The Clifden Bookshop (thanks to Máire and Nicole), Clifden Lotto, Clifden Supply Centre, Connemara Credit Union, Cullen’s Bistro and Coffee House, Stephen and Celia Cullinane, Des Moran Butchers, Edward R. jr and Mary Downe, Faul Guest House, Ann Fuller, Gannon Sports, GMT Ltd. (Oliver Joyce and David McNamara), Tom Healy, Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO), Des and Mary Kavanagh, Dr. Ronan Kavanagh, Kavanagh’s Super Valu, Conor Kileen, Lavelle Art Gallery, Lowry’s Bar, Declan Mannion (Mannion’s Bar), Matt O’Sullivan Auctioneers, Petra McDonnell, Dr. Ciaran and Ann McLoughlin, Tom and Peggy McManus, Michael Nee Bus Hire, Ronnie and Francoise Millar, Mitchell’s Restaurant, Pat Molloy, Kate and Noel Noonan, Dr. Brendan and Deirdre O’Connor, O’Dalaigh Jewellers, Shane O’Grady (Guy’s Bar), Catriona and Patrick O’Toole (Buttermilk Lodge), Poetry Ireland, The Quay House, Tim and Máiréad Robinson, Chris Shanahan (TOPAZ), Stanley’s, Steam Café, Paul and Anne Summerville, Tom King’s Bar, Vassar College, Cathal and Joan Walsh (Walsh’s Bakery and Coffee Shop). And last, but by no means least, a BIG thank you to the legion of voluntary helpers without whom it would be impossible to stage the Clifden Arts Festival.

Clifden Arts Festival Board Members Chairman: Breandan O’Scannaill Secretary: Karen Mannion Treasurer: Percy Hyland Catherine Lowry, Mary Ruddy, Ursula Flynn, Nicola Snow, John Fanning Artistic Director Brendan Flynn Programme Coordinator Des Lally Programme Advisor Eunan Gill Health and Safety Officer Gerard King Primary School Coordinator Eily O’Grady Secondary School Coordinator Carmel Hanley Visual Arts Curator John Durning Operations and Staging Manager Danny Vaughan IT and Operations Sean Mulkerin, Dash Dot Development Box Office Manager Mary McDonagh PR Pam Finn, Think PR Schools Committee Mary Keating, Keith Roche, Caitriona O’Brion, Irene Conneely, Gerry Claffey, Nicola Snow, Ross Molloy Special thanks to the staff of the Clifden Community School and Primary Schools for their kind cooperation and involvement over the years.

Programme Design / Website Catherine Lavoie / Noel Mannion noelmannion.com Copy Editor Aoife Ní Dhálaigh Cover / Poster Illustration Hetty Lawlor Disclaimer: While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this programme, the organisers of Clifden Arts Festival can accept no responsibility for errors, omissions or inaccuracies – neither can they be held liable for any loss or damage arising from reliance upon the contents of this programme. Details are correct at the time of going to print. Updates can be found online, visit clifdenartsfestival.ie.

Réamhrá Tá an-ríméad orm fáilte a chur romhaibh uile – idir cheoltóirí, aisteoirí, filí, ealaíontóirí, scríbhneoirí, rinceoirí agus cuairteoirí – chuig Féile Ealaíne an Chlocháin a bunaíodh 41 bliain fhada ó shin i 1977. Ba mhaith liom buíochas agus ómós faoi leith a thabhairt do na daoine agus do na h-eagraíochtaí a thugann tacaíocht fhlaithiúil dúinn, bliain i ndiaidh bliana. Ní féidir róbhéim a chur ar thábhacht na tacaíochta seo dúinn. Agus ar ndóigh, ní bhéadh muid in ann an fhéile a reachtáil ar chorr ar bith gan an cúnamh íontach a bhíonn le fáil gach bliain ón ár mbuíon áitiúil dheonach.

Mo bhuíochas mór freisin do mhuintir an Chlocháin agus Conamara a chuireann fáilte teolaí mór roimh na daoine a thagann le páirt a ghlacadh sa bhFéile agus a fhreastalaíonn air mar lucht éisteachta. Agus, ar deireadh, focal speisialta don lucht éisteachta: seol scéala faoin bhFéile chuig na daoine sa bhaile, chuig bhur cairde agus chuig an domhain mhór go ginearálta. Cabhraígí linn clú agus cáil na féile a scaipeadh go forleathan. Go raibh míle maith agaibh agus bain sult as an bhFéile. Breandan O’Scannaill

Festival Box Office Tickets can be bought online at clifdenartsfestival.ie or in the Festival Box Office. The festival box office is located in Units 1 and 2 on Bridge Street. Opens from Friday 17th August. Please see the front door for the opening hours. Telephone 087-331 5009 Email boxoffice@clifdenartsfestival.ie

VISUAL ARTS

SCHOOLS PROGRAMME

GENERAL PROGRAMME

QUICKFIND INDEX

Full programme online visit clifdenartsfestival.ie

The Arts Festival Caravan is a hive of information and will be open on Market Square from Wednesday 5th September. We ask patrons to be seated at least 5 minutes before scheduled performance time.

MAP OF VENUES

Visual Arts – Clifden Arts Festival

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Visual Arts – Clifden Arts Festival

VISUAL ARTS Clifden Arts Festival 2018

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Brian Maguire War Changes Its Address: The Aleppo Paintings – A Selection, Including Other Works This year the Festival Gallery will host a selection from recent, new, and exciting work by internationally acclaimed Irish artist Brian Maguire. Since the very beginning of his career in the 1970s, Brian Maguire has approached painting as an act of solidarity. He operates a truly engaged practice, compelled by the raw realities of humanity’s violence against itself, and the potential for justice. Maguire’s preoccupations draw him to the margins of the art world – alternative space, prisons, women’s shelters, and psychiatric institutions – making shows in traditional gallery and museum spaces something of a rarity. Maguire’s most recent paintings directly confront issues of migration, displacement and human dignity in the face of the current global unrest. They are some of his most nuanced and ambitious to date, which he has crafted with larger brushes and thinned-down acrylic on canvas. He works slowly, using photographic sources, searching for that point where illustration ceases and art begins. This growing contrast between the seductive painterly aesthetic and the subject matter only adds to the potential impact of these formidable canvases.

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Maguire has shown extensively in Europe and the US, also participating in shows in Korea, China, and Japan. Current and forthcoming solo exhibitions include Concerned, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin (September 7–14, 2018) and Juarez to Aleppo, Rubin Center for the Visual Arts, University of Texas, El Paso (2019). Recent solo exhibitions include War Changes Its Address: The Aleppo Paintings, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (2018); J’Accuse!, The Void, Derry (2015–2016); The Absence of Justice Demands This Act, Fergus McCaffrey, New York (2015); X Espacio de Arte, Mexico City (2013); European Parliament, Brussels (2012) and Cultuurcentrum de Werft, Geel, Belgium (2012). Public collections include Irish Museum of Modern Art; Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane; Museum of Fine Art Houston, Texas; Gemeentemuseum, Den Haag, The Netherlands; Alvar Alto Museum, Finland. Clifden Arts Festival acknowledges the support of The Kerlin Gallery, Dublin. VENUE THE FESTIVAL GALLERY, MARKET STREET, CLIFDEN

Mick O’Dea, Dorothy Cross, Donald Teskey, Joe Wilson, Jim Savage, David Lilburn Léargas: Connemara Observed The exhibition is a celebration of the collaboration between Ballynahinch Castle Hotel and Occasional Press over the last decade. It brings together the artists who have adorned the published works within the one setting. This exhibition is in association with and supported by Clifden Arts Festival. Born in Ennis, Co. Clare, in 1958, Mick O’Dea studied at the National College of Art and Design and the University of Massachusetts from 1976 to 1981. In 1997, he was awarded an MA in European Fine Art from the Winchester School of Art, having studied in Barcelona and Winchester. Mick O’Dea is the current President of Royal Hibernian Academy and follows in the footsteps of former presidents

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Dorothy Cross

Donal Teskey

Joe Wilson

voyeuristic traits of video and photography, combining these with sculptural work, to play with what is at risk, on hold, erotic and curious.

Jim Savage

Thomas Ryan, Carey Clarke, and Stephen McKenna. O’Dea is an artist with a vivid awareness of the roots of his painterly tradition. He sees himself as being located within the scope of the Northern Renaissance, with an essentially humanistic approach and as being firmly in the academic tradition, but not in the classical sense. He is a natural observer and has a defined approach to beginning work on the blank canvas: ‘You begin by getting familiar with the geography, then go about trying to capture the essence of the person.’ As a landscape artist, he is consciously receptive to the ever-shifting patterns of light. All his work is at once energetic and contemplative; multidirectional, yet focused; coloured sparingly, yet luxuriant. Dorothy Cross is considered one of Ireland’s leading international artists. She came to widespread attention when she began a series of works featuring cow skins and udders. In her art she amalgamates found and constructed objects. These assemblages invariably have the effect of reinvigorating the lives of everyday things, sometimes humorous, sometimes disturbing, always intellectually stimulating and physically arresting. Her most recent work employs the revelatory and

Donald Teskey was born in Co. Limerick and graduated from Limerick School of Art and Design in 1978. He came to prominence as an artist through his skill as a draughtsman during the 1980s, with several significant solo exhibitions. Since 1992, he has crafted out a substantial body of work as a painter of the landscape focusing on the ruggedness of the western seaboard. Sometimes working on a very large scale, his images reflect his response to the formal elements of composition: shape, form and fall of light. The result being powerful images of instantly recognisable parts of the Irish landscape, with large abstract passages and surfaces which articulate the relentless, energetic, and elemental force of nature. Joe Wilson was born in Bolton, England, in 1947. He studied at Manchester College of Art from 1965 to 1969. He has lived and worked in Ireland since 1979. Joe lectured at Limerick School of Art from 1979 to 1983 and then National College of Art and Design from 1983 to 2009. He is living and working in Co. Wicklow. Jim Savage was born in Manchester, England, in 1950. He studied at the Manchester School of Art and at the Slade School of Art, London. He moved to Ireland in 1982 and taught at the Limerick School of Art from that date up to 2011. In 2001 he organized the major drawing exhibition Focus on Drawing, which toured to Dublin, Cork and Limerick. He set up the Occasional Press with Irish printmaker David Lilburn, editing and publishing the anthology

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Visual Arts – Clifden Arts Festival of artists’ writings on drawing: Drawing Texts. For the city of Cork’s year as the European Capital of Culture in 2005, he organized an exhibition of the collaborative drawings made by John Berger and the Spanish artist Marisa Camino, and edited and published the book Berger On Drawing. He curated a major exhibition of large-scale Irish landscape drawings by 29 contemporary artists working in Ireland titled From Landscape, which toured the country throughout 2005 and 2006 . This was followed by a second exhibition of contemporary Irish landscape drawings, Into Landscape, which toured Ireland throughout 2007 and 2008. He lives and works in Co. Cork and is married to the sculptor Sarah O’Flaherty. David Lilburn is an Irish artist and printmaker and an occasional publisher and designer. He studied history at Trinity College Dublin, and art at the Scuole Istituto Statale D’Arte, Urbino, and Limerick School of Art and Design. He is a member of Limerick Printmakers, an associate member of Cork Printmakers and a Trustee of the National Self-Portrait Collection. Together with artist and writer Jim Savage, he runs Occasional Press, which publishes art-based books. His book Walking Drawing Making Memory: A Ballynahinch Sketchbook was published by Occasional Press in collaboration with Ballynahinch Castle in 2009. VENUE IRISH ANTIQUES, CLIFDEN STATION HOUSE HOTEL

The Art Trail Shop window exhibition of works by artists who reside in, are inspired by, and visit the area. A map of the numbered Art Trail can be found in the What's On Connemara guide.

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Ray Murphy Dark to Light Ray Murphy was born in Cork in 1950, and now lives in Laois. He studied at the Crawford College of Art in Cork, and National College of Art, Dublin. Murphy has exhibited in Laois, Dublin, Wicklow, and Galway, in various group and solo exhibitions, and his works are held in both private and State collections, including those of the Office of Public Works, Laois County Council, the Tynan Gallery, and Shazad Contractor, California. This series of still lifes in oil is connected with a previous collection entitled Drawing from the Past, exhibited at the Tynan Gallery, Portlaoise in 2007, and is a development of the same theme, with its focus on objects from the period kitchen. This work demonstrates Murphy’s unique style of figurative painting, with an emphasis on chiaroscuro technique. VENUE STEAM CAFÉ, STATION HOUSE COURTYARD, CLIFDEN

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Sarah O’Flaherty Veiled Sarah O’Flaherty studied at the Cork and Limerick schools of art and Royal College of Art, London. From 1995-2012 she set up and ran the Cork Bronze Foundry. She makes objects and images and works from her studio in Aghabullogue, Co. Cork. She has completed a number of large-scale public and private commissions. Her most recent exhibition: Visions of HalfLight (with Debbie Godsell and Fiona Kelly) ran from July 7-28 2018, at Macroom Town Hall Gallery. VENUE THE TEA ROOM, SIGNAL BAR, STATION HOUSE HOTEL, CLIFDEN

Rosie McGurran RUA Pilgrim Stones An exhibition of new work by Rosie McGurran. Inspired by her home in Roundstone, the surrounding area and the island of Inishlacken, this work also draws from the poetry of Maria McManus. An interpretation of the land and sea, islands, and people, woven with elusive stories. Rosie McGurran is a Belfast artist who has made her home in Roundstone, where she also curates The Inishlacken Project residency. Her work has been exhibited throughout Ireland and internationally, with a major oneperson exhibition forthcoming at Los Gatos Irish Writers Festival, San Fransisco, in October 2018. VENUE OLD WHISTLESTOP SHOP, STATION HOUSE HOTEL, CLIFDEN

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Visual Arts – Clifden Arts Festival home, is the area she has visited over the year for this exhibition. The resulting work is the interpretation of this environment, as it gradually changed and revealed itself, and became the place to which Roxanne continually returned.

Roxanne Fitzmaurice

Oilbhe Scannell

Roxanne Fitzmaurice, Ness Porter-Kelly, Tania Gray, Oilbhe Scannell Creatures of Habit We are pleased to present Creatures of Habit, 2018. Four artists have come together to present a selection of work exploring the idea of habit, a routine of behaviour, something repeated regularly. This can manifest itself in a regular activity: thought, emotion or action. In this repetition, it becomes something that must be done, and becomes woven into the structure of life and living. Roxanne Fitzmaurice studied fine art at the Dublin Institute of Technology and after graduation went on to study for a further year at the National College of Art and Design. Roxanne works from a specific location for each exhibition. A place that is visited and revisited over a period of time, until the essence of that setting becomes ingrained. This is interpreted and expressed onto canvas. The river Tolka, close to her

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Ness Porter Kelly obtained her art education in Grennan Mill Craft school, followed by an apprenticeship with Roger Walker Potteries. In 2006 she graduated from GMIT with a BA in Art and Design. Ness lives and works on a farm in Co, Galway, often drawing her inspiration from what is around her. She uses a range of mediums – print, clay and paint – saying ‘the subject dictates the medium.’ In this exhibition, Ness is exploring objects that can be at the root of habit. Tania Gray studied graphic design in Dun Laoghaire School of Art and Design and went on to complete an honours art degree in GMIT, Castlebar. Mono printing, etching, inks, and drawing have been consistent mediums in this and previous exhibitions. Her theme for this exhibition is the joy and healing power of the great outdoors. She lives and works in Connemara. Oilbhe Scannell has lived in Connemara all her life. She received a batchelors degree in Art and Design from GMIT and for almost 20 years has taught art to children of primary school age. She is a member of Interface Inagh studio and residency programme for visual artists, dancers, writers and musicians. Using natural materials such as ink, pencil, charcoal and wax, and using little colour, her work simply endeavours to capture a fleeting moment, a thought or emotion within a memory. VENUE GALLERY BESIDE HEDZ HAIRDRESSERS, STATION HOUSE HOTEL, CLIFDEN

Visual Arts – Clifden Arts Festival other types of subject matter. ‘I attempt to imagine or define this conflicting coalescing world to express a modern sensibility, analysing the ephemerality of humanity's creations in the face of nature and time’. VENUE CLIFDEN LIBRARY, MARKET STREET, CLIFDEN

Bosom Pals Bosom Pals is an exhibition of the poems and artworks from the collection of the same title that was published by Doire Press in 2017.

Dympna Heanue and Meadhbh Ní Eidhin Sioraíocht The Connemara landscape has long been the inspiration for Dympna Heanue’s paintings as it has been for countless poets, writers and artists before her. Dympna’s work has always been influenced by Connemara and its surroundings – bogs, lakes, sea and sky, all the changing colours and tones that make up the wonderful scenery that envelope the senses. Her current work practice includes an interpretation of the scenic bogs of Connemara, using a variety of media including materials such as Connemara bog itself (paint mixed with turf mould), and adding found objects and materials to explore, creating different textures that suggest the ruggedness and earthy qualities of the ever-changing local peatland. Meadhbh Ní Eidhin is an artist and musician from Spiddal, Co. Galway. Her paintings are renowned for their dynamic exploration of colour and texture. Born into a very musical family, Meadhbh's paintings created with acrylic and oil on canvas vividly and daringly illustrate her passion for music and indeed,

Edited by writer and poet Marie Cadden, who passed away in December 2017, the collection features eight women poets’ experiences of breast cancer and is beautifully complemented by powerful drawings of the female form post-surgery by artist Ruth Cadden, Marie’s daughter. The Bosom Pal poets are Marie Cadden, Marrion Cox, Mary Hanlon, Susan Lindsay, Mary Madec, Mari Maxwell, Robyn Rowland, and Lorna Shaughnessy. The exhibition unites the content of the book in a visual way. While a book is in sequence and an intimate and private encounter, an exhibition puts the experience of reading and looking on a larger scale, in a physical space, and offers a parallel way of exploring the pages. Marie Cadden’s hope was that the book would raise awareness among academics and researchers, and put a human face on living with breast cancer. This exhibition, a project initiated by her and which she was closely involved in until her death, is in honour of her life and work. Clifden Arts Festival acknowledges the support of NUIG. VENUE GALLERY OVER SIGNAL BAR, STATION HOUSE HOTEL, CLIFDEN

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Kenneth Webb Colour and Texture: an Art Demonstration This year, we are again privileged that Kenneth Webb has kindly agreed to demonstrate one of his famous Derrygimla Bog paintings and follow it with a short question and answer session. Kenneth will demonstrate some of the secrets of colour and texture that have made his painting so popular in Ireland and the United Kingdom for many years. Very recently, the first three paintings sold in the 2017 London Exhibition were large bog paintings of Derrygimla, purchased by a French collector. Others then went to New York and Chicago and more recently China, as his reputation continues to gain international recognition. Since resigning as the Head of Painting at the Ulster College of Art in 1960, Kenneth has taught students from all over the world at his studio in Connemara each year. At nearly 92 years of age, Kenneth will retire from teaching and demonstrating in the near future, and hand over the reins to his daughter Susan Mary to carry on the school in Ballinaboy. Kenneth will be assisted as usual by Sara Sue McNeill, who runs her own teaching studio in Donaghadee, Co Down. TIME 3PM, SATURDAY 15TH SEPTEMBER VENUE ALCOCK AND BROWN HOTEL ADMISSION €10

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Christopher Banaghan Galway 4040/ remains of us Christopher Banaghan is a Kinvara-based artist who last year featured on Sky Arts’ Portrait Artist of the Year. Galway4040 /remains of us is an imaginary future retrospective of iconic Galway faces from today, including Michael D Higgins, Sabrina Higgins, Garry Hynes, John Muldoon (pictured), Kate O’Toole, Mary Coughlan, James Harrold, Joe Canning, Mike McCormack, Nuala O Conner, and Lisa McInerney. The concept of the exhibition is that fragmented fresco remnants of Galway icons have been found by divers in 4040. The archaeologists of the day have to try and identify who these people might have been in life and rename them, Group exhibition including local artists and students of Clifden Community School. VENUE WEST CONNEMARA LEISURE CENTRE, BALLYCONNEELY ROAD, CLIFDEN

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Brian Bourke

Kate Noonan

Landscapes – 20 Works on Paper

The Connemara Collection

Brian Bourke HRHA in the small gallery with group show of works by gallery artists in the main gallery.

Exhibition of original oil and acrylic paintings of Connemara.

VENUE BLAITHIN DE SACHY ART GALLERY, MARKET STREET, CLIFDEN

VENUE ARDAGH HOTEL, R341 BALLYCONNEELY ROAD, CLIFDEN

Julia McCann New Works

Patricia Morrison Botanical Watercolours

Julia is a gentle and fun-loving woman, who has lived all her life on the Sky Road and in Clifden. She is very much a family person. Julia’s beautiful surroundings and her family have inspired her art work greatly. She shows great attention to detail, which is very obvious in her work. VENUE MANNION'S BAR, MARKET STREET, CLIFDEN

VENUE JOHN MALONE'S SHOP, MARKET STREET, CLIFDEN

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Aaron Holton

Aaron Holton and John Flynn Contronym An exhibition by Aaron Holton and John Flynn, exploring both artists’ responses to the ever-present contrast and contradictions within the tangled narratives of forests and landscape imagery, and to the individual conflicts that exist in practises within their respective studio process. This body of work explores the style and process of each artist; both tackling, conversing and sharing the same ideas about the one collective theme. The finished pieces are work derived from the exact same idea and the differences are what style and preference dictate. Aaron Holton is a visual artist based in Clifden, Co. Galway. Aaron’s work primarily focuses on his immediate surroundings in Connemara and the capturing of everyday sceneries that continue to inspire and evoke his appreciation for where he lives. A native of Cork city, the startling surroundings of Connemara are never lost on Aaron as he continues to try and capture the unfiltered light that is unique to this place. John Flynn is a visual artist based in Cork. His work focuses on ideas of the old and the new, through the exploration of such themes as the natural world, the otherworld, mythology and history. The rich story-telling tradition in Ireland’s folklore has always influenced his

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

John Flynn

work. John Flynn aims to value and continue this part of Irish culture in new, different visual representations, as well as in his own writings, which often accompany the work and blend known stories with other elements. Both Aaron and John studied fine art in the Crawford College of Art and Design from 2008-2012. Aaron has worked and lived in Clifden for the past five years and John has similarly developed his own art practise in Cork city. VENUE THE TIN HOUSE, BRIDGE STREET, CLIFDEN

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Interface Exhibition Opening & Studio Launch Group exhibition opening and launch of newly renovated studio space. Featuring work by September artist-in-residence – Eileen Ryan. TIME 5PM, FRIDAY 14TH SEPTEMBER CAR POOL LEAVING LIDL CARPARK AT 4:30PM VENUE INTERFACE RESIDENCY, INAGH VALLEY

Interface Exhibition Visit & Artist’s Talk with Eileen Ryan TIME 11AM, WEDNESDAY 19TH SEPTEMBER CAR POOL LEAVING LIDL CARPARK AT 10:30AM VENUE INTERFACE RESIDENCY, INAGH VALLEY

Interface Studio Visit Culture Night Studio visit and members’ exhibition at Interface Residency, Inagh Valley. Featuring work by September artist-in-residence – Eileen Ryan, and members of Interface. TIME 6PM, FRIDAY 21ST SEPTEMBER CAR POOL LEAVING LIDL CARPARK AT 5:30PM VENUE INTERFACE RESIDENCY, INAGH VALLEY

Please ring Alannah Robins on 086 1993878 for more information and to confirm your place. Visits outside of the three programmed times are by appointment only. Interface is a residency programme for visual artists, dancers, writers and musicians, situated in the Inagh Valley. The programme provides opportunities for artists in residence to engage with other international artists and local people through a unique platform that explores the intersections between scientific research and art. www.interfaceinagh.com

Ted Turton New paintings by Ted Turton imagining the the day in June 1919 when non-stop transatlantic flight became a reality and the commotion surrounding the event. Views of Clifden as the Vickers Vimy approached with the two aviators, Alcock and Brown on board. A celebration of 100 years of aviation. Ted Turton is well known in Galway as a painter, illustrator, poster artist and designer. He is a founder member of the Galway Arts Festival and continued his involvement with it for 35 years which included a period in the ’90s as artistic director. He travelled around the world with Footsbarn Theatre for six years in the ’80s and he is currently writing a memoir of those times. He lives in Athenry with his wife, Lali Morris, former director of Baboro, and together they have been involved with recent local projects for Galway 2020 under the title ‘Small Towns, Big Ideas’. VENUE CLIFDEN TOURIST OFFICE, GALWAY ROAD

Justin King New Works VENUE THE DIGITAL OFFICE, MAIN STREET, CLIFDEN

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Laurence Hofman Inishturk: Faces, Places & Traces Inishturk: Faces, Places & Traces comprises of a longterm photographic documentary about the island of Inishturk off the west coast of Ireland. At the height of season, the island is only inhabited by about 50 people.

Lorna Hill In The Belly Button Of The Moon In The Belly Button of the Moon – The Ancient Meaning of Mexico. This photography exhibition is of Lorna Hill’s personal trip of exploration and adventure through Mexico, her experiences of its culture through the lens, a journey into her own growth and self-development, and the story of how she learns to come back home. This exhibition aims to take you on a trip through Mexico, showing you the wonders and delights of the country and the people who have stolen her heart. Lorna Hill, born and raised in Connemara, spent eight years working in the television and film production industry in Bristol, UK. It was here where Lorna developed her skills as a photographer and then moved to Mexico to realise her dream as an underwater photographer / videographer. VENUE EXHIBITION SPACE BESIDE AIB, GALWAY ROAD, CLIFDEN

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Unlike many other islands off the west coast, Inishturk does not rely solely on tourism for its survival. It is precisely this lack of tourism and the genuine authenticity that attracted Hofman to this beautiful, small Island. Through a six-month journey to and from the island, she has created a visual poetry trail portraying the people, the island and its landscape. The emphasis of the project is on the relationship between the islanders and landscape in isolation, affected by the harshness of weather and passing of time. Inishturk is a beautiful, rough, and silent place, with remarkable people. A people who have truly kept the island breathing, in these modern times, despite its difficult geographical location. This photographic documentary is an ode to an island where the way of life seems to be a breath of silence in a world that has become increasingly global. VENUE EXHIBITION SPACE BESIDE AIB, GALWAY ROAD, CLIFDEN

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Bernie Dignam Bog Patterns An exhibition of work by Bernie Dignam in print and textile. VENUE FIONNGHLAS THIAR GALLERY, TOOREEN, MOYARD H91 HCR7

Roundstone Ceramics Rosemary O’Toole’s work on paper and porcelain is on display from 10am to 6pm. VENUE MICHAEL KILLEEN PARK, ROUNDSTONE

AIB Art in Clifden A selection of works from the AIB Art Collection is on display at the branch during the Clifden Arts Festival. Among the key works on show are exhibits by George Campbell, John Behan, Brian Bourke, Cecily Brennan, Louis LeBrocquy, Cecil King, Brian Ballard and Sean McSweeney. A guided talk of the collection in the company of Blaithin deSachy will take place on Monday September 17 at 1:30pm. All welcome.

Imelda Healy Wave/Light Wave/Light continues the body of work Imelda Healy began in Clifden with last year’s Aqua as a celebration of the interplay of light and water and how we interact with both, as bathers or mere observers. Many of the studies are taken from above, reflecting the universal lure of the ocean. We come from the sea and return to it, endlessly fascinated. Rivers too, all run to the sea. As 9th-century Irish philosopher John Scotus noted, ‘All that is, is light.’ To which Joyce’s Buck Mulligan might add, ‘The sea, that great sweet mother.’ VENUE DERVAL JOYCES, MARKET STREET, CLIFDEN

VENUE AIB, GALWAY ROAD, CLIFDEN

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Visual Arts – Clifden Arts Festival

American Airlines, and Islands Magazine, Beth’s corporate clients include Credit Suisse, Kenway Publications of Nairobi, Kenya, Capitol One Bank, and Nemours/ Alfred I. duPont Hospital. Beth has won many photographic awards and in 2007, was inducted into the National League of American Pen Women in the Division of Arts. Beth is also a founding member of the Brandywine Photo Collective in northern Delaware, a group of regional professional photographers.

Beth Trepper and Terri Conroy Amid the Green Wood Irish-American photographer Beth Trepper returns to Clifden Arts Festival with a new exhibition of fine-art photographs entitled Amid the Green Wood. Beth’s Pre-Raphaelite-inspired images of classical maidens and mysterious forests are embellished with hand-pressed native Irish flowers and botanicals. The mixed-media images are further enhanced with calligraphy depicting quotes from celebrated literary figures. Beth has shown her photographs in more than 400 solo and group exhibitions throughout the US, Ireland, Europe and the Caribbean. She is a 2017 recipient of the Established Artist Fellowship Award from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a subsidiary of the National Endowment for the Arts. Beth’s eclectic portfolio comprises fine art, fashion, portraiture, figurative, documentary, landscape and entertainment images. In addition to numerous book, magazine, and newspaper publishing credits, including AAA World Magazine, The Irish Times,

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Weeds On The Wall - A Celebration of Connemara Wild Plants This photographic exhibition has one objective: to enable people to view Connemara wild plants as things of beauty and value. People may be surprised to learn that all of the plants pictured in this exhibition have medicinal properties. Once upon a time we all knew that plants offered medicine, food, clothes, shelter and tools and the Brehon laws express the importance of plants to our ancestors. Plants also appear quite extensively in our folklore. The plants in this exhibition can be found in every wild garden and hedgerow in Connemara. A book accompanies this exhibition giving detailed information about each plant and how it can be used. Terri Conroy practices as a herbalist and grows all her medicinal plant material organically and gathers wild plants that come to grow in her garden. Terri also runs herbal medicine workshops at home in Ballyconneely. Visit the website for more details www.clifdenhealthandtherapy.com VENUE THE HAIR GALLERY, BRIDGE STREET, CLIFDEN

Katharine West

Visual Arts – Clifden Arts Festival

Richard West

Szilvia Tóth Strong Women

‘Today, I am using those two techniques, the marker pen drawing, and the colour pencil drawing on black paper which requires reverse colour analysis. I have four themes. The first and most famous is the Strong Woman campaign. If I brought something with me from the UAE, it was advocacy for women rights. I portray powerful and dynamic women and express their energy with my vibrating colours. The second theme is the rethinking of classic paintings by modern marker pen techniques and intensive colour boost. The third one is a kind of symbolic drawing. It uses ancient symbols and introduces them in nature surroundings. The fourth theme is dedicated to my favourite movies.’ VENUE UPSTAIRS DOWNSTAIRS, MAIN STREET, CLIFDEN

Manon West

‘When I started to draw, I was drawing black and white only and I was amazed by the dynamics of the shades and layers. About a year later I turned my intention to colours. The vibrating colours of the marker pen caught my attention and I started to learn the craft and figured out the techniques of how to blend different colours.

Margaret Irwin West, Katharine West, Manon West, Richard West Home Grown Something about ‘roots’ and ‘genes’, this is a diverse group of artists for whom ‘making is breathing.’ Margaret mines the copper plates for secrets in intaglio print; Katharine builds great ethereal and mysterious organic forms from clay; Manon enhances her multimedia, observed images from a fertile well of invention; Richard, with his lathe, seeks the beauty of natural distortions in wood for his surprising hollow forms. Together their work is a magnet for an intimate, sensory conversation. VENUE CONNEMARA PROPERTIES BUILDING, BRIDGE STREET, CLIFDEN

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Visual Arts – Clifden Arts Festival Returning to Boston, he entered the Atelier of Impressions Workshop, a complete printmaking facility. John’s knowledge of Lithograph led to his employment as a master printer of lithographic images for artists who came to have editions of their work printed and created there as well.

John Brennan Boat Series John was born in 1933, the first of six children; both parents had emigrated from Ireland and settled in Boston. John, always an artist at heart, began making drawings on paper at age five and it continued to be a major area of study throughout his grade school years. At 19, John was inducted into the US Army. He served in the Korean War as a truck driver and eventually became the regimental sign painter. Discharged in 1955, John entered the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. His plan to study for a career in commercial art lasted one semester – courses in printing, drawing, sculpture, printmaking, and exposure to the fine arts won out. His eventual major was printmaking, specialising in stone lithography. Graduating in 1959, John enrolled in a graduate course in stone lithography; however, his first art career was as a technical illustrator for Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Here, John worked on the Apollo Space program, which was to lead to astronaut John Glynn’s orbit into outer space. Within a year, John was travelling to Mexico doing drawings and photographing and enjoying the freedom of discovery.

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

In 1969, John returned to the MFA school as a full-time faculty member in printmaking. John’s own imagery was expanding into painting, pastels, and watercolours. In 1977, John had a sabbatical and travelled for his first visit to Ireland. The western part of Ireland was his ‘Garden of Enchantment’ – the more he saw of it, the greater the desire to share it. Two years later, his plan to establish a summer school program in Ireland for American students working in watercolour drawing came to fruition. The course was based in the town of Clifden, and also extended to Burren College of Art in Co. Clare. John retired from full-time teaching in 2000, but continued his Ireland Summer School program until 2003. In recent years, John has made Clifden his ‘home base.’ His connections to Boston are reinforced by his expanded family, including three children, ten grandchildren, and friends. John continues to discover new locations to paint, sketch and photograph. He has made several trips to Puerto Rico’s island of Vieques and is represented there in the Galleon Gallery. He has also exhibited lithograph prints in the New Hampshire League of Artists Gallery in Portsmouth, NH. Recent exhibitions include: Exhibition of Pen and Ink in Clifden Library, 2016; Images in Various Media at Clifden Library, 2017; and Exhibition of 18 Watercolours at La Tropical Inn, Vieques, Puerto Rico, 2018. John’s paintings for the 2018 Clifden Arts Festival represent relationships of form and the rhythm of colour. If you wish to learn more about visiting his studio in Clifden or to view his artwork, please call him at 086-358-9140 or email pjacbrennan@comcast.net. VENUE CLIFDEN ARTS FESTIVAL OFFICES, BRIDGE STREET, CLIFDEN

Visual Arts – Clifden Arts Festival

Wendy Debrock-Jeffries Water In this series of kiln-formed, fused-glass pieces entitled Water, Wendy is investigating the beautiful reflective and refractive qualities of clear glass. The extensive use of this simple, transparent medium allows each piece to explore the interplay between natural and artificial light. Multiple firings facilitate different textures and the finished pieces have a threedimensional quality that emulates the dynamics of liquids. A supplemental firing process known as ‘kiln-carving’ helps to create in each piece the illusion of fluidity. The minimal introduction of turquoise, cerulean and cornflower blue hues mimic Connemara’s bubbling streams, waterfalls and fast-flowing rivers. Other pieces evoke the rhythm and power of the sea and its tumultuous relationship with the rocky shoreline of the region.

Karen O’Toole Growing out of Darkness Karen O’Toole grew up near the coastal village of Cleggan in Connemara. She studied art at GTI and GMIT in Galway city. This is her first solo exhibition for the Clifden Arts Festival. The oil paintings on show were executed over a period of years in various parts of Ireland as part of an ongoing process of self-discovery and mental healing of anxiety, stress and low self-esteem. As the artist says, ‘I am always seeking to find the calm in the present breath through some form of creation.’ VENUE MACDARA’S BAR, MARKET STREET, CLIFDEN

VENUE CONNEMARA BLUE, THE PINK HOUSE, MARKET SQUARE, CLIFDEN

Nancy Whelan Trad Fusion Trad Fusion was inspired by the annual San Patricio celebration held in Clifden. These paintings are a colourful and fun mixture of Irish and Mexican traditional designs, painted on fabric. Visit clifdencastlehearts.wordpress.com.

Colum Joyce 40 Years / 50+ Paintings This free online e-book and downloadable PDF has over 50 paintings by Colum Joyce covering the period from 1978 to 2018. Accessible from September 12, 2018. Link: https://goo.gl/o1utdE

VENUE VIVIANA’S BOUTIQUE, MAIN STREET, CLIFDEN

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Visual Arts – Clifden Arts Festival Through this space, Dominique wishes to highlight the influences of digital technology on society. Taking this big idea, she makes it personal, specifically how it simultaneously connects and isolates. VENUE GLEANN AOIBHEANN, BEACH ROAD, CLIFDEN

Dominique Crowley The Light Spool Dominique began painting relatively recently. After practicing public health medicine in Ireland and the UK for over 20 years, she studied drawing and painting at the Ontario College of Art and Design University in Canada, graduating with a BFA in 2017. She recently moved back to Ireland with her family and works in Dublin. She is currently based at Mart Studios in Rathmines. Her work is mainly figurative, often using family and friends as subjects. Dominique is particularly interested in developing the metaphor of the environment as an inner landscape. Using her own photos and videos for reference, digital collage and projection are used to overlay, crop and obscure figures to emphasize their juxtaposition. Contemporary figures are stripped of their usual setting and given new significance. Photography and film are important parts of her creative process and references to this remain as residue in the final works. This body of work in oil on canvas and wood panel, including some large-scale paintings, has much akin to a picture book of fables – the half-lit, immersive, dream-like, fantastical world creating a common thread and allowing a narrative to unfold when the works are viewed together.

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Damian Manning Still Life and Real Life Original sketches by Damian Manning, who is well known in Connemara’s community as a hairdresser. Damian is exhibiting original sketches of still life and real life. The ensemble of sketches are snapshots of the artist’s life through pencil, pastels, and watercolour . ‘After being woke from my deep-sleep operation and wheeled back to recovery position, I started drawing my view and, for the second time that day, art aided the artist’s recovery.’ Art is a positive force in this artist and his developing talent is visibly notable in the collage of art that fills this original and out-there visual art exhibition. VENUE HEDZ HAIRDRESSING SALON, STATION HOUSE HOTEL, CLIFDEN

Visual Arts – Clifden Arts Festival

Lavelle Art Gallery Dave West at the Lavelle Gallery Living in Co. Dublin, Dave West is a versatile artist who visits Clifden and Connemara throughout the seasons, usually working outdoors, directly from the location. His work in this show using oil on panel and chalk pastel show a degree of technical virtuosity and a keen eye for the vernacular details of the towns and harbours of Clifden and Roundstone. Dave has been with the Lavelle Art Gallery since 2015, and has exhibited widely in Group Shows including the Royal Hibernian Academy, Royal Ulster Academy and Eígse, and in the UK with the Royal West of England Academy, Royal Society of Oil Painters, Royal Society of Marine Artists, The New English Art Club, The Royal Society of British Artists, and the UK Pastel Society, at which he won the 2013 Schminke Award. In his own words:

‘I strive to find harmony and balance when working with the saturated colours of pure pigment.’ VENUE LAVELLE ART GALLERY, MAIN STREET, CLIFDEN

The Whitethorn Gallery We are featuring the work of James Brohan this year for the Arts Festival – particularly his amazing portrait of Seamus Heaney. The past two years have seen two major exhibition spaces opened to celebrate our great Poet Laureate. The Home Place in Ballaghy in September 2016, and the new exhibition space in the Bank of Ireland on College Green, which opened this year and is to run for three years. So it seems a topical choice! James Brohan, born in 1952, studied under the direction of Jan Goulet from 198586. He continued his studies at the Dun Laoighre College of Art and Design, and later attended the National College of Art and Design, studying under Des Carrick. He has been painting and exhibiting since 1990. His paintings are about colour rather than tone, and the essence of capturing the subtle nuances of light, making his portraits in particular full of life and movement. His work is numbered among the collections of University College Dublin, Government House, Adare Manor, and Dromoland Castle. VENUE THE WHITETHORN GALLERY, MAIN STREET, CLIFDEN

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Visual Arts – Clifden Arts Festival

Talk by Brian Maguire Brian will give a talk on the works included in his exhibition. TIME 6PM, THURSDAY 13TH SEPTEMBER VENUE THE FESTIVAL GALLERY, MARKET STREET, CLIFDEN

Ted Talks by Ted Turton

Jamie Howard A Tribute Clifden Arts Festival pays tribute to our friend and colleague, Jamie Howard, whose invaluable contribution and enthusiasm over several years as an official photographer for festival events, has added greatly to the festival's archive and its success.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis VENUE FOYER OF THE STATION HOUSE THEATRE, CLIFDEN

An afternoon of hilarity and madness with Ted Turton. An illustrated memoir with stories drawn from six years working and travelling with Footsbarn Theatre in the 1980s. This extraordinary barnstorming theatre company (first seen in Clifden in 1979) left its native Cornwall in 1981 to travel the world with its circus style tent, trucks and buses. Along with the actors, technicians, costume makers, administrators, and wives, girlfriends, boyfriends and hangers-on, came all their children with their own teachers and three Border Collies. The first stop on this world tour was Galway, where Ted joined them. The stories are not so much about ‘theatre’ but more about the wonder of travelling and the scrapes the company got into. TIME 2PM, FRIDAY 14TH SEPTEMBER VENUE THE FESTIVAL GALLERY, MARKET STREET, CLIFDEN

Please Note Exhibition details correct at time of going to press. Exhibitions and venues may be subject to change.

Acknowledgements Clifden Arts Festival wishes to acknowledge the support of The Kerlin Gallery, Dublin, in particular Elly Collins, Rosa Abbott, and Brid McCarthy; Brian Maguire, John Sweeney, Aaron Wootton, Tom Kenny, Dean Kelly, Kevin O’Reilly, Frank Brady, Brendan O’Sullivan, Lol Hardiman, Bernie Dignam, Wayne and Orla at Upstairs Downstairs, Alan and Claire at Steam, Connemara Credit Union, Eamonn McLoughlin, Seamus Laffin and Rosemarie O’Toole, Noel Mannion and Catherine Lavoie, Paula Bann, West Coast Leisure Centre, Mary Ruddy and Vincent Murphy, Alcock and Brown Hotel, Mary Joyce, James O’Sullivan, Patrick Howard, Danny Vaughan, Zsuzsanna Balogh, Stephen Ward, John Brennan and finally to all the artists, businesses and general public who support the Art Trail and exhibitions.

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Talk by Helen O’Donoghue A talk by Helen O’Donoghue, Senior Curator, Engagement and Learning, IMMA. TIME 2PM, TUESDAY 18TH SEPTEMBER VENUE THE FESTIVAL GALLERY, MARKET STREET, CLIFDEN

Clifden Arts Society Upcoming Events

7th November 2018

Yury Revich (violin) Benedict Kloeckner (cello)

14th November 2018

Piano Recital: Hugh Tinney Celebrating his 60th Birthday

Visual Arts – Clifden Arts Festival

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The school events are of course confined to our students. Events will also be taking place in all our local schools. The event dates are flexible (in tune with the school day workings!) and guests may appear on days other than those to which they may have first been assigned. The Arts in education has been a core part of the Clifden Arts Festival since its foundation in 1977. It is an honour to have been so closely involved with the primary and secondary schools in the Connemara area for the past 41 years. The festival is overjoyed with the opening of a state-of-the-art new community school in Clifden on September 5th by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. We are grateful to all the teaching and school staff past and present who have helped in so many ways to facilitate artists and performers to visit the schools; without their help and support, this decades-long link with the community would not have been possible. We look forward to a continuing vibrant and creative relationship with all the schools in the area as we follow Seamus Heaney’s inspirational words...

‘The books stand open and the gates unbarred’ – Seamus Heaney

24 C L I F D E N A R T S F E S T I V A L 2 0 1 8

Day 58th September

SCHOOLS PROGRAMME Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Schools Programme – Clifden Arts Festival

SPEAKERS

Clifden Arts Festival is delighted to welcome five inspirational speakers, some of whom are former students.

Evelyn O’Toole

is the founder and CEO of Complete Laboratory Solutions and EY Industry Entrepreneur of the Year 2017. MONDAY 17TH

Dermot O’Donovan

is the Head of the National Centre of Excellence for Furniture Design and Wood Technology, GMIT Letterfrack. Dermot’s highly visual presentation will include innovative and creative work undertaken by students. MONDAY 17TH

Karen Mannion

is financial administrator at community development group Forum and 2018 Galway Person of the Year for her years of community and voluntary work. TUESDAY 18TH

Vincent Murphy

is Creative Director of Artisan House Publishing based, Letterfrack, producing high-quality books about Connemara and the arts. WEDNESDAY 19TH

Dr. Kevin Heanue

is chairman of Connemara West, a community development company that has been transforming the Ballinakill area through education, tourism and sport for more than 45 years. WEDNESDAY 19TH

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Wednesday 12th

John Durning shares his gifts as a teacher of guitar.

Fíbín presents Jeramee, Hartleby and Oooglemore for primary schools. Venue: Station House Theatre, time: 12pm (see page 30 for details).

Sean-nós national dance champion and past-pupil Seán Joyce shares his great skills.

Monday 17th Litterature, dance, art, music, drama and stilt-walking workshops will be ongoing during the week, as well as the Film Festival (check the noticeboard). Experienced workshop facilitator Peter Crann leads percussion workshops for primary school pupils. Students prepare for the Grand Parade with stilt walking from Belfast Circus and the flying Fidget Feet company. Joanne McGlynn, visual arts facilitator with Clifden Arts Festival over many years, engages with young students as primary school artist-inresidence. Ever-popular poet Tony Curtis returns with his eclectic and entertaining songs and poems, opening the poetic word hoard to another generation of Connemara students. We welcome back Norbert Stolz, who will be running his animation workshop all week. Dancer Magdalena Hylak gives the first of her primary school workshops this week. Schools Film Festival: Budding film directors, producers and actors get the chance to show their work as part of the film studies curriculum for Junior and Leaving certificates. Details each day on the noticeboard. Thanks to Carmel and team. Clifden Arts Festival is very proud of the success of past pupil Tristan Heanue, whose film will be premiered at this year’s festival. Fionnuala Hannigan-Dunkley brings harmony and melody to her singing workshop.

The beat of the bodhrán begins as the great player Sean Halpenny starts his workshop, a visitor to the schools over the past 23 years. The musical tradition of Clifden and Connemara are shared by the veteran group The Slyne Heads – all past students of Clifden Community School: Peter Carey, Paddy Newman and Adam Conroy.

Tuesday 18th LUXe Street Art Workshop – Mark Hill and Mandy Blinco (primary school): LUXe return in celebratory spirit to fill the town with an illuminated community procession, the culmination of work with local schools. Mark and Mandy will also prepare students for a special event, The Journey of the Crystal Ship (see page 67). Poetry reading with Aifric Mac Aodha and Louis de Paor (Leaving Cert classes): Louis and Aifric bring an energy and immediacy to their work in Irish, while always respecting the centuries-old legacy of the Bardic tradition. Basket weaving with Ciarán Hogan: Ciarán works from his Spiddal studio, which is open to the public. His baskets are made from natural willow and are made to a high quality and are very strong. Clifden Arts Festival welcomes back Peggy Mannion, who will share the absorbing, intricate art of crochet. Historian Kathleen Villiers-Tuthill talks to the senior students. The complex and intriguing world of bees is explored with master beekeeper Billy Gilmore. A welcome return to Michael Carey & band, all past students.

Schools Programme – Clifden Arts Festival Michael O’Sullivan, our writerin-residence, will present plays and conduct workshops with his company Humourfit for the rest of the week in the schools.

Graham Roberts of Connemara Smokehouse talks about his life in business, inspiring students to think of opportunities for the future in their local community.

Author Ann Henning Jocelyn meets Junior Cert classes – in recent years she has been writing mainly for the theatre.

David McNamara, station officer, Clifden Fire Brigade: A talk highlighting the importance of fire and safety awareness, and a learning exercise that students can carry with them throughout their lives.

Guys and Doll with Tom McHugh: Outside his musical accomplishments, Tom is professor emeritus from Vassar College, US, and has been a friend of Clifden Arts Festival and Clifden Community School for almost 30 years. Poet Terry McDonagh and and playwright Mike O’Sullivan read for the pupils (primary school). Helen O’Donoghue, Senior Curator: Engagement and Learning at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, gives a special presentation to the art students. Colm Keegan, writer from Dublin meets the senior classes. Eddie Lenihan, storyteller extraordinaire, meets the students.

Wednesday 19th Music with Betty and the Baby Boomers. Clifden Arts Festival is delighted to welcome back True North all the way from Seattle: Bruce Batten, Toni London, Ben Cockman, Gareth and Janet Tabor, and Dennis Walsh (primary school). Talk by local author and archaeologist Michael Gibbons on ‘Mayo’s Lost Islands, The Archaeology and History of Inishshark, Inishbofin and Inishlyon.’ Grainne O’Malley, manager of Connemara Community Radio, talks to Leaving Cert students. Film-maker Barry Ryan leads a workshop. Dancer Magdalena Hylak leads a workshop (primary school).

Clifden Arts Festival wishes to congratulate David on his new role as station officer and thank all members of Clifden Fire Brigade for their contribution to the community. Thanks to Gerard King for his years of service to the people of Connemara.

Karin Joyce shares the creative art of knitting with students and her workshops are ongoing. The Connemara All Stars: Guests from Europe join local musicians in a 10-piece band with full brass section, performing classics and original material. 'Boxwood' performs today – Lol Hardiman and John Durning's duo. Good and Bad Language – a talk by Des Lally.

Jacob Kochumann – The Art of Indian Cooking.

Legendary musicians Yule and McQ visit schools.

Dave Flynn, guitar virtuoso and founder of Clare Memory Orchestra, will give a recital and talk about his music.

Kathleen Loughnane, virtuoso harpist, gives a workshop to the students.

Music with the RTÉ Contempo Quartet for primary school pupils.

Marc Mulligan – Outside the Comfort Zone: Author and motivational speaker Marc has delivered his inspirational presentation to hundreds of audiences all over Ireland. When we face our fears, we open up a world of possibilities.

Music with True North (secondary school).

Thursday 20th Author Pat Mullan returns to speak with the students. His first novel, The Circle of Sodom, received two nominations, one for Best First Novel and one for Best Suspense Thriller at the 2005 Love Is Murder conference in Chicago. Curlew Theatre Company entertains the primary school pupils. The aim of this group is to produce performance pieces that rely almost solely on text and voice. Norbert Stolz – animation workshop (primary school). Grafitti Classics – 16 strings, 8 dancing feet and four voices with one aim: to make classical music wickedly funny and fantastically exhilarating for everyone.

Friday 21st Tegolin Tales are in with the primary school pupils. Comedy with Danny O’Brien. Workshops conclude today, with discussion seminars of films seen during the week and plenty of food for thought for students who have studied guitar, singing, aerial dance,and literature. Our heartfelt thanks to the wonderful John Durning, Fionnuala Hannigan-Dunkley, Mike O’Sullivan and Humourfit, Tony Curtis, Fidget Feet, and Carmel Hanley and helpers in CCS. Grand Finale concert to round things off with talent from the schools, nurtured during the week! Thanks to Eily O’Grady for coordinating the Primary Schools Programme. Thanks to Mary Kelly and Jimmy O’Toole from Clifden Community School for their hard work. Thanks to Darragh McAleer and PJ Lee in the primary school.

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Day 58th September

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Day 58th September

Clifden Arts Festival acknowledges and thanks the great contribution made to the festival by our talented local musicians Eugene Barry, Marie Walsh, John Gerard Walsh, Liz and Yvonne Kane, Michael Roche, Mirella Murray, Peter Carey, Peter Carey Jnr, Michael Carey, Martin Conroy, Sean Halpenny, Kevin Barry, Michael McNamara (Clifden), Michael McNamara (Roundstone), Feichin Mitchell, Adam Conroy, Aidan Curran, Kieran Coyne, Frank Coyne, PJ McInerney, Pat Flaherty, Pat Keaney, Phil Coyne, Gerry Hannon, Simon Kearns, Tom Scullion, David Slevin, Danny Scullion, Nicholas Timothy, Tom Mullen, Paddy Newman, Richie Newman, Eamon McLoughlin, Tom Wallace, Liam Aspell, John Durning, Jarlath Hession, Paul Mulligan, Pat O’Toole, James Mullen, Michael Connolly, Martin Sullivan, Eileen O’Malley, Shane Flaherty, Kenneth Coyne, Alan Shattock, Fionnuala Hannigan-Dunkley, Lol Hardiman, Shona Flaherty, and Fiachra OʼRegan. Clifden Arts Festival thanks the Clifden Town Hall Committee: Mary Carey, Louisa Jack, Ivor Duane and Eoin Heanue. Thanks to Mary McDonagh and Percy Hyland for running the Festival Box Office and for their enormous help with administration. Thanks also to David Beecher, Mary Lydon, and Evelyn King. Thanks to Bernhard Sanders for his digital archiving expertise and the use of his photos. Thanks to Paddy Howard for the use of his photos.

A big thank you to Clifden Tidy Towns for their hard work and dedication to the town of Clifden all year round. Special Thanks to Reverend Stan Evans and Isobel Marinot-Wood for the use of the Church of Ireland. Thanks to Brian Thornburg and Frankie Hill for all his assistance over the years. We are profoundly grateful to Fr. James Ronayne for the use of St. Josephʼs Church. Clifden Arts Festival acknowledges the support of Sandra Price and the

Dublin International Piano Competition.

Clifden Arts Festival Remembers Maurice Hayes, Eamon Campbell, Eoin Bourke, Pat Fitzpatrick, Richard Murphy, Tom Mannion, Liam O’Flynn, Tom Murphy, Liam Ó Muirthile, Sean McSweeney, John Coolahan, Vincent Legett, Owen Coyne, Jamie Scullion, Myrtle Allen, Tom Moore, Big Tom McBride, Sheila Nee, Jamie Howard, Brian Moran, Mick Gaughan, Garecg de Brún, Liam Devally, Fergus Cahill.

Clifden Arts Festival Volunteer Programme The Festival Committee would welcome the participation of members of the community in giving a little of their time and help as volunteers in various areas during the festival. All help and assistance would be greatly appreciated. For further information we can be contacted at: admin@clifdenartfestival.ie. Thanks to Veronica Anderson and Janet Mercer for all their help with the Volunteer Programme.

GENERAL PROGRAMME photo by S. Damani

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Wednesday 12th September FÍBÍN TEO THEATRE GROUP PRESENTS

Jeramee, Hartleby and Oooglemore

TIME 12PM DAY WEDNESDAY 12TH SEPTEMBER VENUE STATION HOUSE THEATRE ADMISSION €5 It is a joy to open Clifden Arts Festival with theatre, especially for our youngest audience, promoting the festival’s belief in the power of the arts in education. Jeramee, Hartleby and Oooglemore are at the seaside. Things happen – Hartleby spends a lot of time being bossy and trying to find the perfect spot. Oooglemore does some crazy dancing, shows off a bit, hits the shuttlecock too hard, loses it, spoils the game. Hartleby goes off in a huff. Jeramee makes it all OK. Revelling in delightful innocence and glorious stupidity, Jeramee, Hartleby and Oooglemore is a surprising and surreal encounter with three people who have a lot to say but only three words with which to say it. Tá Jeramee, Hartleby agus Ooglemore cois trá. Tá go leor ag tarlú – caitheann Hartleby go leor ama ag tabhairt orduithe agus é ag iarraidh an áit is fearr ar an trá a aimsiú. Tosaíonn Oooglemore ag damhsa agus ag déanamh gaisce ach buaileann sé an liathróid go róchrua, cailleann sé é, agus milleann sé an cluiche. Imíonn Hartleby leis agus é crosta. Cuireann Jeramee gach rud ina cheart arís. Baineann Jeramee, Hartleby agus Oooglemore sásamh agus só as a soineantacht álainn agus as a n-amaideacht aoibhinn féin. Tagann an triúr seo le chéile agus neart le rá acu ach gan ach trí fhocal acu lena rá.

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Wednesday 12th September READING WITH

John O’Donnell, Tony Curtis and Seán Ó Coistealbha with music by Marie Walsh and friends John O’Donnell’s work has been published and broadcast in Ireland, the UK, the US, Australia and New Zealand. Awards include the Irish National Poetry Prize, the Ireland Funds Prize, the Irish Times/Anna Livia Prize, and the Hennessy Poetry Award. He also won the Hennessy Award for Fiction. His most recent work, Sunlight: New and Selected Poems, was published earlier this year; his other publications include Some Other Country (2002), Icarus Sees His Father Fly (2004), and On Water (2014). A senior counsel, he lives and works in Dublin. Festival regular Tony Curtis was born in Dublin in 1955, and studied literature at the University of Essex and Trinity College, Dublin. Recent publications include Approximately in the Key of C (2015) and Pony (2013). In 1993, his poem ‘The Dowser and the Child’ won the Poetry Ireland/Friends Provident National Poetry Competition, while These Hills won the Book Stop Poetry Prize. In 2003 he was awarded the Varuna House Exchange Fellowship to Australia. Seán Ó Coistealbha has published two poetry books, Stadhan (2012) and Dídean (2002). He has been closely involved in Irish language theatre since 1980, taking many parts in plays with the Taibhdhearc and Aisteoirí an Spidéil. He has considerable experience in community development, education and the Irish language, and has been chief executive officer of Muintearas since 1996. Seán is closely associated with diaspora projects and has done much for Irish speakers in Canada and the US. See page 46 for details on Marie Walsh. TIME 5PM DAY WEDNESDAY 12TH SEPTEMBER VENUE STATION HOUSE THEATRE ADMISSION €5

MUSIC WITH

HighTime This fresh new trio from the heart of Connemara combines Irish music and an intriguing blend of modern folk influences to produce a rich sound and exciting experience. Featuring a lineup of flute, whistles, harp, bodhrán, guitar and vocals – with some Irish dancing steps thrown in! – HighTime make a youthful and energetic statement. Equal measures of music and tradition, coupled with bold new arrangements, make for a tasty platter of music, song, and dance. Band members Conall and Séamus Flaherty (brothers) and Ciarán Bolger (friend and neighbour) have a unique musical connection through so many years of performing together. HighTime play with a breathtaking energy and passion that is simultaneously effortless, drivingly soulful, and fun. No doubt their music and energy-fuelled performance will get the hands clapping and toes tapping! Sponsored by Anne Ueltschi. TIME 7:30PM DAY WEDNESDAY 12TH SEPTEMBER VENUE STATION HOUSE HOTEL ADMISSION €8 SEE ALSO GIGS LISTING ON PAGE 80 Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Thursday 13th September LECTURE BY

Hugh Duffy A forensic student of history, Hugh Duffy reflects on David Olusoga and Casper Erichsen’s haunting history The Kaiser’s Holocaust and its far-reaching consequences. Hugh has been a regular visitor for more than 50 years to his home in Aughrusmore, and has lived there permanently for the past five years. Reading history is his hobby. An accountant by profession, he has a long and varied career that commenced in the early 1950s in Dublin County Council. He moved to the Dublin Health Authority and then to RTÉ, where he worked from its inception until 1970. He has worked in the handbag manufacturing business, in Ryan’s Hotel, Dunkeld Holdings, Swan Tours, the Catholic Communication Institute, and the Irish Music Rights Organisation. TIME 10AM DAY THURSDAY 13TH SEPTEMBER VENUE OMEY SUITE, STATION HOUSE HOTEL ADMISSION €5

Moon Magic

HARP RECITAL WITH

Kathleen Loughnane Highly regarded for her work in arranging traditional Irish dance tunes and airs for the harp, Kathleen Loughnane will perform a selection of arrangements based on her research into 17th and 18th century music. Her repertoire this lunchtime will focus on newly arranged music from the manuscripts of Patrick O’Neill (1765-1832) from Co Kilkenny. These take in several musical traditions, including those of Ireland, Scotland, England and wider Europe. The manuscripts, which reflect the cultural and social changes of the late 17th and early 18th centuries and the European musical influences that were seeping into the Irish repertoire at the time, were published by the National Library in 2008.

Moon Magic, a group of people with different abilities, invites you to go on a dramatic journey filled with song, rhyme and mime along the Wild Atlantic Way. Devised and directed by Roz Coyne. Following Moon Magic’s performance, there will be an unveiling of Críost Linn’s indoor mural. All welcome.

In 1999, Kathleen co-founded the group Dordán, with whom she has toured extensively overseas and whose mix of Irish and baroque music has received wide acclaim. Kathleen was nominated in the Traditional Music category for the Meteor Awards in 2010. She has four CDs and accompanying books of harp arrangements, the most recent being The Harpers Connellan.

Sponsored by Pobal.

Sponsored by Cullen’s Bistro and Coffee House.

TIME 12PM DAY THURSDAY 13TH SEPTEMBER VENUE STATION HOUSE THEATRE ADMISSION €5

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

TIME 1PM DAY THURSDAY 13TH SEPTEMBER VENUE CHURCH OF IRELAND ADMISSION €8

Thursday 13th September READING WITH

Fred Johnston and Terry Gifford Fred Johnston was born in Belfast in 1951. Most recently, his poems have appeared in The Spectator, the New Statesman, and a short story in Stand magazine; some more new work is also due to appear there. A collection of short stories, Dancing In The Asylum, was published by Parthian a couple of years ago, and his most recent collection of poetry is Alligator Days (Revival Press). A new collection, Rogue States, is due from Salmon Poetry this autumn. In 1986, Fred founded Galway’s annual literature festival, Cúirt; in 2002, he was writer-in-residence to the Princess Grace Irish Library at Monaco. Fred has published nine collections of poems, four novels and two collections of short stories, and won a Hennessy Literary Award for prose in 1972. He has written and published (in France) poems in French, along with translations. In 2002, he received a Prix de l’Ambassade. His short stories have been translated into French and German and his poems into Italian. He is a reviewer of poetry for Books Ireland and reviews also for Poetry Ireland, and he contributes regular prose pieces to RTÉ’s Sunday Miscellany. Who are the fools in our world of climate change? Certainly himself, Terry Gifford admits in his seriously playful eighth collection, A Feast of Fools, which Simon Armitage says ‘combines the accuracy of the field-note with the drama and force of the dream.’ Terry Gifford is visiting research fellow at the Research Centre for Environmental Humanities at Bath Spa University, UK and professor honorifico at the University of Alicante, Spain. He has recently edited Ted Hughes in Context for Cambridge University Press, his seventh book on Hughes. Sponsored by Stephen Cullinane. TIME 2PM DAY THURSDAY 13TH SEPTEMBER VENUE CLIFDEN LIBRARY ADMISSION €5

READING WITH

E.M. Reapy and Michael Gorman with

Songs by Brian O’Rourke

E.M. Reapy is from Mayo and has an MA in creative writing from Queen’s University, Belfast. In 2016, her debut novel Red Dirt was published by Head of Zeus. It won Newcomer of the Year at the 2016 Irish Book Awards and the 2017 Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. Reapy is currently a UNESCO Dublin City of Literature writer-in-residence. Michael Gorman was born in Sligo and educated at Summerhill College and National University College Galway, where he taught for many years. He has edited The Mayo Anthology (Mayo Co. Council) and 21: An Anthology (NUIG). He is a former editor of ‘Writing In The West’ in the Connacht Tribune. His most recent collection was Up She Flew (Salmon Poetry, 1991). His work has been included in prominent anthologies, including Voices and Poetry of Ireland (Harper Collins), Lifelines: New and Collected (Town House) and Windharp: Poems of Ireland since 1916 (Penguin). Sponsored by Pat Molloy. TIME 4PM DAY THURSDAY 13TH SEPTEMBER VENUE STATION HOUSE THEATRE ADMISSION €10 41ST CLIFDEN ARTS FESTIVAL

Official Opening John Crumlish, CEO of Galway International Arts Festival, will open the 41st Clifden Arts Festival. TIME 7PM DAY THURSDAY 13TH SEPTEMBER VENUE WEST CONNEMARA LEISURE CENTRE SHUTTLE DEPARTS CLIFDEN LIBRARY 6:15PM ADMISSION FREE EVENT Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Thursday 13th September

MUSIC WITH

Declan Nerney Born and raised in Co. Longford, Declan Nerney grew up in thrall to international greats like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, as well as stars of the Irish showband scene such as Joe Dolan, Big Tom, Philomena Begley and The Capital Showband. As a young boy, he would beg his mother to attend the Marquee in Drumlish festival each summer, where he would stand close to the stage and watch every move made by guitarists like Dan O’Hara and Seamus McMahon. Declan taught himself to play guitar and, aged 16, started playing with local showband, the Hi-Los. He went on to play with Gene Stuart and the Homesteaders for six years, and played and sang with Brian Coll and the Buckaroos for a further eight years. After some years of moving between bands, and despite the marked decline in the popularity of showbands during the 1980s, Nerney embarked upon a solo career. A prolific recording artist, he has a huge following and has enjoyed success as a live performer in Ireland, Scotland, England and the US. As well as singing country standards, Nerney composes his own songs, often in collaboration with Henry McMahon. Sponsored by GMT Ireland. TIME 9PM DAY THURSDAY 13TH SEPTEMBER VENUE CLIFDEN TOWN HALL ADMISSION €15

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

MUSIC WITH

Síomha Brock

with support from 9:30pm Síomha’s beautifully crafted songs and soulful melodies have been captivating audiences and garnering her fans across the globe. With her powerful voice and extraordinary guitar skills, she dances the line between folk, jazz and neo-soul effortlessly, transcending musical boundaries. From a Co Clare family steeped in music, Síomha grew up on a diet of musical greats, with the sounds of jazz, traditional Irish, folk and soul leaving an indelible mark on her musical tastes and influences. She first took up jazz guitar as a teenager on a visit to the south of France, when an Italian gypsy taught her the manouche gypsy jazz style. The chords and sounds of jazz fascinated and inspired Síomha, and she began to craft her own songs. After playing and travelling across Europe, North America and Mexico, she returned to Ireland in 2016 and performed at some of the country’s leading music festivals. She had the most-played song on RTÉ Radio 1 in July 2017 and finished the year touring as special guest with Paul Brady. Performing in both English and Irish, this soulful style of music is sure to enthral anyone who hasn’t yet heard it. TIME 10PM DAY THURSDAY 13TH SEPTEMBER VENUE MULLARKEY'S BAR ADMISSION €8

Friday 14th September TALK BY BENIG MAUGER

Navigating the Dark Night of the Soul

Most of us are afraid of our depressions and ‘dark nights of the soul,’ yet the mystics and poets saw these as times of deep, immense soul growth. Join Benig Mauger, Jungian psychotherapist and author, in a talk that will help you navigate your own dark nights.

‘It is only in the state of complete abandonment and loneliness that we experience the helpful powers of our own nature.’ – Jung TIME 10AM DAY FRIDAY 14TH SEPTEMBER VENUE FOYLE'S HOTEL ADMISSION €5

Inishbofin Field Trip Inishbofin was first mentioned by the Venerable Bede in the early 8th century, as a refuge for Northumbrian monks. It was raided by the Vikings in 795 AD and long retained strong associations with AngloSaxon England. Located on the border between two powerful Gaelic maritime lordships, the O’Malleys and the O’Flahertys, Inishbofin has a turbulent history. It was the last Gaelic stronghold to fall to Cromwell, and subsequently had strong links with 17thcentury France and 18th-century America. Dozens of Bronze Age monuments mark its earlier history and will be visited during the trip. Its coastline boasts dramatic sea cliffs and caves and a rich variety of marine life. Meeting at 11am at Cleggan Pier, return on 5pm ferry. Booking in advance to 095 21379 or email info@walkingireland.com. TIME 11AM DAY FRIDAY 14TH SEPTEMBER VENUE CLEGGAN PIER ADMISSION €40 PER PERSON

CHRISTOPHER FITZ-SIMON

A Life in the Touring Theatre in Conversation with Des Lally Author Christopher Fitz-Simon talks about his life in the touring theatre. Christopher was one of the earliest Irish television drama directors in the 1960s. He became literary manager of the Abbey Theatre, having been artistic director of the Irish Theatre Company and of the Lyric Theatre, Belfast. He has lectured in 12 countries on four continents. Among his books are The Boys, a biography of Hilton Edwards and Micheál MacLíammóir, Eleven Houses, a memoir of 1940s Ireland, and Buffoonery and Easy Sentiment, a revaluation of popular 19thcentury Irish theatre. His most recent publication Rise Above! is a selection of private letters sent from many parts of the world by the celebrated theatre director Tyrone Guthrie (1900-1971) to his mother at Annaghmakerrig, Co Monaghan, his sister in Kilkenny, and his wife, Judith, in London. The letters disclose as much about Guthrie’s celebrated colleagues – among them the Oliviers, Alec Guinness, Ninette de Valois, Joan Cross, Benjamin Britten, Siobhán McKenna, Charles Laughton, Renata Tebaldi, Thornton Wilder – as they do about his personal relationships. Guthrie is at his best with intimate descriptions – admiring, critical, hilarious – of the personalities and places of his theatre engagements. Among the most vivid are those of Tel Aviv, where he was hugely impressed by the social and educational achievements of the burgeoning Israeli state and of Burnley in the north of England, where he was charged with the professional lives of over 200 members of the Sadler’s Wells Opera and Ballet and the Old Vic Theatre Company, evacuated from the London blitz of WW2. Sponsored by Ciarán and Anne MacLoughlin. TIME 11AM DAY FRIDAY 14TH SEPTEMBER VENUE STATION HOUSE THEATRE ADMISSION €10 Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Friday 14th September CONCERT WITH

Frankie Gavin and Brendan O’Regan Two of Ireland’s master musicians join forces for a special concert for Clifden Arts Festival 2018. Frankie Gavin (fiddle, flute) and Brendan O’Regan (bouzouki, mandolin) will play a oneoff concert for this year’s festival. Both Frankie and Brendan are very highly regarded in traditional music and have been at its forefront for many decades. Sponsored by John Stanley. Frankie won Traditional Musician of the year 2018 at the TG4 Gradam Ceoil awards. A co-founder of Dé Dannan, Frankie has recorded with Irish musicians such as Andy Irvine and Sharon Shannon, and international acts including Elvis Costello and The Rolling Stones.

photo by Con Kelleher

Composer and producer Brendan O'Regan is a former member of Dé Dannan, accomplished solo artist and in-demand accompanist. He is known for his compositions for theatre, including The Druid Theatre, Galway, and the Abbey Theatre, Dublin.

TIME 1PM DAY FRIDAY 14TH SEPTEMBER VENUE ALCOCK AND BROWN HOTEL ADMISSION €10

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

READING WITH

Aifric Mac Aodha and Louis De Paor

Music by Lynn Saoirse Foreign News (2017) is Aifric Mac Aodha’s first collection with The Gallery Press. She has taught in St Petersburg, New York and Canada and has lectured in old and modern Irish at UCD. She lives in Dublin, where she works for Irish-language publisher An Gúm. Her poetry is both playful and exact. As Clíona Ní Ríordáin put it in The Irish Times: ‘If the subject matter of her poems is serious, the images that are dotted throughout the volume are engaging and contemporary, they include a laconic DJ, Marilyn Monroe and her voluminous skirts and the crackle of electricity.’ Louis de Paor has been involved with the contemporary renaissance of poetry in Irish since 1980 when he was first published in the poetry journal Innti, which he subsequently edited. A four-time winner of the Oireachtas prize for the best collection of poems in Irish, he lived in Australia from 1987 to 1996. Ag Greadadh Bás sa Reilig/Clapping In the Cemetery was published by Cló Iar-Chonnacht in 2005, with a second bilingual volume Agus Rud Eile de/And Another Thing in 2010. Tá ocht gcnuasach bunfhilíochta agus roinnt leabhar dhátheangach foilsithe ag Louis de Paor. Ina measc san, tá Grá Fiar (2016), Rogha Dánta (2014), agus The Brindled Cat and the Nightingale’s Tongue (2014). Tá príomhdhuais filíochta an Oireachtais don gcnuasach is fearr sa Ghaeilge buaite aige ceithre huaire. Sponsored by Kiara and Declan Mannion. TIME 3PM DAY FRIDAY 14TH SEPTEMBER VENUE STATION HOUSE THEATRE ADMISSION €10

Friday 14th September BOOK LAUNCH

See The Wood From The Trees by Marion McGarry and Dermot O’Donovan Tadhg O’Mahony, senior scientific officer at the Environmental Protection Agency, will launch See The Wood From The Trees by Marion McGarry and Dermot O’Donovan (Artisan House, Letterfrack, 2018).

READING WITH

Paul Durcan Clifden Arts Festival welcomes back Paul Durcan, one of Ireland’s most distinctive poets. The Dublin-born poets writings are funny subversive narratives and selfmocking poems of underachievement, poems celebrating love and sex of the lives of famous writers and artists, as well as tender verses commemorating the dead. He is respected as a critical commentator on Irish history and society, and won the Whitbread Poetry Award for his collection Daddy, Daddy (1990). Some of his most recent collections include The Art of Life; The Laughter of Mothers; Life is a Dream and Praise in Which I Live and Move and Have My Being. Writing of his 2008 collection The Laughter of Mothers, Dr Eve Patton said: ‘For all that Durcan’s voice here is a melancholy one, it is still radical and intense, displaying those combined characteristics of conscience, humour, iconoclasm and lyricism which account for his continued popularity both inside and outside his native Ireland.’ Sponsored by Truly and Bobby Gilmore. TIME 5PM DAY FRIDAY 14TH SEPTEMBER VENUE STATION HOUSE THEATRE ADMISSION €10

Stunningly designed and highly visual, See The Wood From The Trees documents the story of trees felled by storms in Áras an Uachtaráin and subsequently gifted by the President, Michael D. Higgins and his wife, Sabina, to GMIT Letterfrack. Around this simple but inspired gesture, the book tells of the chequered history of trees in Ireland as well as the story of Áras an Uachtaráin and the plantations in its grounds. It also tells the remarkable story of the transformation of a central building in the Quaker-founded village of Letterfrack, from its use as an industrial school to the home of a GMIT campus through partnership with Connemara West. In a thoughtful foreword, President Higgins speaks of the connection between Áras an Uachtaráin and Letterfrack as ‘one founded on innovation and artistic vision’. Architect and broadcaster Duncan Stewart provides the introduction to the book, and its expressive visuals are complemented by the poems The Farmleigh Tree Alphabet by Theo Dorgan. The book is available in three formats: a hardback edition; a special limited hardback edition; and a deluxe limited edition. The hardback edition is available in bookshops, while the special and deluxe limited editions are available directly from Artisan House. TIME 6:30PM DAY FRIDAY 14TH SEPTEMBER VENUE O'MALLEY'S BAR ADMISSION FREE EVENT Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Day 58th September

Wallis Bird TIME 9PM DAY FRIDAY 14TH SEPTEMBER VENUE STATION HOUSE THEATRE ADMISSION €20 ‘Wild and unpredictable,’ Wallis Bird cannot – and should not – be easily pigeonholed. Capable of the delicate, gossamer-thin ballads that her tiny, five-foottwo frame would suggest, she can also summon up a whirlwind of passion and rage in the blink of an eye. Her performances can transition seamlessly from defiant anthems that can motivate thousands of festivalgoers into a rousing sing-a-long, to the most hushed and fragile ballads that can captivate an audience for spellbound silence. A two-time Irish Meteor Award winner, mostly recently for Best Female Artist, and a nominee for Ireland’s prestigious Choice Music Prize, Bird has toured with Billy Bragg, The Gossip, Emiliana Torrini, ZAZ, The Feeling and Rodrigo y Gabriela, among others. She has played sold-out headline shows and some of the biggest festivals around Europe – her performance at Paris’ Rock en Seine festival was so powerful that one of France’s biggest newspapers, Le Monde, singled her out alongside Arcade Fire as the highlight of the festival. Wherever Wallis can be found, she stands out as a powerful, contradictory presence – one that can unite audiences anywhere she plays. Sponsored by Paula and Peter Vine. Photo by Jens Oellermann.

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Friday 14th September

Dr. Mindflip with support by The Curley Organ Dr. Mindflip are a delightfully-bizarre bunch that weave their considerable musical chops into a scintillating blur of styles. This is Supertramp on the tear with David Lynch, the manic energy of The Mighty Boosh jamming with the sneering spectre of Frank Zappa – intense, atmospheric, impossibly catchy music. The Doctor himself holds the show together on keys and coaxes jazzy avant-pop from the aristocratic Owly, soulful saxwielding Sage, gently unnerving Dollhead, and a very cheerful drummer. Last year, Dr Mindflip packed Mullarkey’s Bar with grooves and grins – we’re delighted to have them back to give our 2018 programme a potent shot of the surreal. Fresh from a string of summer festivals (including Vantastival, Doolin Folk Festival, Cruthú, Arcadian Field, Secret Village, Stendhal, and Electric Picnic) the good Doctor and his musical minions are bound to give Clifden another unforgettable night. TIME 10PM DAY FRIDAY 14TH SEPTEMBER VENUE MULLARKEY'S BAR ADMISSION €8

‘This record is definitely the weirdest album I’ve listened to in the last year... it’s cheesy, trippy, jazzy and I love it. Sweet piano melodies and bitter vocals follow with additions of a trippy organ and saxophones. At times haunting and at times spectacular. This album is just one that a person has to experience for themselves!’ – Reyt Good Music TRADITIONAL MUSIC SESSION

John Joe Forde and Mike Fahy Clifden Arts Festival welcomes back John Joe Forde and Mike Fahey for their annual traditional Irish music session, bringing the rich tradition of East Galway music to Connemara in what promises to be yet another powerful night! TIME 10PM DAY FRIDAY 14TH SEPTEMBER VENUE KEOGH'S BAR ADMISSION FREE EVENT TIME 10PM DAY FRIDAY 21ST SEPTEMBER VENUE THE CENTRAL BAR ADMISSION FREE EVENT Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Saturday 15th September CURIOSITY DOES NOT KILL THE CAT

Writers’ Workshop with John Liddy Founding editor with Jim Burke of The Stony Thursday Book, John Liddy has published 11 collections of poetry in English – three with Spanish translations – as well as books for children. His own translations include the work of Irish and Spanish poets. He was Limerick City of Culture Poet-in-Residence for July 2014 and co-edited 1916-2016: An Anthology of Reactions. His latest book, Madrid and Other Poems was published earlier this year, and a collection of all his Spanish-related poems is forthcoming. Born in Co. Cork in 1954, John grew up in Limerick and took a degree with the University of Wales. He worked for many years as a teacher and librarian. He lives in Madrid and summers in Ireland. TIME 9:30AM DAY SATURDAY 15TH SEPTEMBER VENUE FOYLE'S HOTEL ADMISSION €10

WOUNDS: A MEMOIR OF WAR AND LOVE

Talk by Fergal Keane

Clifden Elf and Fairy Trail After having such fun on last year’s fairy trail, Fairy JIL and her family and friends left a message for Clifden Tidy Towns asking if they could arrange for the children to come out together again. The elves and fairies were watching the children from their safe hiding places and were delighted to see so many dressing up and having fun finding their homes. Our magical friends are delighted to be living in Clifden and love the beautiful flowers and clean streets. They are also very impressed with all the work the children are doing with their Green Flag projects! In fact, they have told Tidy Towns that they fly into the polytunnel at Scoil Mhuire and around the school garden at night to see what the children have planted. They also love the wild garden on the Ballyconneely Road, cared for by the students of Clifden Community School. More fairies have moved in during the year and we need you to find them for us, as well as saying hello to our old friends. Fancy dress for adults and children adds to the fun! Children must be accompanied by a guardian at all times. Thanks to the Connemara Pony Breeders Society.

Introduced by Kathleen Villiers-Tuthill Fergal Keane is a journalist with the BBC and an author. He received the 2018 Christopher Ewart-Biggs memorial prize for his memoir Wounds for advancing understanding of Irish history in Britain. Keane worked for many years as a foreign correspondent for the BBC, reporting on issues including the conflict in Northern Ireland, the end of apartheid in South Africa, and the Rwandan genocide. He is the nephew of Irish playwright, novelist and essayist John B. Keane. Sponsored by Dr. Ciarán and Anne MacLoughlin. TIME 11AM DAY SATURDAY 15TH SEPTEMBER VENUE STATION HOUSE THEATRE ADMISSION €15

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

TIME 11AM DAY SATURDAY 15TH SEPTEMBER VENUE STARTING AT THE SHOWGROUNDS ADMISSION €2 IN AID OF CLIFDEN TIDY TOWNS

Clifden Writers’ Group with Lynn Saoirse, Irish harp The members of this vibrant group have contributed to RTÉ’s Sunday Miscellany and regularly broadcast on Connemara Community Radio. Enjoy an hour of their poetry and stories with beautiful music. TIME 2PM DAY SATURDAY 15TH SEPTEMBER VENUE FOYLE'S HOTEL ADMISSION FREE EVENT

Saturday 15th September

Lecture by Professor Joe Lee Ireland in History:

Past, Present – and Future

CELLO AND PIANO RECITAL BY

Miriam Roycroft and Lance Coburn Beethoven Cello Sonata Op.69 in A Major Chopin Cello Sonata Op.65 Dublin-born Miriam Roycroft studied at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, winning the Muriel Taylor Cello Competition in London upon graduation. Further studies included a period in Banff, Canada, with Aldo Parisot. Miriam has performed as a soloist with the RTÉ NSO and has played many of the major concerti for cello with orchestras throughout the UK and Ireland. Her solo, chamber, orchestral and educational commitments now take her worldwide. Miriam is Principal Cello of Camerata Ireland, with whom she has toured extensively. Since winning first prize at the Tomassoni International Piano Competition, Cologne, in 2001, Lance Coburn has established himself as a charismatic performer with an exceptional facility. He has performed with many major Australian orchestras, including the Sydney Symphony, and international symphony orchestras including the RTÉ NSO and WDR RundfunkkorchesterKöln. His numerous first prizes include the inaugural Lev Vlassenko Piano Competition and the Australian Young Performers’ Award. Lance regularly plays with Irelands’ leading chamber musicians and has performed in numerous international festivals. TIME 1PM DAY SATURDAY 15TH SEPTEMBER VENUE CHURCH OF IRELAND ADMISSION €10

New York University professor John Joseph Lee – commonly known as J.J. Lee – is an Irish historian and former senator. He is emeritus Professor of History, Glucksman Professor for Irish Studies, and director of Glucksman Ireland House at New York University. Introduced by Professor Gearóid Ó Tuaghtaigh. Sponsored by Peter and Paula Vine. TIME 3PM DAY SATURDAY 15TH SEPTEMBER VENUE STATION HOUSE THEATRE ADMISSION €10 MUSIC SESSION LED BY MARIE WALSH

Youth Music Session TIME 3PM DAY SATURDAY 15TH SEPTEMBER VENUE TOM KING'S BAR ADMISSION FREE EVENT

DEFENSE FORCES MILITARY

Band 2 Brigade Band 2 Brigade was formed in 1936 and has been based in Athlone since that time. Join them as they play a mix of military, jazz and popular music. Band Conductor: Captain Thomas Kelly. Band CS: CS Terry Donovan. TIME 4PM DAY SATURDAY 15TH SEPTEMBER VENUE MARKET SQUARE ADMISSION FREE EVENT Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Saturday 15th September BOOK LAUNCH BY

John Liddy

POETRY READING AND SONGS WITH

Rita Ann Higgins and Con ‘Fada’ Ó Drisceoil Rita Ann Higgins has published 11 books of poetry, including Tongulish, Ireland Is Changing Mother, and Throw in the Vowels: New & Selected Poems, all from Bloodaxe. In 2010, Salmon published her controversial memoir, Hurting God – Part Essay Part Rhyme. She is also a playwright with a number of plays to her name, including The Plastic Bag, The Empty Frame (about the incarceration of Hanna Greally) and The Colossal Longing of Julie Connors. She has recently written two short films in Irish. The Galway-based writer’s many awards include a Peadar O’Donnell Award and several Arts Council bursaries. She is a member of Aosdána. She was described by Colette Sheridan in the Irish Examiner as ‘the people’s poet’. Con ‘Fada’ Ó Drisceoil is a songwriter and accordion player from Cork. He has written comic songs on a wide range of subjects, including canine castration, Shakespearean tragedy, unwelcome percussionists, and the wildlife of County Clare. In 2006 he published The Spoons Murder and Other Mysteries, a book and CD of his songs. In 2009 he was awarded Gradam Ceoil TG4 for his songs. His new songbook/CD is called Hunting the Hair and Other Pursuits, and tells of savage cats, anti-baldness quests, hypochondria, drunken deer, and many similarly heroic topics. TIME 5PM DAY SATURDAY 15TH SEPTEMBER VENUE ALCOCK AND BROWN HOTEL ADMISSION €10

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

From the early poem ‘Madrid Through The Eyes of a Stranger,’ first published in the bilingual collection Wine and Hope/Vino y Esperanza (1999), to the epic title poem, ‘Madrid,’ in this present collection, John Liddy returns to his adopted home, no longer a stranger but seasoned in its idiosyncrasies. It is as though he has come full circle. But he moves further afield to take in Galicia, Asturias, Atapuerca and the Ireland he has never stopped writing about. Madrid and Other Poems takes the reader beyond place and country into the heart of modern living with its political and social upheavals. The tribute poem to poets past and present and the questioning, religious-social poem are also to be found in this, his eleventh collection. The book is Liddy’s unrelentless search for whatever truths may be found in the writing of poems. He is concerned with what the eye observes and how thoughts reveal or unfold. TIME 6:30PM DAY SATURDAY 15TH SEPTEMBER VENUE O'MALLEY'S BAR ADMISSION FREE EVENT

Evening Trad at E.J.’s Great traditional music with Paddy Buckley (banjo), David Kinsella (pipes), James Kinsella (accordion), and Michael Buckley (fiddle). TIME 6PM DAY SATURDAY 15TH SEPTEMBER VENUE E.J.KING'S BAR ADMISSION FREE EVENT DOUBLE-BILL

My Fellow Sponges support by Nick Timothy with special guests TIME 10PM DAY SATURDAY 15TH SEPTEMBER VENUE MULLARKEY'S BAR ADMISSION €8

David Power is a master of the uilleann pipes. Influenced by the great pipers of the past, he has won All-Ireland and Oireachtas piping prizes and makes appearances at many international festivals. He has three critically acclaimed solo recordings: My Love is in America, Cuachín Ghleann Neifin, and The Eighteen Moloney. He regularly performs with fiddle player Martin Hayes and his most recent collaboration is a project for stage with Kerry Hardie and Olivia O’Leary, based on the 6th century Irish Christian church. Camerata Kilkenny specialises in the performance of Baroque music, although many of its programmes combine 17th and 18th century music with the works of contemporary composers. Since its début recital at the Kilkenny Arts Festival in August 1999 the ensemble has performed in Switzerland, Austria, Finland, Italy, The Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Estonia, Latvia and at all of Ireland’s major music festivals. It has been ensemble in residence at the CC Maasmechelen Festival in Belgium (2010) and the Kilkenny Arts Festival (2014). Camerata Kilkenny has recorded two CDs on the Maya Recordings label: H.I.F. Biber’s Mystery Sonatas (shortlisted for the ‘Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik’ award) and J.S. Bach’s Musical Offering with Dutch flautist Wilbert Hazelzet. In 2018 Camerata Kilkenny and David Power have toured to Belgium, Germany and Finland. David Power and Camerata Kilkenny’s most recent CD, The Piper and the Fairy Queen, is now available on the RTÉ Lyric FM label.

The Piper and the

Fairy Queen Camerata Kilkenny with David Power, Uilleann Pipes Claire Duff, baroque violin Marja Gaynor, baroque violin Nathan Sherman, viola Norah O’Leary, baroque cello Malcolm Proud, harpsichord TIME 7PM DAY SATURDAY 15TH SEPTEMBER VENUE CHURCH OF IRELAND ADMISSION €15 Sponsored by Helen and Vincent Foley. Photo by Dylan Vaughan.

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Day 58th September

Lisa Hannigan ‘Haunting… Hannigan moves to the dark side’ – Uncut Sponsored by Rosanne and Peter O’Grady Walsh.

TIME 9PM DAY SATURDAY 15TH SEPTEMBER VENUE STATION HOUSE THEATRE ADMISSION €15

Lisa Hannigan’s third album At Swim is out now on Play It Again Sam. Produced by Aaron Dessner, her third – and arguably most bewitching – record follows the doubleplatinum, Mercury-nominated debut Sea Sew, and 2011’s Passenger, which charted at number one in Ireland, and earned Lisa another Choice Music Prize nomination. After playing in support of Passenger for nearly two years, Lisa struggled at first to write new material. A new relationship meant that she was dividing her time between Dublin and London; adrift and lost, she threw herself into distraction instead. There was an acting debut as a mermaid in the Oscar-nominated animation Song of the Sea, soundtrack work on Fargo, and the Oscar-winning score for Gravity, all the while founding and co-hosting the acclaimed Soundings podcast, which saw Lisa turn interviewer and speak to guests such as Harry Shearer, Sharon Horgan, and David Arnold.

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

The breakthrough came when Hannigan got an email out of the blue from Aaron Dessner, guitarist with The National and producer for the likes of Sharon Van Etten and Local Natives. Taking up Dessner’s suggestion to work together and rediscovering the collaborative spirit she’d missed in Dublin enabled Lisa to see her time in London in a different light. So, while At Swim is in part about homesickness and isolation, it’s also – profoundly and very movingly – about love. Having first exchanged ideas over email and iPhones, At Swim surfaced when Lisa and Aaron finally met up in Denmark; recording then took place in a church in Hudson, New York, during a furiously creative seven-day stint. Despite being written while openly ‘lost at sea’, you sense that at this point in her career, Lisa Hannigan is now a strong enough swimmer to go as far out as she wants, to darker depths than before, where the treasure lies, and to bring it back to us.

Sunday 16th September LECTURE BY MICHAEL GIBBONS

Ballynahinch Castle and the O’Flaherty Lords of Connemara in Folklore, History and Archaeology This year marks the 300th anniversary of the death of the Gaelic lord and scholar Ruaidhri Maic Aodha Ó Flaithbheartaigh and is an opportune time to explore the history of human settlement in a place synonymous with the O’Flahertys, Ballynahinch Castle estate – following recent discoveries, we now know that settlement there dates back over 7,000 years. The talk’s key focus will be on the lake island cashel-castle and the cast of extraordinary figures associated with it. It began life as an island cashel or stone crannóg built by the local O’Cadhla lords, who fought with the O’Briens at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014. It was later transformed into the lake castle we see today by the incoming O’Flaherty lords, who replaced the O’Cadhlas and other leading Connemara families in the 13th century. The O’Flahertys had been driven westward by the English de Burgo lords. In the late Middle Ages, the castle was fought over by various branches of the O’Flahertys before they lost out in the wars of the 17th century. During the 18th century, the Martins gained control of the estate and transformed the old castle into a summer palace and, later, brew house. The O’Flahertys, despite losing most of their lands, managed to survive in Connemara and on Aran as major players into the 19th century. TIME 10AM DAY SUNDAY 16TH SEPTEMBER VENUE STATION HOUSE THEATRE ADMISSION €5 IN AID OF THE MENTAL HEALTH ASSOCIATION

Coffee Morning TIME 11:30AM DAY SUNDAY 16TH SEPTEMBER VENUE ELM TREE CENTRE ADMISSION FREE EVENT

MUSIC WITH

The Whileaways

Noelie McDonnell, Nicola Joyce and Noriana Kennedy Three powerful forces in Irish roots music, Noelie McDonnell, Nicola Joyce and Noriana Kennedy combine as The Whileaways to create a beguiling tapestry of harmonies, tradition and beautifully crafted original songs. All three write and sing, drawing on their own experience, and the result is captivating. These three singers could all front their own projects, and indeed have, with six previous albums to their collective credit. Having toured separately, they came to know each other’s singing on home ground while playing sessions in the folk melting pot of Galway city. Dipping their toe in the water as a trio, they were hailed as ‘a knockout of the festival’ at the legendary Port Fairy Folk Festival, Australia in 2012, and have continued to make waves in the folk music scene both at home and abroad since then. Prepare to be spellbound. Sponsored by Petra McDonnell. TIME 1PM DAY SUNDAY 16TH SEPTEMBER VENUE CHURCH OR IRELAND ADMISSION €10 Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Sunday 16th September ACROSS THE WATERS WIDE

Robyn Rowland and Friends

MUSIC WITH

Betty and the Baby Boomers The Clifden Arts Festival is delighted to welcome back Betty and the Baby Boomers. The group first performed here in 1993. Over many visits since, the students in the Boomers’ audiences back then have grown up; their children now listen to the group in Clifden’s schools. The Boomers are older, too, but their music is timeless, featuring songs by Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan and others who shaped the ‘baby boomer’ generation in America. Betty Boomer, Jean McAvoy, Paul Rubeo, Steve Stanne, and Robert Bard create distinctive arrangements for these classics as well as recent songs in that tradition; original compositions, and selections inspired by their experiences in Ireland.

‘Exquisite harmonies that grab your heart and lyrics that tickle your brain and stir your soul’ – Middletown NY Times Herald-Record

‘A refreshing reminder of the halcyon days of American folk music’ – Sing Out! US folk song magazine TIME 2PM DAY SUNDAY 16TH SEPTEMBER VENUE MANNION'S BAR ADMISSION FREE EVENT SEE GIGS LISTING ON PAGE 80 FOR ADDITIONAL APPEARANCES.

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Robyn Rowland has published 13 books, including ten poetry collections. In Mosaics from the Map (Doire, 2018) history is lived in personal stories in Ireland, Turkey, the Balkans and Australia. Robyn’s poetry appears in over 40 anthologies, including eight editions of Best Australian Poems. Fellow Australian Gina Mercer has published six collections of poetry, most recently A Dictionary of Water (Abridged) (2018). Bringing poetry into the everyday world is a passion for Gina – who teaches creative writing and literature – and her work has been acclaimed as ‘accessible’, ‘witty’ and ‘engaging’. Marie Walsh is a multi-instrumentalist and music teacher. A triple Senior All-Ireland Champion on piano, button accordion and tune composition, she is an organizer of Clifden Traditional Music Festival and chairperson of the local Comhaltas branch. TIME 2:30PM DAY SUNDAY 16TH SEPTEMBER VENUE STATION HOUSE THEATRE ADMISSION €5

Reading and Singing in the Bookies This spellbinding entertainment is now in its ninth year! Poems, songs and recitations about horses, ponies and greyhounds are presented by an assortment of local and national crowd-pleasers. The audience exceeds the gatherings in Paddy Power bookmakers for derbies or grand nationals! It is co-compered by Des Kavanagh and Pete Molineux. An atmosphere of banter and high culture pervades. Paddy Power kindly sponsors cheese and wine. TIME 6PM DAY SUNDAY 16TH SEPTEMBER VENUE PADDY POWER'S ADMISSION €5

Sunday 16th September READING BY

James Harpur and John F. Deane with music by The Kane Sisters, Liz and Yvonne James Harpur will read from his new collection of poems, The White Silhouette, which explores the numinous in a snowy pilgrimage from West Cork to Dorset, the mystery of Russian icons, the Perseids meteor shower, and the medieval Celtic art of the Book of Kells. The title poem is a ‘compelling spiritual memoir’ (TLS) of ‘missed encounters’ in the landscapes of Tipperary, Wiltshire, and Patmos. James is poetry editor of Temenos and a member of Aosdána. His awards include the Michael Hartnett Prize, the Vincent Buckley Award, and the UK National Poetry Competition. He writes poetry in the wilds of West Cork and appears regularly on RTÉ’s Sunday Miscellany and A Living Word. John F. Deane has published several collections of poetry, as well as some fiction. He is a winner of the O’Shaughnessy Award for Irish Poetry, the Marten Toonder Award for Literature, and poetry prizes from Italy and Romania. John was elected secretary-general of the European Academy of Poetry in 1996. A member of Aosdána, he has been shortlisted for both the T. S. Eliot Prize and the Irish Times Poetry Now Award, and awarded residencies in Bavaria, Monaco and Paris. From North Connemara, The Kane Sisters – fiddle players Liz and Yvonne Kane – are much respected musicians and educators. Liz and Yvonne toured the world with accordion player Sharon Shannon for three years as members of her band, The Woodchoppers, before embarking on a career together. They have recorded three albums, as well as working to educate the next generation of traditional musicans along the West coast. Their most recent album, Side by Side, was released in 2010. TIME 4PM DAY SUNDAY 16TH SEPTEMBER VENUE STATION HOUSE THEATRE ADMISSION €10

Triskele Triskele (pronounced TrisKay-lee) is an allfemale Celtic band out of Albany, New York. They are known for their stunning harmonies, their use of the Irish language, and for their distinctive wit. Triskele not only revitalizes the Irish language, but weaves history and traditions about growing up in Ireland, lending a deeper appreciation of aural history.

Noeleen Druckenmiller – Bodhrán Sharon Wheeler – Guitar Jenn Kilinski – Flute, tin whistle TIME 8PM DAY SUNDAY 16TH SEPTEMBER VENUE ALCOCK AND BROWN HOTEL ADMISSION €5

Mama Kin Spender with support from 9:30pm Mama Kin Spender is a lightning bolt moment between two long-time friends, co-writers and mischief-makers: ARIAnominated Mama Kin and producer Tommy Spender. It’s a stripped-back duo of brooding guitars, primal drums and howling harmonies, illuminated by a chorus of singers arranged by Virginia Bott (Brighter Later, First Chorus Band of Singers). Mama Kin Spender’s songs rattle, roll and tremble, from block party to heart-rending ballad. With a sound that is as raw as it is joyful, Mama Kin Spender brings the collective, collaborative and chaotic, inviting you to traverse the golden magnetic. Their album, The Golden Magnetic, is out now on Star House Collective. TIME 10PM DAY SUNDAY 16TH SEPTEMBER VENUE MULLARKEY'S BAR ADMISSION €8 Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Kicking All The Boxes is the story of Naoise, a one-time champion kickboxer. We meet Naoise on her 15th birthday as she returns from winning a European kickboxing title; we next meet her 15 years later, on her 30th birthday, and, as the piece progresses, we are taken along three paths of the person she may become. Reminiscent of a theatrical Sliding Doors, Kicking All The Boxes examines decisions and consequences, and the impact they can have on the journey a life can take. It holds a mirror up to a whole generation of 20- and 30-something-year-old women and asks: what do you do when life no longer parties with you, but instead looms large with the big questions? Do you batter it into submission until, kicking and screaming, it stops asking what you have to show for yourself?

A PLAY BY LIZ FITZGIBBONS

Kicking

all the

Boxes 48

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Written by and starring Cork actress – and former European kickboxing champion – Liz FitzGibbon, and developed together with world-renowned performer and theatremaker Mikel Murfi, the show is an explosive, physical, gut-busting – and utterly fabricated! – story like no other.

“It’s a big challenge, both in terms of how physical the show is, and having to play 11 characters, but it’s been hugely rewarding.” – Liz FitzGibbon Sponsored by Ballynahinch Castle Hotel. Special thanks to Patrick O’Flaherty.

TIME 6PM DAY SUNDAY 16TH SEPTEMBER VENUE CLIFDEN TOWN HALL ADMISSION €15

Programme Bach Brandenburg Concerto No 3 Haydn Symphony No 44 – Trauer Interval From the Danube to the Owenglin – songs from Austria and home with Gavan Ring. Introducing orchestra music to new audiences since 1948, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra has built a strong connection with the public that saw it named the World’s Favourite Orchestra 2015, winning 25% of the vote in an international poll. The RTÉ CO has performed with countless extraordinary artists across all genres: from the classical world, Pavarotti, Domingo, Carreras, Gheroghiu, and Lang Lang; film and stage composers including Lalo Schifrin, Michel Legrand, David Arnold, and Marvin Hamlisch; stars of jazz and musical theatre like Michael Feinstein, Cleo Laine, and Kurt Elling; and with Sir James and Lady Galway at last year’s Clifden Arts Festival.

RTÉ Concert Orchestra Conductor: Gavin Maloney Soloist: Gavan Ring (Baritone) TIME 8PM

DAY SUNDAY 16TH SEPTEMBER VENUE WEST CONNEMARA LEISURE CENTRE SHUTTLE DEPARTS CLIFDEN LIBRARY 7:15PM ADMISSION €20

Baritone Gavan Ring read education and music at St Patrick’s College, Dublin, and, after post-graduate studies at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, trained at the National Opera Studio in London. He was a Jerwood Young Artist at the 2012 Glyndebourne Festival Opera, second-prize-winner at the 2013 Wigmore Hall International Song Competition, and won the Southbank Sinfonia Award for Orchestral Song. In his native Ireland, Gavan has sung Lieutenant Gordon in Kevin Puts’ Silent Night, Father Philippe in Holst’s The Wandering Scholar, Oompa Loompa in Peter Ash’s The Golden Ticket for Wexford Festival Opera, and Figaro Il Barbiere di Siviglia for Wide Open Opera, Dublin. He sang the role of the High King of Ireland in Opera Theatre Company’s recent production of Eithne by Robert O’Dwyer, the first performance of this opera in more than 100 years. Gavan is kindly supported by the Next Generation Artist Award from An Chomhairle Ealaíon/The Arts Council of Ireland. He has also received support from the Glyndebourne New Generation Programme, The Musician’s Benevolent Fund (Richard Van Allan Award) and the Cahersiveen Festival of Music and the Arts.

Sponsored by Bill and Denise Whelan. Photo by Anthony Riordan. Clifden Arts Festival 2018

MUSIC NETWORK PRESENTS

Maighread Ní Dhomhnaill, Máirtín O’Connor and Séamie O’Dowd Special thanks to Sharon, Deirdre and Andreas and all at Music Network. TIME 10PM DAY SUNDAY 16TH SEPTEMBER VENUE STATION HOUSE THEATRE ADMISSION €15

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

For this very special tour, the swashbuckling musical spirit that has seen Máirtín O’Connor and Séamie O’Dowd dazzle audiences in the past provides an anchor to the shimmering vocals of Maighread Ní Dhomhnaill — with the promise of freeflowing instrumental duos to boot. Maighread Ní Dhomnaill, winner of TG4’s Traditional Singer of the Year award, formed the band Skara Brae before touring the world with Donal Lunny’s Coolfin. She sings and tours most often with her sister Tríona and their recent concert performances with Martin Hayes, Denis Cahill, and David Power have met with widespread critical acclaim. Máirtín O’Connor’s dexterity and versatility on the accordion have seen him perform with a veritable who’s who of trad legends including Midnight Well, The Boys of the Lough, Dé Dannan, Skylark and the Riverdance orchestra. One of Ireland’s foremost trad musicians, Séamie O’Dowd is a renowned multiinstrumentalist most associated with his performances as a member of trad powerhouse Dervish. He has also collaborated with such musicians as Christy Moore, Cathal Hayden, Jimmy Higgins, Tommy Emmanuel, and Liam O’Flynn.

Monday 17th September

Celebrating the

90th Anniversary of the Gate Theatre A panel discussion with Dr. David Clare, Professor Patrick Lonergan, Dr. Cathy Leeney, Dr. Elaine Sisson, and Dr. Noreen Doody on the legacy of the Gate Theatre and their forthcoming book The Gate Theatre, Dublin – Inspiration and Craft, published by Carysford Press/David Lang. Introduced by Des Lally. TIME 11AM DAY MONDAY 17TH SEPTEMBER VENUE STATION HOUSE THEATRE ADMISSION €5

Jim Murphy with Séidíu: A Letter from America Jim Murphy is director emeritus of the Irish Studies Program at Villanova University, Pennsylvania. In October 2017, Jim was gifted with a letter found by his Aunt Joan of Ballyhaunis, Co. Mayo. In this letter, written around 1938, Jim’s father – who hailed from Co. Leitrim – writes from Brooklyn to ask for Jim’s mother’s hand in marriage. This beautiful letter captures in one page all the joys and heartbreaks of emigration and immigration; hopes for a marriage and a future in a new world are tempered by the sense of loss of a world left behind. It is a story that will have a special resonance for a west of Ireland audience. Séidiú is a vocal ensemble founded in Clifden in 2015. Their repertory includes music from the Italian Renaissance as well as newer Scandinavian music. Choir director is Nína Jóhanna Madsen, originally from Denmark/ Iceland, and now living locally. Members: Barbara-Anne McCabe, Jean Mullan, Dee Negus, Ane Marie Elínardóttir Madsen, NínaJóhanna Madsen, Bill Hallett. TIME 2PM DAY MONDAY 17TH SEPTEMBER VENUE STATION HOUSE THEATRE ADMISSION €8

READING WITH

Danny Denton and John Connell Cork writer Danny Denton’s first novel, The Earlie King and the Kid in Yellow, conjures up a post-digital Ireland: derelict and flooded by ceaseless rain. A baby is born to The Kid in Yellow and T, the daughter of The Earlie King. When T dies in childbirth, the Kid tricks the King, steals the baby and goes on the run. But now the Earlie Boys are on the warpath… Reminiscent of Peaky Blinders, Quentin Tarantino, Samanta Schweblin, Blade Runner, George Saunders, and Tom Waits, this is something entirely new in Irish fiction. The recipient of a number of bursaries, Danny has written for The Irish Times, Irish Examiner, and RTÉ’s Arena. His short stories have been published in the Stinging Fly, among others. Hailed by Roddy Doyle as ‘gripping, fascinating’ and Rosamund Young as ‘an important slice of living, breathing agricultural history,’ The Cow Book: A Story of Life on a Family Farm is writer and farmer John Connell’s first book. Farming has been in John’s family for generations, but he never intended to follow in his father’s footsteps until, after living abroad for many years, he found himself back on the farm and began to learn the ways of the farmer and the way of the cow. Connell records the hypnotic rhythm of the farming day – and the unforeseen moments when things go wrong: a calf fails to thrive, illness breaks out, depression takes hold, arguments erupt, and things are said that cannot be unsaid. The Cow Book is the story of a calving season; of the cow itself, from its domestication in Ancient Egypt to modernday mechanised herds; and of Connell’s relationship with his native County Longford, with the animals he tends, and with his father. Sponsored by The Quay House. TIME 4PM DAY MONDAY 17TH SEPTEMBER VENUE STATION HOUSE THEATRE ADMISSION €10 Clifden Arts Festival 2018

LUNCHTIME CONCERT

RTÉ ConTempo Quartet with lulian

Pusca

TIME 1PM DAY MONDAY 17TH SEPTEMBER VENUE CHURCH OF IRELAND ADMISSION €10

Mozart – Flute Quartet (arranged for pan flute, violin, viola, and cello) Schumann – String Quartet op 42 no 1 Pugnani – Venetian Carnival for pan flute and string quartet Dinicu Grigoras – Hora Staccato for pan flute and string quartet

Iulian Pusca (pronounced Julian Pooshka) is a young artist of ever-growing talent, known for his astonishing skills in playing the pan flute. His wide repertoire – which includes pieces that would normally be played on violin or flute – as well as his unique technique and manner of performing make Iulian stand out from the crowd. Iulian studied music in his native Moldova before pursuing an international performance career. He has toured across Europe and performed as soloist with orchestras including the Moldova National Philharmonic Symphonic Orchestra and RTÉ Concert Orchestra. His extensive repertoire includes classical, jazz, and Moldovan folk music. Iulian is the winner of the prestigious Freemasons Young Musician of the Year award in Dublin. RTÉ ConTempo Quartet have been Ireland’s national television and radio broadcaster’s Quartet in Residence since 2014, and the Galway Ensemble in Residence since 2003. Sponsored by Joe and Joan McBreen. Thanks to Reverend Stan Evans.

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Monday 17th September BOOK LAUNCH

Gerard Moran Fleeing from Famine in Connemara: James Hack Tuke and His Assisted Emigration Schemes in the 1880s. Gerard Moran is a researcher at the SSRC, NUI Galway and has published extensively on 19th-century Ireland. TIME 5:30PM DAY MONDAY 17TH SEPTEMBER VENUE STATION HOUSE THEATRE ADMISSION FREE EVENT

Guys and Doll Tom McHugh, banjo, blues harp, vocals; Tom Mitchell, guitar, vocals; Robert Redd, piano; Tom Anthony, bass; Sue Matthews, vocals; John Harris, trombone. Guys and Doll are supported by the Kent County, Maryland, Arts Council. TIME 6:30PM DAY MONDAY 17TH SEPTEMBER VENUE E.J.KING'S BAR ADMISSION FREE EVENT SEE ALSO GIGS LISTING ON PAGE 80

Anna Falkenau and Ged Foley Together with famed guitarist Ged Foley, virtuoso fiddle player Anna Falkenau will present a powerful program of Irish and American music. Besides driving tunes and delicate melody playing, Ged will also treat the audience to some gems out of his huge treasure of folk songs. After four years of regular Connemara sessions together, these two outstanding musicians have grown into a tight and intuitive musical unit. Be surprised and entertained. TIME 10PM DAY MONDAY 17TH SEPTEMBER VENUE MULLARKEY'S BAR ADMISSION €8

All Strings Bright and Beautiful The Carolan String Quartet and guitarist Ewan Cowley The Carolan String Quartet and guitarist Ewan Cowley have more strings to their bows, more tricks up their rolled-up sleeves and more genres of music under their fingers than you can shake a stick at. The Carolan String Quartet have enjoyed long associations with contemporary Irish traditional music, most notably with composer Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, elements of which will be showcased in this concert. The classical music closely associated with a string quartet is juxtaposed with more experimental forms as well as the original and arranged music of Ewan Cowley, which is best described as contemporary folk, music that sounds instantly familiar on first listen. Within the five-piece, a group called Trio Elatha is disguised, a lively violin/cello/guitar combo that boasts cleverly arranged and original Irish traditional music. The five-piece recently appeared on RTÉ Lyric FM’s Lyric Concert with Paul Herriott, as part of a ‘kaleidoscope night’ and, indeed, it is a truly kaleidoscopic evening that these stellar Irish musicians promise for their debut Clifden Arts Festival appearance. Sponsored by Alan and Mary Hobart. TIME 7PM DAY MONDAY 17TH SEPTEMBER VENUE CHURCH OF IRELAND ADMISSION €10 Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Sean Keane in Concert Sponsored by Anne Ueltchi.

TIME 9PM DAY MONDAY 17TH SEPTEMBER VENUE STATION HOUSE THEATRE ADMISSION €15

Following the release of a new album this year, and hailed as ‘the distinctive voice of Ireland,’ Sean Keane will bring his muchloved music to the the Clifden Arts Festival. Sean will be joined by Fergus Feely on mandocello and Pat Coyne on guitar, and will play songs from his albums down the years, including his latest, Gratitude, released earlier this year. Expect songs from 2016’s New Day Dawning, as well as set-favourites such as ‘Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears,’ ‘From Galway to Gracelands,’ and ‘Fields of Gold.’ Sean comes from a musical family in Caherlistrane, Co. Galway, and has been performing around the world for nearly 40 years. Born in 1961, he won his first of 13 Fleadh Ceoil medals for solo singing at seven years of age. He joined his first band, Shegui, in London and released an album with them, before touring America with his sister Dolores in a band called Reel Union. After that, he was a founding member of Arcady. Sean released his first solo album in the early ’90s and is still recording new material. His compilation three-CD set, Never Alone, still proves popular among his followers. Come along to hear his distinctive Irish tones pull at the heart strings and hear him play up to five instruments on stage.

The draw for the Astroturf Pitch fundraising will take place during this concert.

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Tuesday 18th September LECTURE

Sarah Purser and her Legacy by Gerard McInerney A leading figure in the early 20th century Irish Arts and Crafts movement, stainedglass artist Sarah Purser created the decorative windows of Loughrea’s St. Brendan’s cathedral. Join Loughrea native Gerard McInerney in a celebration of her legacy and of the windows’ ever-changing ‘captivating brightness.’ Gerard, who runs the long-established family business in the town, studied history as a mature student in NUI Galway. Above: Sarah Purser as drawn by John Butler Yeats, 1880s. TIME 11AM DAY TUESDAY 18TH SEPTEMBER VENUE STATION HOUSE THEATRE ADMISSION €5

BOOK LAUNCH

Fourth Floor Flat 44 Cantos by Terry McDonagh Terry McDonagh has published 10 poetry collections, as well as letters, drama, prose and poetry for young people, and his work has been translated into Indonesian and German. His most recent poetry collection is Lady Cassie Peregrina (2016); his poems have been included in Fire and Ice 2 for the Junior cycle, and in the Galway Poetry Trail at NUIG. In 2017 he was director of WestWords in Hamburg, Germany’s first Irish literature festival. TIME 12PM DAY TUESDAY 18TH SEPTEMBER VENUE CLIFDEN LIBRARY ADMISSION €5

MUSIC WITH

Charlie McGettigan A stalwart of the Irish folk scene since the 1960s, Charlie has enjoyed success as a solo artist, a collaborator, and a songwriter. His most recent album, Tuesdays with Paul, was released in March of this year – others include In Your Old Room, Family Matters, The Man From 20, and Stolen Moments, produced in Nashville by legendary producer Bil Vorndick. Charlie has collaborated with artists such as Maura O’Connell and Eleanor Shanley, who have both recorded many of his songs, including ‘Feet of a Dancer,’ ‘A Bed for the Night’ and ‘If Anything Happened to You.’ Other artists who have recorded Charlie’s songs include De Danann, Mary and Frances Black, Ray Lynam, Daniel O’Donnell, Sandy Kelly and Hal Ketchum. Charlie joined forces with Paul Harrington and Brendan Graham to win the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest for Ireland with ‘Rock’n’Roll Kids.’ As well as touring extensively in Ireland and abroad, Charlie presents arts show The Saturday Connection on Shannonside/ Northern Sound Radio, and serves on the boards of IMRO and the Dock Arts Centre in Carrick on Shannon. Sponsored by Tom King. TIME 1PM DAY TUESDAY 18TH SEPTEMBER VENUE ALCOCK AND BROWN HOTEL ADMISSION €10 Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Tuesday 18th September

POETRY READING WITH

Joan McBreen, Geraldine Mitchell and Ryan Vine

SHORT FILM BY TRISTAN HEANUE

A Break in the Clouds Tristan Heanue is an actor and writer from Connemara known for Today (2015), In This Place (2014) and A Break in the Clouds (2018). He won the award for Best Short Film and Best First Time Director at the 2015 Sky Road Film Festival for his film Today. A Break in the Clouds, his latest short film which was released in April, tells the story of a young couple struggle to adjust to life following the birth of their first child. Starring Tristan Heanue, Gemma-Leah Devereux, Marie Ruane, Linda Bhreathnach. TIME 1PM (RUNTIME: 19 MIN.) DAY TUESDAY 18TH SEPTEMBER VENUE STATION HOUSE THEATRE ADMISSION FREE EVENT AFTERNOON TEA WITH

Betty and the Baby Boomers See page 46 for details. TIME 3PM DAY TUESDAY 18TH SEPTEMBER VENUE ABBEYGLEN CASTLE HOTEL ADMISSION FREE EVENT SEE ALSO GIGS LISTING ON PAGE 80

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Joan McBreen has published five collections of poetry, the most recent being Map and Atlas (2017). In 2014, she produced a CD The Mountain Ash in Connemara – Poems by Joan McBreen, with composer Glen Austin and the RTÉ Contempo String Quartet, and a broadside The Mountain Ash, with printmaker-artist Margaret Irwin West and printmaker Mary Plunkett. Originally from Sligo, she now divides her time between Tuam and Connemara. Geraldine Mitchell’s most recent collection, Mountains for Breakfast, was published in 2017. Geraldine is Dublin-born but now lives on the Co. Mayo coast, near Louisburgh. She is a Patrick Kavanagh Award winner and her previous collections are World Without Maps (2011) and Of Birds and Bones (2014). Her latest collection was the focus ‘Mind Has Mountains,’ a visual response to her work by four artists, at Cúirt International Festival of Literature, Galway, earlier this year. Ryan Vine is the author of To Keep Him Hidden (Salmon Poetry, 2018), and a finalist for prizes including the May Swenson Prize and the Dorset Prize. His chapbook, Distant Engines, won a Weldon Kees Award. His work has appeared in The American Poetry Review, Ploughshares, and Poetry Ireland Review. Ryan is chair of the English department at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minnesota. Sponsored by Steam Café. TIME 2:30PM DAY TUESDAY 18TH SEPTEMBER VENUE STATION HOUSE THEATRE ADMISSION €10

Tuesday 18th September POETRY AND PROSE WITH

POETRY READING WITH

Nuala O’Connor lives in Ballinasloe, Co. Galway. Her fifth short story collection Joyride to Jupiter was published by New Island in 2017; her story ‘Gooseen’, about Nora Barnacle, recently won the UK’s Short Fiction Prize and was published in Granta. Nuala’s fourth novel, Becoming Belle, is published in September 2018.

Lara Bozabalian is the author of The Cartographer’s Skin and Tourist, a spokenword poet, and an impassioned teacher. She has featured at literary festivals across Canada, in Singapore, and at TEDx (‘Sharing Passion Through Poetry’). She writes of teaching life and the voices often relegated to corners; after the school shootings in Parkland, Florida, her poem on Rattle’s ‘Poets Respond’ went viral.

Nuala O’Connor and Alan McMonagle

Becoming Belle is a witty, inherently feminist novel set in Victorian London, based on the true story of a woman ahead of her time. In 1887, Isabel Bilton is the eldest of three daughters of a middle-class military family, growing up in a small garrison town. By 1891 she is the Countess of Clancarty, dubbed ‘the peasant countess’ by the press, and a member of the Irish aristocracy. Becoming Belle is the story of the four years in between, of Belle’s rapid ascent and the people that tried to tear her down. Reimagined by a novelist at the height of her powers, Belle is an unforgettable woman. Set against an absorbing portrait of Victorian London and Ballinasloe, hers is a timeless rags-to-riches story à la Becky Sharpe. Alan McMonagle lives in Galway. In November 2015, he signed a two-book deal with Picador. His debut novel, Ithaca (2017) was longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Award for first novels and shortlisted for a Bord Gais Irish Book Award. He has published two collections of short stories Psychotic Episodes (Arlen House, 2013) and Liar Liar (Wordsonthestreet, 2008), both of which were nominated for the Frank O’Connor Award. He also writes for radio and his plays, Oscar Night and People Walking On Water, have been produced and broadcast as part of RTÉ’s Drama on One season. Sponsored by Ronnie and Francoise Millar.

TIME 4:30PM DAY TUESDAY 18TH SEPTEMBER VENUE STATION HOUSE THEATRE ADMISSION €10

Lara Bozabalian and Moya Roddy

Out of the Ordinary is Galway-based Moya Roddy’s debut poetry collection. Shortlisted in 2017 for the Hennessy Award, her poems have been published in The Irish Times, Stoney Thursday, Crannog and Boyne Berries. Her short story collection, Other People, was longlisted for the Frank O’Connor Award, and novel The Long Way Home was described in The Irish Times as ‘simply brilliant.’ TIME 5:30PM DAY TUESDAY 18TH SEPTEMBER VENUE CLIFDEN LIBRARY ADMISSION €5

Carmel Dempsey and Friends Musician Carmel Dempsey made her first Arts Festival appearance in 1983 and has been a regular performer ever since. Carmel has her own wedding band and tours with Dolores Keane. Playing with Carmel are fiddle player/vocalist – and former Lord of the Dance soloist – Brenda Curtin and Frankie Colohan on guitar and vocals. TIME 10PM DAY TUESDAY 18TH SEPTEMBER VENUE LOWRY'S BAR ADMISSION FREE EVENT Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Tuesday 18th September

This is a story full of nostalgia, innocence, Olympic-standard sex and Holy Water salad dressing… funny and tender, performed by Seamus O’Rourke and beautifully directed by Charlie McGuinness. TIME 7PM DAY TUESDAY 18TH SEPTEMBER VENUE CLIFDEN TOWN HALL ADMISSION €15

Padraig Potts’ Guide to Walking

A ONE-MAN SHOW BY

SEAMUS O’ROURKE

Seamus O’Rourke presents his highly acclaimed one-man play, Padraig Potts’ Guide to Walking. Described as one of the highlights at the Edinburgh Fringe 2015, the play is a coming-of-age piece set in Seamus’s home county of Leitrim… a semi-biographical tale of love, lost chances and settling for the wrong woman. A play where a whole community comes alive on stage to give us the facts behind the fact that Padraig Potts never went anywhere… until now, that is… Seamus O’Rourke is a writer, director and actor, and an independent producer with his own company, Big Guerilla Productions. As a writer, his plays include Ride On (Liven’ Dread 2011) Dig, Down, and The Trappe Family (Corn Mill Theatre), The Halfway House Hotel and Stale Mate (Canal StudioBackstage Theatre), For Club and County (Moth Productions) Victor’s Dung, My Aunt Bee and From Under the Bed (Big Guerilla Productions). He has two other one-man shows, The Sand Park and Indigestion (Big Guerilla Productions). Sponsored by Ballynahinch Castle Hotel.

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Martin Hayes is regarded as one of the most extraordinary talents to emerge in the world of Irish traditional music. His unique sound, mastery of the fiddle, and ability to draw on the music’s past while shaping its future combine to create an astonishing and formidable artistic intelligence. He has drawn inspiration from sources as diverse as the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, the Spanish viola da gamba master, Jordi Savall, and the jazz genius John Coltrane, but remains grounded in the music he grew up with in Feakle, Co. Clare. Dennis Cahill is a master guitarist, a native of Chicago born to parents from the Dingle peninsula in Co. Kerry. He studied at the city’s prestigious Music College before becoming an active member of the local music scene. Cahill’s spare, essential accompaniment to Martin’s fiddle is acknowledged as a major breakthrough for guitar in the Irish tradition. Dennis has performed with such renowned fiddlers as Liz Carroll, Eileen Ivers and Kevin Burke, as well as many Irish musicians on both sides of the Atlantic.

Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill IN CONCERT TIME 9PM DAY TUESDAY 18TH SEPTEMBER VENUE STATION HOUSE THEATRE ADMISSION €20

‘Sparsely accompanied fiddle music has rarely sounded so complete and so essential.’ – Q Magazine ‘In years to come, we’ll surely talk of having seen this man in the way others talk of Miles Davis or Jimi Hendrix.’ – The Irish Times

Sponsored by Mitchell’s Restaurant.

TIME 11:30AM DAY WEDNESDAY 19TH SEPTEMBER VENUE STATION HOUSE THEATRE ADMISSION €10

TIME 1PM DAY WEDNESDAY 19TH SEPTEMBER VENUE CHURCH OF IRELAND ADMISSION €10 Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Wednesday 19th September A CURLEW THEATRE PRODUCTION

READING WITH

The Loves of Lady Gregory

Michael Coady and Leanne O’Sullivan

This is a fascinating hour-long sketch of Lady Augusta Gregory’s life – private and public – against the background of Ireland’s advance from the Cultural Revival through the Easter Rising, the War of Independence, and the Civil War, to the new Ireland. As well as her plays, translations, and role as a founder of the Abbey Theatre, the play concentrates on intimate relationships: her marriage; affairs; the death of her son in the Great War; her friendship with Yeats. All these are brought to life in an immediate, human self-portrait of a woman often confined to the margins of literary history. Sponsored by Shane O’Grady.

Michael Coady was born in Carrick-on-Suir, where he still lives. A longstanding friend of Clifden Arts Festival and Aosdána member, he has won a number of literary prizes and awards for poetry and prose at home and abroad. Michael’s most recent book is Given Light, integrating poetry, prose and photographs. Poet and critic Fred Johnston has recognised his work as ‘quite extraordinary in its depth of humanity, concern, and simple, almost casual elegance...’

TIME 2PM DAY WEDNESDAY 19TH SEPTEMBER VENUE STATION HOUSE THEATRE ADMISSION €10

BOOK LAUNCH BY SIMON LEYLAND

The Men Who Stare At Hens The History Press Ireland is delighted to announce the launch of The Men Who Stare At Hens by locally-based poet and author, Simon Leyland. In this gentle meander through the wonderful world of Irish eccentrics, you will discover the worldrenowned poet who hypnotised hens, the Irish aristocrat who was an uncontrollable kleptomaniac, the country’s first naturist, the strange story of the Soviet state of Limerick, and the man who wanted to give every Irishman wings. Complimentary drinks, canapés and live music. Sponsored by John Varley and the Atlantic Hotel. TIME 6PM DAY WEDNESDAY 19TH SEPTEMBER VENUE O'MALLEY'S BAR ADMISSION FREE EVENT

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Poet Leanne O’Sullivan is from the Beara Peninsula in West Cork and was educated at UCC. She has published four collections with Bloodaxe Books – Waiting for my Clothes (2004), Cailleach: The Hag of Beara (2009), The Mining Road (2013), and A Quarter of an Hour (2018). Leanne has been given the Ireland Chair of Poetry Bursary Award (2009), The Rooney Prize for Irish Literature (2010), and the Lawrence O’Shaughnessy Award for Irish Poetry (2011). Formerly a writerin-residence at UCC, she was appointed Lecturer in Creative Writing in 2016. Sponsored by Poetry Ireland. Photo by Tom Grace. TIME 4:30PM DAY WEDNESDAY 19TH SEPTEMBER VENUE STATION HOUSE THEATRE ADMISSION €10

True North We welcome back our old friends from Seattle, True North – Lefty, Tumbleweed, Blind Boy, Dusty, Doc, and Calamity – bring you the sound of America’s western saloons, barn dances, front porches, parlours, and cowboy campfires. TIME 10PM DAY WEDNESDAY 19TH SEPTEMBER VENUE ABBEYGLEN CASTLE HOTEL ADMISSION FREE EVENT SEE ALSO GIGS LISTING ON PAGE 80

Since Aslan blazed onto the scene in the mid-1980s, they have kept their place in fans’ hearts through the good times and the bad. Having triumphed over addiction, record label reshuffles, and illness through the decades, the Dublin band are famous for their blistering live sets and promise a night to remember this Clifden Arts Festival. Debut album Feel No Shame shot straight to number one in the Irish charts in 1988, setting precedent for many of those that followed, including Goodbye Charlie Moonhead (1994), Waiting for This Madness to End (2001), and Nudie Books and Frenchies (2012) – hailed by critics as one of the band’s best albums to date. But all of this nearly didn’t happen. In 1988, Aslan famously imploded, torn apart by overindulgence of all kinds. Five years later, they reunited and landed a new record deal, bringing us classics such as ‘Crazy World.’ Dropped by their record label (again), they recorded new material under their own steam, going on to sell out Vicar Street and the Point on multiple occasions, and touring extensively in Australia. Singer Christy Dignam’s cancer diagnosis in 2012 brought a wave of support from fans and the Irish music community, and six years on, Aslan are stronger than ever – a force to be reckoned with in Irish music.

TIME 8PM DAY WEDNESDAY 19TH SEPTEMBER VENUE WEST CONNEMARA LEISURE CENTRE SHUTTLE DEPARTS CLIFDEN LIBRARY 7:15PM ADMISSION €25

Sponsored by GMT Ireland. This is an alcohol-free event. Standing room and limited seating available.

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Thursday 20th September PATRICIA COUGHLAN AND LUCY COLLINS

Echoes Into Silence: Recovering Irish Women Poets

FILM BY PAT COLLINS

Song of Granite Song of Granite revolves around the life of the great traditional Irish singer Joe Heaney. Described by Donald Clarke in The Irish Times as an ‘intoxicating oddity’, Silence director Pat Collins’ ode to the singer was selected as this year’s Irish language submission for the Oscars and his been widely acclaimed as his best work to date. Joe Heaney was born just outside Carna in 1919; the harsh landscape, myths, fables, and songs of his Connemara childhood helped shape this complex, intriguing character. From an early age, he was fascinated by the stories and music around him, ‘drinking (them) from the bottle when (he) was in the cradle.’ By the time of his death in Seattle in 1984, he was widely recognised as one of the most important figures in Irish traditional music, having won fans and admirers from every part of the globe, particularly from the folk music scene in the United States. This cinematic exploration of Heaney’s life and music traces his strange, tragic and often inspiring journey from rural Connemara through Glasgow and eventually to New York City – though not always in that order. An inventive use of documentary evidence, recreations, and more abstract scenes combine in an unflinching portrait of one man’s talents, passions, and flaws.

Irish women play an important role in the contemporary poetry scene, yet their predecessors – especially women writing before the 1960s – remain little known and largely out of print. Among them are many vibrant and provocative voices, innovative in their own time and relevant still today. Patricia Coughlan and Lucy Collins will explore work by some of these women, and discuss the impact of their loss on our poetry tradition. Patricia Coughlan is Professor Emerita of English at UCC. She writes on Irish and IrishAmerican poetry and fiction, with a focus on gender and women’s writing. Co-edited collections include Irish Literature: Feminist Perspectives (2008, with Tina O’Toole). In 2015 she held a Fulbright Scholarship at Fordham University, New York, to research Irish-American women novelists. Lucy Collins is Associate Professor in the UCD School of English, Drama and Film. Her recent books include Contemporary Irish Women Poets: Memory and Estrangement (2015). She is co-founder of the Irish Poetry Reading Archive, a national digital repository. Sponsored by Cathal and Joan Walsh. TIME 11AM DAY THURSDAY 20TH SEPTEMBER VENUE STATION HOUSE THEATRE ADMISSION €10 FORUM PRESENTS: CONNEMARA CLG

Senior Citizens Event Celebrating older persons' contribution to arts and culture in the community. Lunch will be followed by dance and song with Peter Carey, Liam Aspell and friends. Many thanks to Geraldine Kelly and Martina Gavin.

TIME 9AM (RUNTIME: 104 MINUTES) DAY THURSDAY 20TH SEPTEMBER VENUE STATION HOUSE THEATRE ADMISSION €5

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

TIME 1PM DAY THURSDAY 20TH SEPTEMBER VENUE CLIFDEN TOWN HALL

Thursday 20th September

Tommy Sands in Concert Tommy Sands, singer, songwriter and social activist from Co. Down, has achieved something akin to legendary status in his own lifetime. From the pioneering tours with the highly influential Sands Family, playing Carnegie Hall to Moscow’s Olympic Stadium, he has become one of Ireland’s most powerful songwriters and enchanting performers. He enjoys celebrity status in many parts of the world, tempered by artistic integrity and the sorrow of personal tragedy in his formerly war-torn homeland. Walking the road between two cultures, he dreams of an island at peace with itself. Indeed, his songs speak to all that Ireland is, from its troubled past to its indomitable spirit and a vision of ‘a land of dreaming.’ His work around the globe speaks to our common heritage, using music to bridge cultural differences. With a new multimedia show based on his highly acclaimed autobiography, Tommy is one of the most sought-after performers in the world of folk music. His performances include concerts and educational programs at performing arts centres, folk clubs, and schools. The music moves from traditional Irish to contemporary folk, and Tommy’s lyrics evoke images of Ireland and make edgier commentaries on social consciousness. Sponsored by Celtic Crafts. TIME 1PM DAY THURSDAY 20TH SEPTEMBER VENUE ALCOCK AND BROWN HOTEL ADMISSION €10

THE SOUND OF IRELAND

The Uilleann Pipes by Peter Browne To mark the international recognition by UNESCO of the cultural value of the uilleann pipes and the centenary of the birth in 1918 of the celebrated Clare piper Willie Clancy, Peter Browne will talk about the instrument, its history and popularity, and feature recordings of some celebrated pipers. Peter Browne has been presenting The Rolling Wave on RTÉ Radio One since 2006, and playing traditional music since the age of six. Born in Dublin, he has received tuition on the uilleann pipes from three of the great players of modern times: Séamus Ennis, Leo Rowsome, and Willie Clancy. He frequently attends gatherings of uilleann pipers and summer schools as guest teacher, lecturer and performer. In May 2003, he was a guest musician with the Chieftains in two memorial concerts for harper Derek Bell, held in Dublin and Belfast, and featured on their CD, Live from Dublin: A Tribute to Derek Bell. He has twice been the winner of the Oireachtas uilleann-piping competition (The Breandán Breathnach Trophy in 1994 and 1998) and has also won the prize for slowair playing in both those years. His previous radio programmes include Sounds Traditional, Áirneán, Céilí House and The Long Note. Sponsored by Conor Killeen. TIME 3PM DAY THURSDAY 20TH SEPTEMBER VENUE STATION HOUSE THEATRE ADMISSION €10 Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Thursday 20th September

The Clifden Arts Festival Archive at University College Dublin

The paper and digital collections of the Clifden Arts Festival were given into the care of the University College Dublin Library in 2017. This important cultural heritage archive charts the history of the festival and documents the extraordinary range of writers, musicians and artists it has featured over the past 40 years. Working together, we plan to continue to build these collections over time, to preserve them for future generations and make them available for scholars and enthusiasts at home and abroad. Achieving these goals will take careful planning and the work of expert staff. Come along and hear how this partnership started, the challenges we are facing, and our aspirations for the future. Presented by Ursula Byrne, Head of Development and Strategic Programmes UCD Library Co-founder, Irish Poetry Reading Archive. With thanks to Bernhard Sanders. TIME 5PM DAY THURSDAY 20TH SEPTEMBER VENUE STATION HOUSE THEATRE ADMISSION FREE EVENT TALK BY SHANE JOYCE

Unravelling Marconi’s First Letterfrack Station on Diamond Hill Charabancs Millinery and Telegraphy Little is known about Marconi’s Letterfrack stations (there were three distinct sites). His first station was in the infirmary, at the infamous Letterfrack Industrial School, one of the few Marconi station buildings still standing in Ireland. Recent information from an unexpected source has revealed a significant proportion of the station layout. TIME 5PM DAY THURSDAY 20TH SEPTEMBER VENUE FOYLE'S HOTEL ADMISSION FREE EVENT

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

CONCERT WITH

Graffiti Classics Take 16 strings, eight dancing feet and four voices with one aim – to make classical music wickedly funny and fantastically exhilarating for everyone, young and old. Graffiti Classics burst the elitist boundaries of the traditional string quartet with their hilarious all-singing, all-dancing musical comedy show. It’s a classical concert, a gypsy folk-romp, an opera, a stand-up comedy set, and a brilliant dance show all rolled into one! From Beethoven to bluegrass, Bach to Brahm, Strauss to Saturday Night Fever, Offenbbach to Elvis, there is something for everyone and Graffiti Classics never fail to get the audience laughing, clapping and singing along. Kids and adults alike love the uplifting and virtuosic variety of musical style, all tied together with cheeky audience interaction. Graffiti Classics have performed across Europe, Asia and the US, and featured on Lyric FM’s Culture File and Galway’s Babaró International Arts Festival for Children. The group was formed by young graduates from London’s top musical conservatoires, including the Guildhall School of Music and the Royal College of Music, who met while street performing in Covent Garden. Their mission is to make music fun and inclusive for everyone through interaction and comedy. TIME 7PM DAY THURSDAY 20TH SEPTEMBER VENUE CHURCH OF IRELAND ADMISSION €10

Day 58th September Having spent the winter making illuminated work on Arctic foreshores, LUXe return to Clifden Beach with a celebratory landscape spectacle. In the half light as the tide turns and the moon is risen, the Crystal Ship hoists her sails and casts off for a mystical dream journey on a sea of stars. The twilight door, held open with fire and illumination, into worlds of possibility beyond the blue. Walking is involved, so please bring a torch and dress well for the weather. Note: The Journey of the Crystal Ship into another world is a reference to a story from The Book of the Dun Cow, in which the hero, Connla the Beautiful, is wooed by a fairy princess who carries him away to the otherworld in a crystal boat.

LUXE PRESENT

The

Journey of the Crystal Ship

Traffic restrictions will be in operation.

TIME 8PM DAY THURSDAY 20TH SEPTEMBER VENUE CLIFDEN BEACH ADMISSION FREE EVENT

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Thursday 20th September

Joshua Burnside with support from 9:30pm

There is a man in an attic somewhere at four in the morning. He is shaking knives in a biscuit tin, stomping and shouting, pitch bending, coding, looping, plucking banjos and squeezing accordions, layering sound upon sound like a demented chef creating a monstrous cake, a swirling dream of colours and visions, and stories of people trying to carve out their place in the universe. Joshua Burnside was born in Ireland, but cites the music of Colombia, Eastern Europe and North America as the greatest influences on his unique sound. Deftly blending folk textures and melodies with elements of electronica, he has made it difficult for pundits to put him in a box. Even before releasing his debut record Ephrata last summer, he had racked up over 2 million plays on Spotify and 80,000 views on Youtube, with the album being heralded a triumph by critics. Expect tracks, too, from this year’s EP, All Round the Light Said. Stumbling beats, found sounds, vocoders, Cumbian rhythms, electric guitar loops, devils, lightning and dark matter are just some of the flavours to expect.

‘Rumbling, brooding, powerful, magnetic’ – The Irish Times TIME 10PM DAY THURSDAY 20TH SEPTEMBER VENUE MULLARKEY'S BAR ADMISSION €8

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Comedy with Danny O’Brien Following in the footsteps of Simon Pegg, Dylan Moran and Dara Ó Briain, Danny O’Brien was handpicked in 2016 to perform as part of the iconic Best of The Edinburgh Fest show across Australia, touring Perth World Fringe, Adelaide Fringe Festival and The Melbourne International Comedy Festival both then and in 2018. After a sell-out, month-long run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe last year and a tour of south-east Asia, Danny began a national and international run of his hugely successful RaconTour, with over 30 dates in six countries. Danny’s new show, Lock-In, debuted at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe last month and will be performed in several prisons across Ireland and the UK in the coming months.

‘O’Brien is genuinely, uproariously funny with a huge stage presence and wicked timing’ – Sunday Independent ‘A perfect mixture of brains, banter and brilliance’ – Great Scott TIME 9PM DAY THURSDAY 20TH SEPTEMBER VENUE STATION HOUSE THEATRE ADMISSION €15

Friday 21st September

Dearest Old Darling Written by Mary Kenny Performed by Jeananne Crowley Mary Kenny’s monologue, Dearest Old Darling, draws on the prison letters of Constance Markievicz, a renowned feminist, political activist, and central figure in the Easter Rising. Coming in the centenary year of her election as MP – the first woman in Britain and Ireland – it brings to life the woman as she was. Constance spent five years of her life in prison – first jailed by the British administration, then by the Free State. The letters she wrote to her sister, Eva Gore-Booth, usually began with the endearment, ‘Dearest old darling’. Through them we experience her recollection of a dazzling social life in Dublin; her love of the arts, gardening, animals, and nature; her marriage to Count Casimir Dunin de Markievicz; her relationship with her daughter Maeve; and her devotion to her boy scouts, the Fianna. Mary Kenny is an experienced journalist, author and broadcaster working in Ireland and England. She has written for over 30 newspapers and magazines over the course of her career. Jeananne Crowley is an acclaimed Irish actress and writer with wide experience in theatre, film and television. Sponsored by Notre Dame Kylemore Abbey Global Center. With thanks to Lisa Caulfield. Photo by Liz Mott. TIME 12PM DAY FRIDAY 21ST SEPTEMBER VENUE STATION HOUSE THEATRE ADMISSION €10

RECITAL WITH CONCERT PIANIST

Veronica McSwiney Pianist Veronica McSwiney has been performing around the world for over 50 years. She commenced her studies in Dublin at the age of seven and later studied at the Mozarteum Academy in Salzburg under Bruno Seidlhofer and with Ilona Kabos in London. She played her first concerto with the RTÉ SO at the tender age of 14, and after her Wigmore Hall debut in London, her reputation spread far beyond her native Ireland.

Mozart – Sonata in C Major K330 (Allegro moderato, Andante cantabile, Allegretto) Debussy – La Cathedrale Engloutie; Deux Arabesques; Clair de Lune Chopin – Waltz in E Minor Opus Posthumous; Scherzo No. 2 In B Flat Minor Opus 31 Sponsored by Kay and John Fanning. TIME 2PM DAY FRIDAY 21ST SEPTEMBER VENUE CHURCH OF IRELAND ADMISSION €10 Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Friday 21st September

Food for Thought Writing about food with Margaret Hickey and Cliodhna Prendergast Formerly an editor at Country Living magazine in the UK, Margaret Hickey also had a freelance career writing on food, drink and travel for most of the national British press, including the Financial Times, The Guardian and The Times. She also had a weekly food and cookery slot on Premier Radio in London. After she moved to Ireland, her book Irish Days, a collection of oral histories, was published and her new book, Ireland’s Green Larder was published this year. She has appeared at a number of festivals and given talks at University College London and University College Limerick. She is vice chair of Portumna Arts Group, which runs Shorelines Arts Festival, and was a judge at the Strokestown Poetry Festival for many years. Cliodhna Prendergast is a professional chef, writer, and photographer living and working on the west coast of Ireland with her family. Cliodhna is food writer and photographer for The Sunday Times and other publications, and the producer and host of Breaking Eggs, 30 beautifully filmed programmes to encourage parents to cook with their children. She is also one half of Lens and Larder, which run photography and food-styling workshops in Irish country houses. Cliodhna started her career in the kitchens of her family’s country house hotel in Connemara, before working in many great Irish kitchens and studying at Ballymaloe Cookery School. She worked as head chef in Delphi Lodge for 11 years, during which she was named best chef in Connaught by Food and Wine Magazine. In memory of Myrtle Allen. TIME 3PM DAY FRIDAY 21ST SEPTEMBER VENUE STATION HOUSE THEATRE ADMISSION €5

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

The Knotted Cord Quartet Fine music, songs and entertainment are in store from four distinctive performers at the heart of the Irish music tradition. Slides and polkas, jigs and reels, solos, duets, trios, and songs with entertaining speech introductions will make this an event not to be missed! Seosaimhín Ní Bheaglaíóch is from a celebrated musical dynasty in West Kerry, bringing rare songs from her own home area as well as other favourites she has learned over the years. Fiddle-player Gerry Harrington is also from Co. Kerry and has that county’s Sliabh Luachra tradition to draw on, as well as the music style of Co Sligo where he has spent much of his life. He has composed music and recorded with fluteplayer Peter Horan and accordion player Eoghan O’Sullivan. Accordion-player Charlie Piggott is a legendary musician and one-time member of the group Dé Dannan, who has studied traditional music and has a unique and personal style of playing. Uilleann piper Peter Browne completes the line-up – he learned music in his youth from celebrated pipers Leo Rowsome, Willie Clancy and Séamus Ennis, played with The Bothy Band, and has worked for 40 years as a traditional music producer and presenter in RTÉ. Sponsored by Off the Square. TIME 4PM DAY FRIDAY 21ST SEPTEMBER VENUE ALCOCK AND BROWN HOTEL ADMISSION €10

Friday 21st September A LIFETIME LONG AGO

Book Launch by Mary Hughes

The story of two women from different worlds, each on a journey beyond their comfort zone, this is A Lifetime Long Ago, the first book by Clifden native Mary Hughes. Mary grew up in the town in the 1970s and 1980s, the eldest of four children. After finishing Clifden Community School in June of 1989, she moved to the UK, where she met her husband. In 2001, Mary, Paul and three-year-old Amy moved back to Ireland, settling in Newbridge in Co. Kildare. In 2002, Owen came into the world and made the family complete. Although Mary says she is ‘no storyteller’, but an ‘accidental author,’ when the idea came to her to write this book around Christmas of 2016, the words flew onto the pages and the main text was on paper within a few days. Back in her hometown, she will launch the book she once could not imagine ever completing! TIME 5:30PM DAY FRIDAY 21ST SEPTEMBER VENUE THE CLIFDEN BOOKSHOP ADMISSION FREE EVENT

ALBUM LAUNCH

Sophie & Fiachra Sophie Lavoie and Fiachra O'Regan play a blend of Irish and French-Canadian traditional music. Their previous album Un Canadien Errant (2016) was nominated in Canada for Traditional Album of the Year (Canadian Folk Music Awards and ADISQ). This latest album was recorded with André Marchand, one of the leading figures in Quebec’s trad scene. As well as traditional tunes, the album includes a selection of songs and compositions from Sophie Lavoie. The group is thrilled to launch at Clifden Arts Festival and will present a selection of work from the CD. Sponsored by Kiara and Declan Mannion.

‘It’s refreshing to hear a traditional band reference the present with such subtlety and finesse.’ – The Irish Times TIME 7PM DAY FRIDAY 21ST SEPTEMBER VENUE CHURCH OF IRELAND ADMISSION €5

Yule & McQ’s Big Band with support from 10pm Big band soul, blues and Motown review with full brass section, bringing you classics and originals.

TIME 10:30PM DAY FRIDAY 21ST SEPTEMBER VENUE MULLARKEY'S BAR ADMISSION €8 Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Day 58th September

Andy

Irvine, Donal Lunny& Paddy

Glackin TIME 9PM DAY FRIDAY 21ST SEPTEMBER VENUE STATION HOUSE THEATRE ADMISSION €15

Two giants of the Irish trad scene, Andy Irvine and Donal Lunny, unite for an evening of great music, featuring celebrated fiddle player Paddy Glackin and a mixture of traditional songs and originals composed by Andy. Between them, Andy and Donal have been at the helm of legendary bands like Sweeney’s Men, Planxty, The Bothy Band, Mozaik, LAPD and, recently, Usher’s Island. Their unique style of accompaniment is an ongoing influence in the wider world of Irish music. Donal Lunny has produced albums for Elvis Costello, Paul Brady, Clannad, and The Indigo Girls, and performed on more than a dozen Christy Moore albums. Andy Irvine is an accomplished multiinstrumentalist, singer and songwriter with several solo albums. He has played and recorded with Paul Brady, Christy Moore, Bill Whelan and Davy Spillane, and in Dublin with Billy Bragg, celebrating the Woody Guthrie Centenary. Paddy Glackin, a founding member of Bothy Band, is regarded as one of Ireland’s leading traditional fiddle players. Paddy is also a noted commentator and lecturer on Irish music, and in demand as a session player and a senior producer in RTÉ Radio. Sponsored by Marguerite Courtade.

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Saturday 22nd September DOCUMENTARY BY NUALA O'CONNOR

Keepers of the Flame followed by Diarmaid Ferriter Lecture Keepers of the Flame explores how individuals and families remember, commemorate and forget painful events of the past, bringing to light the diverse experiences of some of the 85,000 Irish men and women who served during the violent revolutionary period from Easter 1916 to the end of the Civil War in 1921. Shedding light on the nation’s post-war psyche, the documentary examines the longterm impact of the reluctance to talk about events, the lack of desire to relive decisions, and the secrecy and silence that causes further isolation. Directed and written by Nuala O’Connor; original concept and written by Diarmaid Ferriter. Diarmaid Ferriter is one of Ireland’s bestknown historians and is Professor of Modern Irish History at UCD. His recent publications include Ambiguous Republic: Ireland in the 1970s (2012) and A Nation and not a Rabble (2015). He is a regular broadcaster on television and radio and a weekly columnist with the Irish Times. TIME (FILM) 9AM SHARP, RUNTIME: 85 MIN. TIME (LECTURE) 11AM DAY SATURDAY 22ND SEPTEMBER VENUE STATION HOUSE THEATRE ADMISSION €10 FOR BOTH EVENTS

Sean-Nós ar an Loch Johnny Mháirtn Learaí Mac Donnchadha is one of the finest sean-nós singers in Ireland. He has won numerous awards for his singing. Johnny is a long-time friend of Clifden Arts Festival and we welcome him to this glorious location. Caitriona and Paul Canavan are also mastersof this style of music, and we are fortunate that this special event brings together three of the foremost exponents of sean-nós. Thanks to Máire, Dominic and the staff. TIME 2PM DAY SATURDAY 22ND SEPTEMBER VENUE LOUGH INAGH LODGE ADMISSION FREE EVENT

SONG RECITAL WITH

Patrick Hyland with Dearbhla Collins, piano Patrick Hyland studied with Dr Veronica Dunne at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. Patrick was awarded The Dermot Troy Prize for the best overall Irish singer at the Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition in 2016, and was a semi-finalist at the Angelo Loforse Competition in Milan in 2017. Operatic roles include Erik Oxenstjerna, Cristina, Regina Di Svezia (Wexford Festival Opera), Nemorino, L’Elisir d’Amore (Wexford Festival Opera), Tamino, The Magic Flute (Wexford Fesival Opera), El Remendado, Carmen (RTÉ CO), Jupiter, Semele (RIAM), Rinuccio, Gianni Schicchi (RIAM) Camille, The Merry Widow (Lyric Opera and Cork Opera House), and Rodolfo (cover), La Boheme (OTC). He has been a member of the Glyndebourne Opera Festival Company Chorus (2012 and 2013) and toured with the company to Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York, in 2014 for their production of Billy Budd. Oratorio performances include The Dream of Gerontius, The Creation, Stabat Mater and the Messiah. He is a former Opera Theatre Young Associate Artist and a co-founder of Irish Opera Artists. Sponsored by Dr. Brendan and Deirdre O’Connor. TIME 1PM DAY SATURDAY 22ND SEPTEMBER VENUE CHURCH OF IRELAND ADMISSION €10 Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Saturday 22nd September

One-Way Traffic on Slí na Fírinne John Moriarty Memorial Lecture with Mark Patrick Hederman Join former Glenstal Abbey abbot Mark Hederman on the alternative path trudged by philosopher John Moriarty, ‘almost obliterated, on his own. He regained for us a forgotten right-of-way almost defunct from lack of use. He tried to show us how to live metaphorically, and an alternative route towards truth.’ Sponsored by Shane O’Grady. John Moriarty: Not The Whole Story by Mary McGillicuddy (Liliput Press, 2018) will be on sale after the lecture. This powerful and personal reflection on John’s work has been widely praised. TIME 2:30PM DAY SATURDAY 22ND SEPTEMBER VENUE STATION HOUSE THEATRE ADMISSION €10

The Mexican-Irish San Patricio Celebration Celebration to honour the memory of John Reilly and the San Patricio Battalion. We will celebrate the shared culture of Ireland and Mexico through music and dance. left: Battle of Churubusco, painting by Carl Nebel. TIME 5PM DAY SATURDAY 22ND SEPTEMBER VENUE MARKET SQUARE ADMISSION FREE EVENT

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

STREETWISE PRESENTS

An Afternoon of Fun Jim Solo: No one can remember when Jim started performing, least of all Jim, but your parents may have recollections of seeing him when they were growing up! His unique blend of comedy and skills will enthral young and old alike. Juggling blindfold, ladder balancing, fire juggling, and a cup of tea on an eight-foot unicycle result in a street show that cannot be missed. Babcock & Bobbins: Based in Belfast, this act tour throughout Ireland. From Coleraine to Cork, and Belfast to Ballina, they pull in the crowds… and now it’s Clifden’s turn ! Come and see the madcap double act unleash their skills – fire breathing, fire juggling, stilt walking, and unicycling are all included in this show – although not all at the same time! TIME 3PM DAY SATURDAY 22ND SEPTEMBER VENUE MARKET SQUARE ADMISSION FREE EVENT IRISH HARP WITH

Lynn Saoirse

Lynn Saoirse is an accomplished exponent of the Irish harp and a long-time friend of and performer at Clifden Arts Festival. Lynn has composed An Brainse Airgid/The Silver Branch, a piece for the Irish harp in honour of the late author and philosopher John Moriarty. Lynn’s musical sensitivity is always an inspiration. TIME 4PM DAY SATURDAY 22ND SEPTEMBER VENUE CONNEMARA SANDS HOTEL ADMISSION FREE EVENT

Saturday 22nd September

READING WITH

Doireann Ní Ghríofa

& music by John Sheahan Doireann Ní Ghríofa is a bilingual writer. Among her awards are the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, a Seamus Heaney Centre fellowship, the Ireland Chair of Poetry bursary, the Michael Hartnett Award, and most recently, the Ostana Prize (Italy). Her fifth book, a bilingual selection of poetry titled Lies, will be published in October. Scríobhann Doireann Ní Ghríofa as Gaeilge agus as Béarla araon. Ar na gradaim a bronnadh uirthi tá Duais Uí Ruanaigh do Litríocht Éireannach, Comhaltacht Seamus Heaney (Ollscoil na Banraíona) agus Duais Liteartha Ostana (An Iodáil). Foilseofar Lies cnuasach dátheangach léi, um Fhómhair. John Sheahan was a member of The Dubliners from 1964 to 2012. He has played with musicians the world over and guested on numerous folk, traditional, and rock recordings. His own compositions, among them ‘The Marino Waltz’ and ‘Autumn in Paris’, have become essential elements of the Irish musical repertoire. In 2013, he was conferred with an honorary doctorate in music from Trinity College. Fiddle Dreams, his collection of poems and lyrics, was published in 2015. Sponsored by Matt O’Sullivan. Photo: Bríd O'Donovan. TIME 4:30PM DAY SATURDAY 22ND SEPTEMBER VENUE STATION HOUSE THEATRE ADMISSION €10

MUSIC WITH

The Henry Girls Three sisters from Co. Donegal: Karen – vocals, fiddle, piano, ukelele Lorna – vocals, accordion, piano Joleen – vocals, harp, piano The Henry Girls from Co. Donegal bring something enchanting to the folk scene; their lyrics are thoughtful, intelligent and often powerful, and the musicianship they possess is truly unique, covering a range of instruments including harp, fiddle, ukulele, accordion and piano. Most notable are their bewitching threepart harmonies. Their performances create a sense of nostalgia as the harp and voices soothe and the lyrics inspire. This is a group who’ve mastered the balance of being contemporary without falling short in oldfolk, rootsy charm. Their harmonies are also influenced by the vocal harmonies of singing siblings from the 1930s and ’40s such as The Andrews Sisters and The Boswell Sisters. They have released 6 original studio albums as well as writing and releasing original recordings and songs for children. Sponsored by Des and Mary Kavanagh. TIME 6PM DAY SATURDAY 22ND SEPTEMBER VENUE CHURCH OF IRELAND ADMISSION €10 Clifden Arts Festival 2018

NIGERIAN AFROBEAT & HIGH LIFE

Afrobeat Orchestra

with support from 10:3opm

Allen-Taylor’s Afrobeat Orchestra grew from the Oleku Band, formed in 2006 from a group of Nigerian musicians recently settled in and around Dublin. Led by composer/ arranger Allen-Taylor Adeniyi – originally from Abeokuta in south-west Nigeria, the birthplace of Fela Kuti – the band plays authentic Afrobeat and highlife from their Yoruba roots. Oleku Band was always an Afrobeat orchestra in miniature so it was no surprise that the six-piece band metamorphosed into a full Afrobeat orchestra, with a brass section, rhythm section and chorus. AllenTaylor Adeniyi is still in charge of the band and his wife Tomilola still runs the chorus. Since its debut Irish performance in 2007, the band has played festivals including The National Ploughing Championships in Tullamore and the Festival of World Cultures in Dun Laoghaire. It toured Ireland with Music Network in 2010, and has featured on RTÉ 1’s Nationwide.

TIME 11PM DAY SATURDAY 22ND SEPTEMBER VENUE MULLARKEY'S BAR ADMISSION €10

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Tonight, the streets of Clifden will flow with light, colour, music and costumes as the procession sails around the town. Ireland’s internationally-acclaimed illuminated processional artists LUXe present this spectacular community parade of light through the town. Every year, LUXe fill their lungs with Atlantic air in order to breathe some of that rare energy into the towns and cities they visit. Working with 200 local participants, this event is a highlight of everyone’s year.

The

Grand

Parade RIVER OF LIGHT Sponsored by Anne Ueltschi.

TIME 7:30PM DATE SAT 22ND SEPTEMBER LOCATION ALL AROUND CLIFDEN TOWN

Fidget Feet will take to the skies of Clifden, bringing you amazing aerial acts high in the sky. Performances will take place from 2pm-5pm and again that night during the gig, with live special effects. Each year, Fidget Feet bring fun, laughter and a sprinkle of beauty to the festival. This is always one of the highlights of the Grand Parade.

Followed by fireworks (weather permitting) and The Connemara All Stars 10-piece band with full brass section outdoor on the rig from 10:30pm – guests from Europe join local musicians to perform classics and original material, with something for everyone. Traffic restrictions will be in operation. Photos by L. Hardiman, S. Damani, B. Sanders.

Sunday 23rd September CONNEMARA THERAPEUTIC RIDING PROJECT

Connemara Novelty Pony Show

Connemara Therapeutic Riding is a community project providing therapeutic riding sessions to children and adults with a range of disabilities. The project uses the indigenous Connemara ponies. Fun jumping and novelty classes including jockey and groom jumping class (one rider and one on foot), mini handler and young handlers’ competition, fancy dress (individual or team, must include at least one pony), pony obstacle course, best mane and tail, and much more. €5 entry fee for classes. All proceeds go to Connemara Therapeutic Riding project. For entry forms and further details please contact Colette; call 0838418448 or email connemaratr@gmail.com. Please visit connemaratherapeuticriding.com. Sponsored by the Noonan Family. TIME 11AM DAY SUNDAY 23RD SEPTEMBER VENUE NOONAN'S ARENA, ARDAGH, CLIFDEN ADMISSION €10

PIANO WITH

James Ruddy A native of Mannin, James Ruddy began his musical studies with Breda O’ Toole in Claddaghduff before going on to study with Sr Karol O’Connell in Kylemore Abbey. James has completed his grade examinations with The Royal Irish Academy and holds three Gold Medal awards for junior, middle and advanced recital repertoire. This year, James competed in Cork in his first classical piano competitions, taking first place in the Solo Piano under 15 and second place in the Piano Repertoire under 18. James and brother Myles featured in Making The Grade, a documentary about the grade system in Ireland, recently shown nationwide. Sponsored by Roseanne and Peter O'Grady Walsh. TIME 2PM DAY SUNDAY 23RD SEPTEMBER VENUE CHURCH OF IRELAND ADMISSION €5

The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace We remember Clifden’s World War One 1918-2018 roll of honour with a dramatic presentation of The Armed Man – A Mass for Peace by Karl Jenkins. Galway Tribal Chamber Choir and Cantairí Chonamara perform, with mezzo-soprano Raphaela Mangan and conductor Mark Keane, in association with Clifden Arts Festival. Featuring World War One film clips from Big Idea Films, the performance takes place in a period air raid shelter constructed at Clifden Mart. Sponsored by John Corless. With thanks to Clifden Mart. TIME PERFORMANCES AT 6PM AND 8PM DAY SUNDAY 23RD SEPTEMBER VENUE CLIFDEN MART ADMISSION €15

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Sunday 23rd September ONE FOR THE ROAD

Cliodhna Costello & Johnny Óg Connolly Cliodhna Costello hails from North Tipperary, an area rich in traditional music. She was exposed to music at a young age, both at home among her siblings, and with local musicians, the likes of Paddy O’Brien, his daughter Eileen, the Larkins, O’Connors, and Slatterys. She started learning piano and whistle, and quickly progressed to the banjo. She learned much early on from listening to the likes of Jody Moran, John Carty, John Morrow and Brian McGrath, but also has been heavily influenced by the fiddle and accordion music of both Sligo and east Galway. Cliodhna’s rhythmic style is widely admired, and she has won numerous awards for her playing. She has appeared on Irish TV and radio and has travelled across the world, performing and teaching throughout Europe, the US and as far afield as New Zealand. Cliodhna lives in Galway, where she plays and teaches regularly. Johnny Óg Connolly is an internationally renowned traditional Irish musician and composer, who has been playing the accordion at the age of nine. At 14, he joined Na h-Ancairí, fronted by the legendary Conamara singer, John Beag Ó Flatharta. In the ’90s, he travelled throughout Europe and North America with the Sean Keane Band, before touring with Michael Flatley’s Lord of the Dance. His first solo recording Aisling Yoshua (Joshua’s Dream) featured five new compositions, along with traditional tunes, and won Best Trad Album in the 2011 Irish Times Ticket Awards. He composed a suite, Sruth, with Mary Bergin in 2012, and in 2016 released the album Siar. He has worked on a song-cycle based on 12 poems by Máirtín Ó Direáin, and composed for multimedia show Aisling?. He is currently working on a new song-cycle based on the poetry of Joe Steve Ó Neachtain. He lives in Conamara.

TIME 12PM DAY SUNDAY 23RD SEPTEMBER VENUE MULLARKEY'S BAR ADMISSION €5

The Long-Lost Short Stories of Gearóid P. Mannion Edited and Compiled by Karen and Sinéad Mannion Hidden in a cupboard under the sink for over a quarter of a century lay a collection of essays long forgotten. Enter the world of a precocious teenager growing up in 1980s rural Ireland. These stories are made all the more poignant because their author, in spite of having a life-limiting illness, illuminates his incredible mind. Gearóid P. Mannion passed away at 21 but his legacy lives on in this funny, heartfelt, warm collection of essays written when he was a teenager – his shining light will never go out. All proceeds of this book go to Muscular Dystrophy Ireland.

“There is a light that never goes out.” – The Smiths TIME 3PM DAY SUNDAY 23RD SEPTEMBER VENUE STATION HOUSE THEATRE ADMISSION FREE EVENT Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Gig Listings – Clifden Arts Festival

OTHER MUSICAL ENTERTAINMENT IN CLIFDEN TOWN Clifden has a vibrant music scene during Clifden Arts Festival. There are many gigs and sessions taking place all around the town, far too numerous for us to include in the main programme. Below is a summary. Apologies to anyone not included. Details correct at time of going to print. ABBEYGLEN CASTLE

Tues 18th, 3pm – Afternoon tea with Betty and the Baby Boomers Wed 19th, 10pm – True North

CLIFDEN BOAT CLUB

Thurs 20th, 6pm – True North

CLÚID

Mon 17th, 1pm – Guys & Doll Fri 21st, 2pm – Martin Conroy and John Gerard Walsh in a sing-along with the residents. Thanks to Kathleen Aspell-Mortimer.

E.J.KING'S BAR

Every evening, 6:30-8pm – Unplugged musical session Sun to Fri, 10:30pm – Live Music Band Sat 15th, 6pm – Paddy Buckley and Friends followed by Michael Carey Band Mon 17th, 6:30pm – Guys and Doll Wed 19th, 6:30pm – True North Fri 21st, 4pm – True North Sat 22nd, 10pm – Michael Carey Band

ELM TREE CENTRE Tues 18th, 2pm – Guys and Doll

FATIMA HOSPITAL

Mon 17th, 12pm – Betty and the Baby Boomers

GRIFFIN'S BAR

The home of great music

GUY'S BAR

Mon–Thurs, 7-9pm and Fri–Sat, 9-11pm – Boxwood; John Durning & Lol Hardiman

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

KEOGH'S BAR

Fri 14th, 10pm – Traditional Music Session with John Joe Forde and Mike Fahy

LOWRY'S BAR

Mon, 10pm – HighTime – Amazing Mix of Irish Ballads and Contemporary Music Tues, 10pm – Lowry’s Famous Traditional Irish Session Wed, 10pm – HighTime Thurs, 10pm – Lanseol Irish and Contemporary Music with a Celtic Twist Fri, 8pm – HighTime Fri, 10pm – Richie and Liam Traditional Irish Music Sat, 10pm – Brian and Dann Upbeat Energetic Irish Music Sun, 7-9pm – The Careys Irish Music and Ballads Sun, 9:30pm – Mick & Peter Carey Junior Legendary Irish and Contemporary Music

MACDARA'S BAR

Great music every night

MANNION’S BAR

Sun 16th, 2pm – Betty and the Baby Boomers Wed 19th, 2pm – Guys & Doll Every Evening, 6:30pm – Traditional Irish Music and Song Session; visiting musicians welcome Mon, Wed, Thurs and Sat – Peter Carey and Friends Tues, Fri and Sun – All-Ireland Champion Banjo Player Tom Mullen and Friends

O’MALLEYS BAR

Mon, Tues, Wed and Thurs, 6-9pm – Live music Thurs 20th, 9pm – True North

ST ANNE’S NURSING HOME

Thurs 20th, 2pm – Marie Walsh and Friends

STATION HOUSE

Fri 21st, 6pm – Betty and the Baby Boomers Nightly at the Station House Hotel – Barry Ryan on Piano Nightly at the Signal Bar – Music with Mick McNamara and Tom Wallace

STEAM CAFÉ

Thurs 20th, 3pm – Guys and Doll

THE CENTRAL BAR

Mon to Wed & Fri to Sun – Traditional Irish music with Kevin Barry, Jarlath Hession, John Gerard Walsh, Michael Roche, Tom Wallace, and PJ McInerney Sat 15th, 9pm – Paddy Buckley (banjo) Fri 21st, 10pm – Traditional Music Session with John Joe Forde and Mike Fahy

TOM KING'S BAR

Fri 14th, 9pm – Paddy Buckley (banjo), David Kinsella (pipes), James Kinsella (accordion), and Michael Buckley (fiddle) Sat 15th, 3pm – Youth Music Session Thurs 20th, 9pm – Guys and Doll Fri 21st, 9pm – True North

WALSH’S BAKERY

Thurs 20th, 3pm – Betty and the Baby Boomers

Clifden Arts Festival – Quick Find Index WEDNESDAY 12

Jeramee, Hartleby and Oooglemore................................................Station House Theatre....................................... 12pm.................. p. 30 Reading with J. O'Donnell, T. Curtis & S. Ó Coistealbha...................Station House Theatre....................................... 5pm.................... p. 31 Music with HighTime..........................................................................Station House Hotel.......................................... 7:30pm............... p. 31

THURSDAY 13

Lecture by Hugh Duffy.......................................................................Omey Suite, Station House Hotel..................... 10am.................. p. 32 Moon Magic........................................................................................Station House Theatre....................................... 12pm.................. p. 32 Harp Recital with Kathleen Loughnane.............................................Church of Ireland............................................... 1pm.................... p. 32 Reading by F. Johnston & T. Gifford...................................................Clifden Library................................................... 2pm.................... p. 33 Reading by E.M. Reapy & M. Gorman................................................Station House Theatre....................................... 4pm.................... p. 33 41st Clifden Arts Festival Official Opening.......................................West Connemara Leisure Centre...................... 7pm.................... p. 33 Music with Declan Nerney..................................................................Clifden Town Hall.............................................. 9pm.................... p. 34 Music with Síomha Brock...................................................................Mullarkey's Bar.................................................. 10pm.................. p. 34

FRIDAY 14

Talk by Benig Mauger.........................................................................Foyle's Hotel...................................................... 10am.................. p. 35 Inishbofin Field Trip............................................................................Meet at Cleggan Pier......................................... 11am................... p. 35 C. Fitz-Simon: A Life in the Touring Theatre......................................Station House Theatre....................................... 11am................... p. 35 Concert with Frankie Gavin & Brendan O'Regan...............................Alcock and Brown Hotel.................................... 1pm.................... p. 36 Reading with A. Mac Aodha & L. De Paor, Music by L. Saoirse..........Station House Theatre....................................... 3pm.................... p. 36 Reading with Paul Durcan..................................................................Station House Theatre....................................... 5pm.................... p. 37 Book Launch: See The Wood From The Trees....................................O'Malley's Bar................................................... 6:30pm.............. p. 37 Wallis Bird...........................................................................................Station House Theatre....................................... 9pm.................... p. 38 Dr. Mindflip with support by The Curley Organ.................................Mullarkey's Bar.................................................. 10pm.................. p. 39 Trad Music with John Joe Forde & Mike Fahy....................................Keogh's Bar........................................................ 10pm.................. p. 39

SATURDAY 15

Writers' Workshop with John Liddy...................................................Foyle's Hotel...................................................... 9:30am............... p. 40 Talk by F. Keane – Wounds: A Memoir of War and Love....................Station House Theatre....................................... 11am................... p. 40 Clifden Elf and Fairy Trail....................................................................Starting at the Showgrounds............................ 11am................... p. 40 Recital with Miriam Roycroft and Lance Coburn...............................Church of Ireland............................................... 1pm.................... p. 41 Clifden Writers' Group with L. Saoirse, Irish harp.............................Foyle's Hotel...................................................... 2pm.................... p. 40 Lecture by Prof. Joe Lee – Ireland in History.....................................Station House Theatre....................................... 3pm.................... p. 41 Youth Music Session with Marie Walsh.............................................Tom King's Bar................................................... 3pm.................... p. 41 Defense Forces Military Band 2 Brigade...........................................Market Square................................................... 4pm.................... p. 41 Poetry & Songs with R.A. Higgins & Con ‘Fada’ Ó Drisceoil..............Alcock and Brown Hotel.................................... 5pm.................... p. 42 Evening Trad at E.J.'s..........................................................................E.J. King's Bar.................................................... 6pm.................... p. 42 Book Launch by John Liddy................................................................O'Malley's Bar................................................... 6:30pm.............. p. 42 The Piper and the Fairy Queen: C. Kilkenny with D. Power..............Church of Ireland............................................... 7pm.................... p. 43 Lisa Hannigan.....................................................................................Station House Theatre....................................... 9pm.................... p. 44 My Fellow Sponges & Nick Timothy with Special Guests..................Mullarkey's Bar.................................................. 10pm.................. p. 42

SUNDAY 16

Lecture: Ballynahinch Castle & the O'Flaherty Lords.......................Station House Theatre....................................... 10am.................. p. 45 Coffee Morning in aid of the Mental Health Association..................Elm Tree Centre................................................. 11:30am............. p. 45 Music with The Whileaways...............................................................Church of Ireland............................................... 1pm.................... p. 45 Music with Betty and The Baby Boomers..........................................Mannion's Bar................................................... 2pm.................... p. 46 Across the Waters Wide: Robyn Rowland and Friends.....................Station House Theatre....................................... 2:30pm.............. p. 46 Reading by J. Harpur & J.F. Deane with The Kane Sisters.................Station House Theatre....................................... 4pm.................... p. 47 Reading and Singing in the Bookies..................................................Paddy Powers.................................................... 6pm.................... p. 46 Kicking All The Boxes: A Play by Liz Fitzgibbons...............................Clifden Town Hall.............................................. 6pm.................... p. 48 Music with Triskele.............................................................................Alcock and Brown Hotel.................................... 8pm.................... p. 47 RTÉ Concert Orchestra........................................................................West Connemara Leisure Centre...................... 8pm.................... p. 49 Music with Mama Kin Spender..........................................................Mullarkey's Bar.................................................. 10pm.................. p. 47 M. Ní Dhomhnaill, M. O'Connor & S. O'Dowd...................................Station House Theatre....................................... 10pm.................. p. 50

MONDAY 17

Celebrating the 90th Anniversary of the Gate Theatre.....................Station House Theatre....................................... 11am................... p. 51 RTÉ ConTempo Quartet with lulian Pusca..........................................Church of Ireland............................................... 1pm.................... p. 52 Jim Murphy with Séidíu: A Letter from America...............................Station House Theatre....................................... 2pm.................... p. 51 Reading with D. Denton & J. Connell.................................................Station House Theatre....................................... 4pm.................... p. 51 Book Launch by Gerard Moran...........................................................Station House Theatre....................................... 5:30pm.............. p. 53 Music with Guys and Doll...................................................................E.J. King's Bar.................................................... 6:30pm.............. p. 53 The Carolan String Quartet & Guitarist Ewan Cowley........................Church of Ireland............................................... 7pm.................... p. 53 Sean Keane in Concert.......................................................................Station House Theatre....................................... 9pm.................... p. 54 Music with Anna Falkenau and Ged Foley.........................................Mullarkey's Bar.................................................. 10pm.................. p. 53 Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Quick Find Index – Clifden Arts Festival TUESDAY 18

Lecture: Sarah Purser and her Legacy...............................................Station House Theatre....................................... 11am................... p. 55 Book Launch: Fourth Floor Flat 44 Cantos........................................Clifden Library................................................... 12pm.................. p. 55 Music with Charlie McGettigan..........................................................Alcock and Brown Hotel.................................... 1pm.................... p. 55 Short Film by T. Heanue: A Break in the Clouds................................Station House Theatre....................................... 1pm.................... p. 56 Poetry with J. McBreen, G. Mitchell & R. Vine...................................Station House Theatre....................................... 2:30pm.............. p. 56 Afternoon Tea with Betty and the Baby Boomers..............................Abbeyglen Castle Hotel.................................... 3pm.................... p. 56 Poetry & Prose with N. O'Connor & A. McMonagle...........................Station House Theatre....................................... 4:30pm.............. p. 57 Poetry with L. Bozabalian & M. Roddy...............................................Clifden Library................................................... 5:30pm.............. p. 57 Padraig Potts' Guide to Walking by Seamus O'Rourke....................Clifden Town Hall.............................................. 7pm.................... p. 58 Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill in Concert...........................................Station House Theatre....................................... 9pm.................... p. 59 David Lyttle.........................................................................................The Ardagh Hotel............................................... 9:45pm............... p. 60 Carmel Dempsey and Friends............................................................Lowry's Bar........................................................ 10pm.................. p. 57

WEDNESDAY 19

Documentary by M. Fitzpatrick: John Hume in America.................Station House Theatre....................................... 9:30am............... p. 61 Lecture by Dr Éimear O’Connor – John Millington Synge................Station House Theatre....................................... 11:30am............. p. 61 Virtuosos of the Guitar: D. Flynn & S. Hennessy...............................Church of Ireland............................................... 1pm.................... p. 61 Curlew Theatre: The Loves of Lady Gregory......................................Station House Theatre....................................... 2pm.................... p. 62 Reading with M. Coady & L. O'Sullivan.............................................Station House Theatre....................................... 4:30pm.............. p. 62 Book Launch by Simon Leyland.........................................................O'Malley's Bar................................................... 6pm.................... p. 62 Aslan...................................................................................................West Connemara Leisure Centre...................... 8pm.................... p. 63 David Lyttle.........................................................................................Mullarkey's Bar.................................................. 10pm.................. p. 57 Music with True North........................................................................Abbeyglen Castle Hotel.................................... 10pm.................. p. 62

THURSDAY 20

Film by Pat Collins: Song of Granite..................................................Station House Theatre....................................... 9am.................... p. 64 Echoes Into Silence: Recovering Irish Women Poets.......................Station House Theatre....................................... 11am................... p. 64 Senior Citizens Event..........................................................................Clifden Town Hall.............................................. 1pm.................... p. 64 Tommy Sands in Concert....................................................................Alcock and Brown Hotel.................................... 1pm.................... p. 65 The Uilleann Pipes by Peter Browne..................................................Station House Theatre....................................... 3pm.................... p. 65 The Clifden Arts Festival Archive........................................................Station House Theatre....................................... 5pm.................... p. 66 Talk: Unravelling Marconi's First Letterfrack Station.......................Foyle's Hotel...................................................... 5pm.................... p. 66 Concert with Graffiti Classics.............................................................Church of Ireland............................................... 7pm.................... p. 66 LUXe Present: The Journey of the Crystal Ship.................................Clifden Beach.................................................... 8pm.................... p. 67 Comedy with Danny O'Brien..............................................................Station House Theatre....................................... 9pm.................... p. 68 Joshua Burnside with support from 9:30pm....................................Mullarkey's Bar.................................................. 10pm.................. p. 68

FRIDAY 21

Dearest Old Darling by Mary Kenny..................................................Station House Theatre....................................... 12pm.................. p. 69 Recital with Concert Pianist Veronica McSwiney..............................Church of Ireland............................................... 2pm.................... p. 69 Food for Thought: M. Hickey & C. Prendergast.................................Station House Theatre....................................... 3pm.................... p. 70 The Knotted Cord Quartet..................................................................Alcock and Brown Hotel.................................... 4pm.................... p. 70 Book Launch by Mary Hughes: A Lifetime Long Ago........................The Clifden Bookshop....................................... 5:30pm.............. p. 71 Album Launch: Sophie & Fiachra.......................................................Church of Ireland............................................... 7pm.................... p. 71 Andy Irvine, Donal Lunny & Paddy Glackin.......................................Station House Theatre....................................... 9pm.................... p. 72 Trad Music with John Joe Forde & Mike Fahy....................................The Central Bar.................................................. 10pm.................. p. 39 Yule and McQ's Big Band with support from 10pm..........................Mullarkey's Bar.................................................. 10:30pm............ p. 71

SATURDAY 22

Film: Keepers of the Flame followed by D. Ferriter Lecture.............Station House Theatre....................................... 9am/11am.......... p. 73 Song Recital with Patrick Hyland.......................................................Church of Ireland............................................... 1pm.................... p. 73 Sean-Nós ar on Loch...........................................................................Lough Inagh Lodge........................................... 2pm.................... p. 73 John Moriarty Memorial Lecture with M. P. Hederman....................Station House Theatre....................................... 2:30pm.............. p. 74 Streetwise Presents: An Afternoon of Fun.........................................Market Square................................................... 3pm.................... p. 74 Irish Harp with Lynn Saoirse..............................................................Connemara Sands Hotel................................... 4pm.................... p. 74 The Mexican-Irish San Patricio Celebration......................................Market Square................................................... 5pm.................... p. 74 Reading with D. Ní Ghríofa & Music by J. Sheahan...........................Station House Theatre....................................... 4:30pm.............. p. 75 The Henry Girls...................................................................................Church of Ireland............................................... 6pm.................... p. 75 The Grand Parade: River of Light.......................................................All around Clifden Town.................................... 7:30pm............... p. 77 Afrobeat Orchestra with support from 10:30pm..............................Mullarkey's Bar.................................................. 11pm.................. p. 76

SUNDAY 23

Connemara Novelty Pony Show.........................................................Noonan's Arena, Ardagh, Clifden..................... 11am................... p. 78 One for the Road: C. Costello & J. Óg Connolly.................................Mullarkey's Bar.................................................. 12pm.................. p. 79 Piano with James Ruddy....................................................................Church of Ireland............................................... 2pm.................... p. 78 The Long-Lost Short Stories of Georóid P. Mannion..........................Station House Theatre....................................... 3pm.................... p. 79 The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace....................................................Clifden Mart...................................................... 6pm/8pm........... p. 78

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Clifden Arts Festival – Map of Venues

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VENUES 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21.

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18 Mar ke

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14 Ma 23 3 15

Galway Road

Abbeyglen Castle Hotel Alcock and Brown Hotel Central Bar Church of Ireland Clifden Community School Clifden Library Clifden Mart Clifden Station House Hotel Clúid Clifden Town Hall E.J. King’s Bar Elm Tree Centre Festival Box Office / Merchandise Office Foyle’s Hotel Guy’s Bar Keogh’s (via R341 Ballyconneely, 9km) Lowry’s Bar Macdara's Bar Mannion’s Bar Market Square Mullarkey’s Bar

22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33.

O’Malley’s Bar (Atlantic Coast) Paddy Power’s St. Joseph’s Church Station House Theatre Steam Café The Ardagh (via R341, 2.5km from Clifden) The Clifden Bookshop The Showgrounds Tom King’s Bar Walsh’s Bakery & Coffee Shop West Connemara Leisure Centre Towards Noonan's Arena

VISUAL ARTS / ART TRAIL The list of Art Trail exhibition venues can be found in Connemara tourism guide What's On, available during Clifden Arts Festival from the Festival Caravan on Market Square.

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

Friends of Clifden Arts Festival The staff and Board of Management, students and parents of Clifden Community School, Clifden; The staff of Scoil Mhuire NS, Clifden and all the primary schools who are involved in preparing for the Grand Parade – Aillebrack, Ballyconneely, Cashel, Claddaghduff, Cleggan and Roundstone; Angela Bane (Bane Mullarkey), Martin and Rita Acton, Sr. Agnes, Aisling House, Alcock and Brown Hotel, Jonathan Powell and Amanda Burke (All Things Connemara), Angler's Return, Aquinas College – Michigan, Kathleen Aspel (Cluid Housing Association), Jim Avcone, Mary Banotti, Kevin Barry, Orla and Wayne Baylis (Upstairs Downstairs Coffee House), Anne Beatty, Dave Beecher, Ben Baun House, Ben View House, Margaret Bennett, Alice Black (Manager AIB, Clifden), Louise Borre, Charlie Bourke, Ayoma Bowe, Fr. Ronnie Boyle, John Brennan, Jonathan Broderick, Enda Broderick (Lightnet – Festival Broadband), Tommy Burke, Lynda Burke, Amanda Burke (All Things Connemara), Cllr. Niamh Byrne, Natalie Byrne, Jim Carney, Martin Casey, Anne and Pat Casey, Dr. John and Brenda Casey, Cashel Credit Union, Maureen Chambers, Staff of the Clifden Day Care Centre, Clifden Fire Service Station Officer, David McNamara, and Clifden Fire Service members (Niall Gallery, Sean Heanue, Kenny Flaherty, Adam Conroy, Joseph Acton, Brendan Mullen, Michael Carey, Vinny Heffernan, Dave Bann, and John Heffernan), Clifden Gardaí, Tom Reapy and staff at the Clifden Post Office, James Sweeney, and all the staff of the Clifden Station House Hotel and Theatre, Clifden Tourist Offce (Barbara Ward and Jeanie Linnane), Paddy Collins, Finghin Collins Una McCarthy (Limerick Gallery), Joe Conaty (FORUM Connemara), Michael and Kathleen Conneely, Charles Conneely (Digital Offce), Josie Conneely, Laurence Conneely (Cleggan Claddaghduff Festival of the Sea and the Claddaghduff Hall Committee), Packie Conneely, Martin and Lourdes Conneely, John Conneely, Connemara Community Radio (Grainne O'Malley, Colleen Curran and all the volunteers), Sean and Rosalind Coyne, Yvonne Flaherty and all staff at Connemara Lettings, Connemara Pony Breeders Society, Connemara West plc, Catherine Connolly T.D., Paddy Joe and Pam Conroy, Bernard Corbett, John Costello, Maggie Courtade, Johnny Coyne (CEO @ FORUM Connemara), Marie and Joe Coyne, Oliver Coyne, Louise Coyne (Clifden Glen), Cregal Art, Mary Foyle and all the staff at Criost Linn Centre (Ability West), John Crumlish (Galway Arts Festival), Seamus and Mary Cullen, Breeda Cunningham (Arts Office Galway County Council), Tony Dawson, Josephine DeCourcey, Michael Delahunty (The Inn to the West), David Delahunty (The Inn to the West), Design Platform, Bernie Dignam, Michael Dolan (Elm Tree), Dolphin Beach Country House, Mary Donnelly, Marie Donoghue, Veronica Downes, Niall Doyle (Head of Music), Fr. John Dunleavy SMA, Pat Charleton and all the staff at E.J. King's Bar, Aine Egan, Rev. Stan and Rosemary Evans, Dr. Sophie Faherty, Frank Fahey, Vincent Fahy (ESB, Clifden), Paul Fahy (Galway Arts Festival), Pat Fallon, Martin Farragher, Anthony Farrell (Lilliput Press), Alan Farrell (Galway Co.Co.), Bernie Coyne and staff at the Fatima Hospital Clifden, Evie Faulkner ( E.J. King's) Fidget Feet, Pam Finn (ThinkPR), Keith Finnegan – Galway Bay FM, Michael Fitzsimons (Failte Ireland), Fr. Raymond Flaherty, Margaret Flannery (Arts Assistant, Galway & Roscommon Education and Training Board), Bronagh Flynn, Dearbhaile Flynn, Cllr. Joe Folan, Veronica Folan, Christine Folan (Clifden Glen), Billy Foyle, Mark Foyle (Rosleague Manor), Stephen Foyle (Foyle's Hotel), Eddie Foyle, Fearghus Foyle (Aerial Eye), Jason Foyle (Mullarkey's Bar), Stuart and Margaret Freeman, Galway Arts Centre, Carmel Gaughan, Marilyn Gaughan (Galway Capital of Culture 2020), Sean Gavin, Helen and Lorcan Geoghegan, Erin Gibbons, Niall Gibbons (CEO Tourism Ireland), Stephen and Mary Gibbons, Bobby and Truly Gilmore, John and Jeanette Glynn, Noel Grealish T.D., Tom Grealy, Claire Griffn (Steam Café), Hugh and Eileen Griffin, Laura Griffin (Claddaghduff NS), David Griffin, Pat Guy, Eileen Halliday, Lol Hardiman (Arts Festival window display), Mike Harding BBC Radio, James Harrold (Arts Officer Galway City Council), Cllr.Tom Healy, Padraic Heanue, Sean Heanue, Brian and Michele Hehir, Paul Hughes, Brian Hughes, Sr. Immaculae, Bernie Jefferies (Clifden Library), Julian Jefferies, Peter Jefferies, Lucy Johnson, Joseph Joyce Auctioneers, Nessa Joyce, Sean Joyce, Delia Joyce, Kevin Joyce, Aidan Joyce, Emer Joyce, Valerie Joyce, Damien Joyce, Mary Joyce, Oliver Joyce (GMT), Brendan Joyce, Derval Joyce, Peter Keane (for broadband installation), Michael and Anita Keane, Yvonne Keane (FORUM Connemara), Cathy Keane (FORUM Connemara), Malachy Kearns, Anne Marie Kelly, Mary Kelly – Principal, Clifden Community School, Brendan Kelly, John and Margaret Kelly, Geraldine Kelly (FORUM Connemara), Christina Kennedy, Maureen Kennelly (Poetry Ireland), Bro. Kenneth, Jackie and Carmel Kenny, Tom and Des Kenny, Kevin Keogh, Paul Keogh (Clifden Library), Brendan Keogh (Keogh's Ballyconneely), Tony Kiely (Connemara Journal), Mrs. Mary P. Kileen, Jim Killcrest, Alan King (Steam Café), Anna King, Helen King, Gerry King, Malachy King, Eamonn King, Eamonn and Anne King, Noel and Madeline King, Micheal King (Dun RíGuesthouse), Noel King (Roundstone), Tom King, King's Paper Shop, Kingstown House, Mary Kirby (St. Joseph's Parish Office), Noel Kirby, Sean Kyne T.D., Patricia Jean Lacey, Gavin Lavelle, Ruairí Lehmann, Joan Ann Lloyd, Lough Fadda Guesthouse, Kathleen Loughnane, Eilish Lowry, LUXe, Padraic Lyden, Kurt Lydon (Galway County Council), Sharon and Declan Maher, Valerie Mahon, Mallmore House, John Malone, Maurice Maloney, Maureen Maloney, Adrian Mangan, Cllr. Eileen Mannion, Marie Mannion, Karen Mannion (FORUM Connemara), J.J. and Caitriona Mannion, Seamus Mannion, Francie Mannion, Martin V. Mannion, James Mannion (Station House Hotel), Dara McAleer (Scoil Mhuire, Clifden), Andy Mcantee, Augusta McCabe, Úna McCarthy (Director – Limerick City Gallery of Art), Padraic McCormack, Mícheál and Grace McDonagh, Ellen McDonagh, John McDonagh, John McDonnell, Petria McDonnell, John McDonough, Joanne McGrath, Yvonne McGuire, Tom McHugh, Eamonn and Theresa McLoughlin, Neil McLoughlin, Tom and Peggy McManus, John McMenamin, David McNamara (GMT), Mary McNamara, Aislin Meehan (Bill Whelan's office), Ronnie Millar, Feichin Mitchell, J.J. and Kay Mitchell, Cailin and Teresa Mitchell, Robert Mitchell, Fiona Monaghan (Failte Ireland), Declan Moran, Sean Mulkerrin (IT Support), Pat and Jean Mullan, Johanne Mullan, Bernadette Mullarkey (Bane Mullarkey), Tony Mullen, Bro. James Mungovan, Vincent Murphy, Pat and Antoinette Murphy, Judy Murphy (Connacht Tribune), Music Network (Deirdre, Sharon, Andreas, Niamh), Hildegarde Naughton TD, Sean Nee, Michael Nee, Niall Malone Couriers, Mrs. Nolan, Kate and Noel Noonan, Éamon Ó Cuív T.D., Dr. Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh, Gerry and Betty O'Malley, Tina and Donal O'Scanaill, Dave and Mary O'Shaughnessy, Sheila and Peter O'Toole, Colm O'Brien, Mairtin O'Cathain (Connacht Tribune and Galway Bay FM), Senator Trevor O'Clochartaigh, Rory O'Connell – Findhorn, Martin O'Connor, Keith O'Connor, Jonty O'Dalaigh, Aoife Ní Dhálaigh (Connemara Journal), Helen O'Donoghue - IMMA, Mary O'Donoughue, O'Dowd's Restaurant, Sean O'Farrell, Patrick O'Flaherty (Ballynahinch Castle Hotel), Aidan and MÃ¡ire O'Halloran, Jane O'Hanlon, Bernie O'Leary – The Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon, Ciara O'Mahony (Failte Ireland), Enda O'Malley, Brian O'Malley, Jim O'Malley, Aine O'Neill, Michael O'Neill, Bridie O'Neill, Breandan O'Scanaill, Claire O'Shaughnessy, Fionnula O'Shaughnessy, Emer O'Shaughnessy, Regina O'Shea, Brendan O'Sullivan, Padraic O'Sullivan, Tommy O'Sullivan (Galway County Council), Henry O'Toole, Maeve O'Toole, Rory O'Toole, Patrycja Pietraszewska, Jonathan Powell (What's On), Mike and Sharon Prendergast, Anthony and Christina Previté, Paddy Pryce, Jane Queally, Brian Quinn (Failte Ireland), Aidan Reade (Sound), Brendan and Virginia Ridge, Lorna Roberts, Máiréad and Tim Robinson, Paddy Roe, Canon James Ronayne, Rowan Tree Designs, Ciarán Ryan (Piano Tuner), Barry Ryan (Festival videographer – Limelight Productions), Philip and Mary Ryder Davies, Bernhard Sanders (Festival Archivist), Peter Savage, Raymond Schley, Shamrock Dry Cleaners, Alan and Sandra Shattock, Lorna Siggins, Mary Smyth, Sandia Joy and staff at St. Anne's, John Stanley, James Sullivan, Joe Lynch and Noel Kavanagh (SuperValu), John and Treena Sweeney, Terry Sweeney, Michael and Iris Taylor, Davide Terlingo (Head of Dance, Circus and Street Acts), Cllr. Noel Thomas, Georgie Thompson, Rodney Thompson, Brian Thornburgh, Tim Hickey, Fergal McGrath and staff at the Town Hall Theatre, Galway, Mr. and Mrs. Vanderlee, Vassar College, Sean Vaughan, Danny Vaughan, Vaughan's Hotel, Kathleen Villiers-Tuthill, Karl Wallace (Head of Festivals and Events), Melissa Wallace (FORUM Connemara), Cllr. Seamus Walsh, Pat and Margaret Walsh, Mary Claire Walsh, Michael Walsh, Marie Walsh, Walsh's Bakery and Coffee Shop, Tim Warbout, Cllr. Thomas Welby, Joe Woods, Joe Young.

Clifden Arts Festival 2018

ANNE UELTSCHI

BILL & DENISE WHELAN