The memorial lecture, named in honour of the Irish philosopher and mystic, John Moriarty, it provides an opportunity to celebrate the life and legacy of this influential figure in Irish...
Harry is an experienced medical doctor with over 35 years of experience as a senior GP in the Irish health system. He specialises in mental health, focusing on anxiety, depression,...
Is ócáid dá-theangach a bheas ann – this is a bi-lingual event. In the mid-1850s, Patrick Lyden left Clifden and emigrated to America, never returning to Ireland before his death...
A century on from one of our darkest years, this talk will focus on the Civil War climate and the challenges that war and it's conclusion presented, politically, economically, socially...
Fergus Cronin was awarded the Maria Edgeworth prize for fiction in 2022 and completed an MPhil degree in Creative Writing at the Oscar Wilde Centre in TCD in 2014. Having...
Bernard O’Donoghue is a poet and former tutor in English at Wadham College. He specialised in medieval literature and modern Irish literature until his retirement in 2011. With eight books...
The Clifden Workhouse, often associated with the Great Famine, continued to be a significant presence in Connemara during the early 20th century. Even in 1911, the workhouse housed sixty-four inmates,...
Francis Brennan is a well-known hotelier and television presenter. He fronts one of Ireland’s most popular TV shows, "At Your Service", where his wit and charm have endeared him to...
KING tells the story of Luther, a man from Cork named in honour of his Granny Bee Baw’s hero, Dr Martin Luther King Jr. Luther only leaves his apartment for essential journeys, and to perform as an Elvis impersonato
Győző Ferencz, a Hungarian poet and critic, is renowned for his expertise in English and Hungarian literature. With a background in teaching and editorial work, he currently serves as a...
Hank Wangford, often referred to as the twisted Godfather of the British alternative country music scene, has been exploring the dark and troubled soul of Country music for over three decades.
Peter Fallon is an notable poet and translator, known for his collections such as “The Company of Horses” and “Strong, My Love.” His translations include notable works like “The Georgics...
Luke Morgan, an acclaimed poet and filmmaker, published his second collection titled “Beast” in 2022, receiving praise for its ambition and striking imagination. His debut collection, “Honest Walls,” was published...
Professor Rose Anne Kenny Rose Anne Kenny is Regius Professor of Physic (Medicine) and holds the Chair of Medical Gerontology at Trinity College Dublin
An engaging panel discussion, where past inspiration meets future collaboration between the Clifden Arts Festival and Abbey Theatre, with our esteemed guests: Caitríona McLaughlin, Bríd Ní Neachtain, and Ian Toner.
with Peter Browne, Paudie O’Connor and Aoife Ní Chaoimh Sliabh Luachra, located on the Cork-Kerry border, boasts a rich musical tradition with a unique repertoire and history. Pádraig O’Keeffe (1887...
Buttons and Bows emerged in 1983, injecting vibrant colour into Irish traditional music
Dorothy Cross is an acclaimed Irish artist known for her thought-provoking work.
How much freedom did the Treaty really give? Why did it lead to a Civil War? And how did successive Irish Governments dismantle it to allow Ireland to emerge on the world stage?
Dublin poet, Rachael Hegarty, won the 2018 Shine Strong Award for her debut collection, “Flight Paths Over Finglas.” Her powerful collection “May Day 1974” honours victims of The Troubles. She...
The lecture will cover various projects, including parklets in Galway City, houses in Clifden, and a seaside baths complex in Dún Laoghaire.
The performance unfolds as a mix of a variety show, parish fundraiser, and comedic event, with Breathnach as the compère, orchestrating audience participation, raffles, spot prizes, quizzes, and sharing hilarious stories of Amadáns and their adventures.
Sound designer Jason Scott, actor/director Paul Connolly from Blue Teapot Theatre Company, and filmmaker Fionn Rogers collaborated in Clifden to teach documentary-making skills to a group of ten local participants
Celebrate the joy of workplace and fun place with our local, special drama group, who express the universal theme of being happy through rhyme, mime, poetry and song.
Introduced by Shiela O'Donnell and John Toumey
Niall McLaughlin was born in Geneva in 1962. He was educated in Dublin and studied architecture at University College Dublin between 1979 and 1984. He worked for Scott Tallon Walker for four years and established his practice in London in 1990. He designs buildings for education, culture, health, religious worship and housing. He won Young British Architect of the Year in 1998, received the RIBA Charles Jencks Award for Simultaneous Contribution to Theory and Practice in 2016, and was elected an Aosdána Member for Outstanding Contribution to the Arts in Ireland in 2019 and as a Royal Academician in the Category of Architecture in 2019. In 2020 he was awarded an Honorary MBE for Services to Architecture. Niall exhibited in the Venice Biennale in 2016 and 2018 and has been shortlisted for the RIBA Stirling Prize in 2013, 2015 and 2018.
Niall is a Professor of Architectural Practice at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London. He was a visiting professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, from 2012 to 2013. He was appointed Lord Norman Foster Visiting Professor of Architecture at Yale for 2014-2015.
Proud to celebrate the Clifden Launch of Poet Des Kavanagh, Binnion Road.
Des will be joined by Brazilian flutist Mila Maia and Carl Hession
This unique event brings together three artists well known in their own right, but who have rarely appeared together.
Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, the leading Irish language poet, collaborates with renowned harper Cormac de Barra and Lillis Ó Laoire, TG4 2020 singer of the year, to explore the theme of the people of the sea, or uaisle na mara – the sea gentry, a twist that recognizes the numinous presence of otherworld beings.
Ní Dhomhnaill’s sequence of poems on Na Murúcha a thriomaigh – the Mermaids who became dry land creatures, comprise some of her most compelling explorations of linguistic and cultural trauma. de Barra will reference some of the great maritime tunes and harp airs for the event, also accompanying both Ní Dhomhnaill and Ó Laoire at various junctures. Ó Laoire explores the widespread legend of the mermaid, singing the song of ‘An Mhaighdean Mhara,’ made famous by the Gallagher sisters, Áine and Cití, of Dobhar, Gaoth Dobhair, Co. Donegal. He will also sing other less-well known songs of sea disasters and finish with a rendition of a song known far and wide in the Gaelic world, the story and lament for Liam Ó Raghallaigh, an Erris man drowned on his wedding day.
Literary critic Patricia Coughlan will explore ‘An Mhaighdean Mhara’ freshly, focusing on the mermaid-mother’s intense love for her children, torn between her human and otherworld identities and always journeying in the open ocean but never reaching the shore where they wait.
Author, wit and raconteur Michael Chapman Pincher talks to Lilliput Press publisher Antony Farrell about how an old diary revitalised his joy of storytelling. He tells how guerrilla marketing tactics have allowed him to take on the cosy, close-knit English media world by writing Long Lost Log, a best seller they can't ignore.
The Herons are a musical family from nearby the village of Carna in South Connemara. They trace the roots of their music back to a small island off the Carna coast named Feenish. One of their great uncles, Pateen Connolly, used to play the melodeon for dancers at the "times". The music of the Hernons still stays true to its roots as dance music. Both Breandán and Proinsias are national champion sean nós dancers and accomplished musicians. Their father Marcus and his brother PJ are renowned throughout Ireland and worldwide in Irish music circles. Their cousin, Labhrás, is a fantastic piano player, providing tasteful accompaniment to the rest of the band. The Herons will also be joined by Don Stiffe, one of the finest singer-songwriters in Ireland. Don has been playing and singing with the Hernons for over 20 years. Marcus, PJ, and Don played together in a band they named "Feenish" as a tribute to their musical connection to the island.
Mary V Mullin first participated in Clifden Arts Festival in 1978. We are honoured to welcome her back for a long overdue return visit. This event will celebrate the legacy of Kilkenny Design Workshops and its inspirational founder William H. Walsh. Mary V Mullin’s early involvement with the Kilkenny Design Workshops offers a distinctive insight into this important period in Irish art and design history.
Mary V Mullin is a Founding Member of the Crafts Council of Ireland. She has been a UNIDO consultant in Latin America and was the National Chairman of the Design and Industries Association in the UK. She was a Director of the British Professional Conference Organisers Association. She worked on the Corporate Foundation of W R Grace & Co in New York and Kilkenny Design Workshops in Ireland. She was Founding Director of the National Centre of Culture and Arts in Dublin (now the Museum of Modern Art). She ran her consultancy practice in design and special event management in London from 1981 to 1998. This included working with the V&A's 'Boilerhouse ', the precursor to the Design Museum. Science Museum, Design Research Unit and other leading design practices and commercial clients.
In November 2011, she was awarded the Bi-Centenary Medal of the RSA (Royal Society of Arts) "for encouraging and Promoting Design Across Education and industry". the first Irish person to receive this Medal.
Clifden Arts Festival honoured to highlight the legacy of the renowned, creative documentary/filmmaker, David Shaw-Smith. David’s partner and collaborator, Sally Shaw-Smith, will discuss their work in documenting and recording so many aspects of Irish cultural life, and design in particular. We will show an early film from the ‘Hands’ series, celebrating the local culture of the Connemara Pony. Dr. Fidelma Mullane will join Sally to discuss the pioneering creative documentary work of David Shaw-Smith.
Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh fiddle/vocals
Cormac De Barra harp/vocals
Mark Redmond uilleann pipes/flute/whistles
Music Network brings together a trio of Ireland’s finest traditional musicians in September 2022. Mairéad Ní Mhanaoigh, vocalist and fiddle player with traditional supergroup Altan, will be joined by the illustrious musical company of harper and vocalist Cormac De Barra and uilleann piper Mark Redmond. All three, leading exponents of their craft and keepers of the tradition, share an adventurous spirit when it comes to exploring new musical landscapes. This promises to be a joyous evening of exceptional music and song.
Molly Twomey has been published in Poetry Ireland Review, Banshee, the Irish Times, Crannóg, Mslexia, Cyphers, The Stinging Fly, and elsewhere. She has won the Padraic Colum Poetry Prize (2019), the Waterford Poetry Prize (2020), the Eavan Boland Mentorship Award (2021) and was chosen for Poetry Ireland’s Introductions Series (2021). She runs an online international poetry event, Just to Say, sponsored by Jacar Press. Recently awarded an Arts Council Literature Bursary, her debut collection will be published in May 2022 with The Gallery Press.
Paddy Bushe is a poet, editor and translator in English and Irish. He is a member of Aosdána and is the Artistic Director of the recently established Amergin Solstice Poetry Gathering. On A Turning Wing (Dedalus 2016) won the 2017 Irish Times Poetry Now Award. A collection in Irish, Móinéar an Chroí, was published in 2018.
With music by James Canavan
Oein DeBhairduin is a creative soul with a passion for poetry, folk herbalism and preserving the beauty of Traveller tales, sayings, retellings and historic exchanges. He is the manager of an education centre and a long-time board member of several Mincéirí community groups, including the honour of being vice-chair of the Irish Traveller Movement and a council member of Mincéir Whidden. He seeks to pair community activism with cultural celebration, recalling old tales with fresh modern connections. Most of all, he wishes to rekindle the hearth fires of a shared kinship.
"Growing up, I was always struck by the electricity generated by a concert given by The Dubliners. Looking back, I can see clearly that the group was exceptional not only because of the individual strength of the performers but that combined, they were a force of nature.
That energy and excitement, coupled with the unbridled joy of a Dubliners' audience, made for a night's entertainment that felt more like a party in full swing where the hosts and guests were in perfect harmony.
In the years since my father passed away, I've come to enjoy listening back over his musical legacy. The wealth of material has reawakened a sense of pride and deep appreciation.
The night will be made by a mix of folk and other musical influences that will go towards creating a performance that, hopefully, the audience can enjoy as much as we will. " - Phelim Drew
Phelim will be telling a few yarns and singing some of the songs made famous by Ronnie, Luke, Barney, Ciaran and John. Joined by Anto Drennan on guitar and Bernard Kavanagh on double bass, Myles Drennan on piano and drums and Ger Kiely on an electric guitar.
In its seventieth year, the Arts Council has commissioned Critical Voices 2022, a series of essays and accompanying discussions. Critical Voices 2022 reflects on the Arts Council's history, the value of the arts, and the impact of 70 years of public investment in the arts. Critical Voices, in collaboration with the Clifden Arts Festival, presents a special event with unique perspectives on the role of the arts in Ireland's past, present and future. This event features contributing essayists Rita Duffy (visual artist), Beulah Ezeugo, and Joselle Ntumba, founders of the Éireann and I Archive, a collaborative project that sources, contextualises, and chronicles the experience of Black migrants in Ireland.
Topics included in the publication and series:
-the relationship between various governments and the arts since the 1950s.
-the arts and culture as common languages across the world.
-reflections on a diverse Ireland and the role of the arts in celebrating contemporary Ireland.
-recognising the role of creativity as a positive force in the world.
-I ról agus tiomantas na Comhairle Ealaíon don Ghaeilge a mheasiú agus an ról is féidir leis na healaíona a imirt chun forbairt na Ghaeilge mar theanga bheo labhartha a chinntiú.
Rita Duffy is one of Ireland's groundbreaking artists, using her work to involve the histories and narratives of different communities in Ireland and worldwide.
Based in Ballyconnell Courthouse on the border in Ireland, she continues her studio-based practice in 'no man's land', generating socially engaged art projects that explore female identity, history and, increasingly, environmental issues.
Joselle Ntumba is a cultural producer of Congolese heritage and was raised in Galway City. Her work centres on memory work and event programming as tools for community resistance and learning. Alongside this, she has a background in health science from Trinity College Dublin.
Beulah Ezeugo is an Igbo curator and researcher. Her work centres on Black postcolonial dreaming using collective memory and myth. Her practice is informed by a social science background from University College Dublin and an MLitt in Curatorial Practice from Glasgow School of Art and the University of Glasgow.
"How I got Over": The central importance of gospel music in the Civil Rights Movement in the USA
Join Members of the gospel group the Legendary Ingramettes and former Virginia State Folklorist and Director of the Center for Cultural Vibrancy Jon Lohman for discussion and song about the important role of Black gospel music in the attainment of civil rights in the American south. The Ingramettes were deeply involved in the generationally defining struggle, and their journey is both uniquely remarkable while also indicative of the greater struggles of many. Hailing from the musically rich region of Richmond, Virginia, the Ingramettes are icons in the gospel community and were recently honored with the 2022 National Heritage Fellowship, the highest honor that the United States bestows upon traditional artists.
Michael Gibbons is one of Ireland’s leading field archaeologists. Born and raised in Clifden, Connemara, where he still lives with his family, Michael graduated from University College Galway with a degree in History and Archaeology. He is a member of the Institute of Archaeologists of Ireland with thirty years of experience as an archaeologist and completed a five-year term on the Archaeology Committee of the Heritage Council. He has worked with the Department of Antiquities in Jerusalem and the Museum of London City Excavation Programme.
A Tristan Heanue film starring Olwen Fouéré.
A new work by actor/film director Tristan Heanue in collaboration with artist and actor Olwen Fouéré is based on the closing moments of “riverrun”, Fouéré’s acclaimed adaptation of the voice of the river in Finnegans Wake by James Joyce. Heanue and Fouéré will celebrate the river’s final farewell as she dissolves into the great ocean of time, tracing her path onwards into the Atlantic.
Seán Ó Coisdealbha has been Chief Executive Officer of Muintearas from 1996. He has spent thirty-two years working with Muintearas, where he started working as Youth Manager in 1985. He has considerable experience in community development, education and the Irish language. He has published two poetry books, Stadhan in 2012 and Dídean in 2002. He has been closely involved in Irish language theatre since 1980, taking many parts in plays with the Taibhdhearc and Aisteoirí an Spidéil.
Mark Patrick Hederman has been a monk for over fifty years at the Benedictine monastery of Glenstal Abbey, Co. Limerick. He has been abbot of the community and headmaster of the school. Born in Ballingarry, Co Limerick, his latest book Crimson and Gold: Life as a Limerick, is a humorous account of the changing face of Ireland as he has experienced it since the 1950s. His other more recent publications are The Opal and the Pearl , and Living the Mystery all three published by Columba Press, Dublin].
The Road to Riverdance by Bill Whelan is a skilfully attuned record of one of Ireland's most famous and influential composers. This richly braided narrative follows Whelan's early musical experiences right up to the world-famous cultural phenomenon: from being enthralled by South African singers in a Limerick theatre as a child to sitting in the Gaiety pit orchestra to that seven-minute interval that changed everything. Written with an inimitable Irish sense of humour – absurdist and unexpected – he reveals the nuts, bolts, sheer effort and serendipitous meetings that formed the road to Riverdance.
Bill Whelan's most famous work, Riverdance, was composed especially for the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest interval act. As a single release, Riverdance spent 18 weeks at No. 1 in the Irish charts and was a Top Ten hit in the UK. Since then, it has played to millions of people worldwide, with the album and video topping the charts worldwide. Bill was honoured with a 1997 Grammy Award when the Riverdance record was named the 'Best Musical Show Album'.
Nuala O’Connor, born in Dublin in 1970, lives in Co. Galway. Her fifth novel NORA (Harper Perennial/New Island, 2021), about Nora Barnacle, wife and muse to James Joyce, was recently published to critical acclaim in the USA, Ireland, the UK, and Germany, and is forthcoming in other languages. NORA was named a Top 10 2021 historical novel by the New York Times and the One Dublin One Book choice for 2022. Nuala curated the Love, Says Bloom exhibition at MoLI, on the Joyce family, for #Ulysses100. She is an editor at flash fiction e-zine Splonk.
One of 12 children, John Creedon, grew up in Cork City. In 1987 he joined RTÉ Radio 1 through a public competition, and he has won both Jacob’s and PPI awards for his work with them. He currently produces and presents The John Creedon Show, a popular nightly music programme on RTÉ Radio 1.
John completed a diploma in Regional Studies at UCC and his love of
Irish folklore and culture have seen him take to the roads of Ireland to
present Creedon’s Wild Atlantic Way, Creedon’s Epic East, Creedon’s Shannon, and several of Creedon’s Atlas of Ireland series. In 2018, he spearheaded the National Treasures project, a collaboration between RTÉ and the National Museum of Ireland, which culminated in a television series and an exhibition of artefacts that celebrate the story of the nation. His first book, That Place We Call Home, was a bestseller, and his latest offering, A Treasury of Irish Folklore, is due in the shops in September 2022. John lives in his native Cork with his partner Mairead and broadcasts mainly from the local RTÉ studios. He won the Cork Person of the Year Award in 2022.
Michael Longley has published many books of poetry. His most recent, The Slain Birds, in 2022. In 2001, Longley received the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry. He has won the Whitbread Prize for Poetry, the Hawthornden Prize and the T.S. Eliot Prize. Michael Longley was appointed a CBE in 2010. From 2007 to 2010, he was Ireland's Professor of Poetry. In 2017, he received the PEN Pinter Prize. In 2018, he was awarded the inaugural Yakamochi Medal, an international poetry prize from Toyama Prefecture, Japan. He is a Freeman of the city of Belfast.
Martina Evans grew up in County Cork and trained in Dublin as a radiographer before moving to London in 1988. She is the author of twelve books of poetry and prose. Her latest collection is American Mules, winner of the Pigott Poetry Prize for 2022. She is a Royal Literary Fund Advisory Fellow and an Irish Times poetry critic.
Listen to the Landspeak: lost wisdom of the land
Inspired by language, mythology and the philosophy of John Moriarty, Manchán Magan explores the insight our native culture gives us into landscape, pysche and Otherworld of this rocky, green, island nation.
Manchán Magan has written books on his travels in Africa, India and South America and two novels. He writes regularly for The Irish Times, presents The Almanac of Ireland podcast for RTÉ Radio 1 and reports on travel for various radio programmes. He has presented dozens of documentaries on issues of world culture for TG4, RTÉ & Travel Channel. His book Thirty-Two Words For Field explores the insights the Irish language offers into the landscape, psyche and heritage of Ireland. His new illustrated book, Tree Dogs, Banshee Fingers and Other Irish Words for Nature (Oct 2021) presents Irish words for the natural world. www.manchan.com
Is scríbhneoir agus craoltóir é Manchán Magan a bhfuil leabhair scríofa as Béarla agus as Gaeilge aige faoin taisteal atá déanta aige i Meiriceá Theas, san India agus san Afraic. Scríobhann sé scaití do The Irish Times, cuireann sé The Almanac of Ireland i láthair do RTÉ Raidió 1 agus cuireann sé tuairiscí ar fáil faoi chúrsaí taistil do chláracha raidió éagsúla. Tá go leor cláracha faisnéise curtha i láthair aige faoi chúrsaí cultúir agus oidhreachta do TG4 agus RTÉ. Díríonn a leabhar, Thirty-Two Words For Field, ar na tuiscintí faoi chúrsaí timpeallachta, anama agus oidhreachta atá le fáil sa Ghaeilge. San fhomhar d'fhoilsigh sé leabhar nua dár teideal Tree Dogs, Banshee Fingers and Other Irish Words For Nature a fhéachann ar na focail mealltacha atá ag an nGaeilge don saol nádúrtha.
Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh is Professor Emeritus in History and former Dean of Arts and Vice-President of the National University of Ireland, Galway. Former member of the Senate of the NUI, the Irish-US Fulbright Commission, and former Cathaoirleach of Údarás na Gaeltachta. He has served on the Council of State since 2012.
Dr Maureen Gaffney is a psychologist, speaker, broadcaster and writer.
Her latest book, Your One Wild and Precious Life, helps people live their best life at any age and was the winner of the RTÉ Audience Choice Award in the 2021 Book Awards.
Maureen is passionate about mental health issues and has worked tirelessly to promote equality and reform across many sections of Irish life. She is a regular contributor to radio and television, sharing the latest research and thinking on the psychology of wellbeing, resilience and transformational change in both individuals and organisations.
Bernard O'Donoghue grew up in Cullen, Co Cork, and still spends part of the year there. Since 1965 he has lived in Oxford, where he taught Medieval English literature and Irish poetry at Wadham College. Bernard has published eight volumes of poems, the most recent being The Seasons of Cullen Church (Faber 2016). He is working on an edition of the Collected Poems of Seamus Heaney.
Vona Groarke has published twelve books with The Gallery Press, including eight poetry collections, the latest being Link: Poet and World (2021). Her Selected Poems won the 2017 Pigott Prize for Best Irish Poetry Collection. Later this year, New York University Press will publish Hereafter: The Telling Life of Ellen O'Hara – an account of Irish women domestic servants in 1890s New York. She has taught at the University of Manchester since 2007. She will become Poet in Residence at St. John's College of Cambridge University this year. Otherwise, she lives in South County Sligo, where she reads and writes.
An Overview on the treatment of senior citizens and the poor from Queen Elizabeth I Poor Relief Act 1601 to the current Fair Deal Scheme in 2020.
Art and Science in Wildlife Film Making
In this talk, wildlife and expedition filmmaker Doug Allan takes you up close and personal with the animals that live in the wildest places on earth. Diving under the ice with Weddell seals, finding orcas in the Antarctic, and NOT being eaten by polar bears. But behind the fantastic stories and spectacular onscreen images is the dedication of scientists. Doug lays bare the secrets and skills in blending all three.
Celebrate the joy of Work place and fun place with our local, special drama group, who express the universal theme of being happy through rhyme, mime, poetry and song. Devised and directed by Rosalind Coyne.
Dr. Margarita Cappock, an art historian, curator, and writer, will deliver an illustrated lecture on the early life of renowned artist Francis Bacon (1909-1992) and his complex relationship with Ireland, his birthplace.
