The Artistic Fire at The

Bill & Denise Whelan

john sweeney

EJ helen & Vincent terry Ann kings foley sweeney Corcoran

Micheal Nee Bus & Coach Hire

Providers of Internet access Providers of the Festival to the Festival Shuttle Bus Service

ABBEYGLEN CASTLE HOTEL EDWARD AND MARY DOWNE ROSEANNE & PETER O’GRADY WALSH ALCOCK AND BROWN HOTEL FOYLE’S HOTEL PADDY POWERS BOOKMAKERS CLIFDEN BOOKSHOP BOBBY AND TRULY GILMORE SUPERVALU CLIFDEN CLIFDEN GLEN GMT IRELAND PETER AND PAULA VINE CLIFDEN LOTTERY FUND ALAN AND MARY HOBART CATHAL AND JOAN WALSH CLIFDEN STATION HOUSE HOTEL JOE AND JOAN MCBREEN (WALSH’S BAKERY AND COFFEE CONNEMARA CREDIT UNION TERRY AND TONI MCCOY SHOP) MARGUERITE COURTADE KATE AND NOEL NOONAN PEGGY AND TOM MCMANUS

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. Réamhrá

Clifden Arts Festival heart of our community 2020 will be different and by doing so we will from other Festivals blaze a trail to bigger over our 43-year history. audiences and a return Regrettable due to to the larger Festivals of the ongoing COVID-19 previous years. pandemic audience VISUAL capacity at venues will 2 Clifden Arts Festival will ARTS be severely reduced. It endeavour to ensure is regrettable that many that as many people as who wish to be present possible can get to enjoy at live events will not events through the Arts- be able to attend this On-Air on Connemara year due to the reduced Community Radio and number of tickets our Digital Events on the available. Festival website.

In continuing with a Festival for 2020 Clifden GENERAL Arts Festival is in a sense 12 hoping to keep a glow in PROGRAMME the artistic fire at the

Online Tickets Sales

Tickets can only be bought online this year. Please go to clifdenartsfestival.ie to pre-book your tickets.

Tickets will not be available at the box office or event QUICKFIND venues this year. 35 INDEX Due to COVID-19 restrictions, seating capacity is limited and no patrons will be admitted without a valid ticket. We ask all patrons to wear a facemask when attending each event.

Venues and times are subject to change due to COVID-19 Restrictions.

Telephone 087 331 5009

Email: [email protected] DIGITAL Full Programme online at clifdenartsfestival.ie 36 EVENTS We ask patrons to be seated at least 10 minutes before scheduled performance times. It may not be possible to admit latecomers at some events.

clifden arts festival 2020 1 2 clifden arts festival 2020 VISUAL ARTS PROGRAMME

Lydia Brow, Untitled The Visual Arts Programme 2020

In light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic restrictions and with concern for the well being and safety of staff, volunteers, artists, performers and the public health in general, it has been decided to cancel exhibitions and scale back the Visual Arts component of this year’s Festival. There will be a scaled-back Art Trail and a few special events programmed adhering to Covid-19 restrictions and guidelines.

The Art Trail - 15 Years

The Art Trail is celebrating its 15th year this year. To mark this special milestone, the Trail and open shows, in the UK and Ireland. will again feature work of artists with a strong She has received various awards and Connemara Connection - some resident, residencies. Her work is held by a number some visiting, and others simply inspired by of public bodies, as well as by private our place. collectors. In 2008, she received a The listing for The Art Trail will appear on “Lifetime Achievement” Award from Galway www.clifdenartsfestival.ie in September. County Council. In April 2015, she held a retrospective solo exhibition in the Leinster Gallery, South Frederick Street, Dublin. The Studio Trail Her imagery is drawn from observation. THE OPEN STUDIO Much of it refers to the early Christian and prehistoric sites, which abound in the Margaret Irwin West area where she lives. She says, “from my Painter and printmaker figurative images I seek to draw out greater resonances that suggest their cultural and Born in India of Irish parents, Margaret social contexts.” returned to Ireland at the age of nine and grew up in Co Wicklow. She was schooled The Open Studio at home for three years. This enabled her to Margaret Irwin West, Claddaghduff, H71 C578 attend regular drawing lessons with Lilian Contact Details: 086-8374542 Davidson, RHA from whom she received a Opening Hours: 11.30 am – 6 pm thorough classical foundation. After taking Strictly by appointment. her primary degree in languages at the University of Dublin, Trinity College, she VENUE | THE OPEN STUDIO, studied painting at the studio of the cubist CLADDAGHDUFF teacher André L’Hôte, in Paris, as did many other Irish painters of the twentieth century. Margaret has exhibited in many juried

4 clifden arts festival 2020 Interface

will combine work made in response to the connections the artists have made during- and post- lockdown, and in response to the Interface environment.

Laura McMorrow

Leitrim artist Laura McMorrow was the artist in resident at Interface for March 2020, during which period the coronavirus Interface is a studio and residency lockdown started. This work is a response to programme located in a centre of scientific the remote location of the hatchery and the research – formerly a salmon hatchery self-isolation that followed the residency. - in the Inagh Valley, Connemara. Artists Lo-fi filmmaking techniques were used are offered the opportunity to explore to build suspense and heighten the tense intersections between science and art in atmosphere at that time. this extraordinary environment. Laura McMorrow is a visual artist from Three exhibitions under one roof, Leitrim, Ireland. She holds a Masters in booking essential: Fine Art from the University of Ulster, www.interfaceinagh.com Belfast (2012) and a BA in painting from www.byevid.com/interfaceinagh Limerick School of Art and Design (2008). [email protected] She was awarded the Emerging Irish Artist Residency Award (2017). Recent exhibitions include The Lost Acre (2018) Leitrim Connect Sculpture Centre and Cut/Paste (2019) The Source Arts Centre. Her practice Interface presents site-specific performance, incorporates video installation, sculpture, experimental music & exhibition, curated collage, and painting. around themes of connection by artistic director Alannah Robins. Carrying The Songs

During COVID19 lockdown, a group of Carrying the Songs project sees a story Interface artists have been meeting weekly travelling from Inis Mór to Istanbul, like online. The meetings were initially set up with Chinese whispers, across Europe passed a view towards overcoming isolation and from person to person via zoom, being towards mutual support and stimulus. translated over twenty times – and including many minority languages - along Artists took it, in turn, to present their work, the way. In parallel with this, a drawing with diverse fields ranging from experimental is passed from artist to artist. Each music in New York to Walking Drawing in Bath, artist’s version contributes towards the medieval egg tempera painting, performance development of a stop motion animated film. and site-specific installation in Tehran. The meetings have grown not only to be a At this exhibition, you can see the drawing stimulating weekly marker for many but a at different stages of its development, listen warm place to share work and to connect. to the story at different stages, and track its It is a natural evolution for the group to engage progress across Europe. in some collaborative making together, exploring ideas of connection. The exhibition VENUE | INTERFACE, INAGH VALLEY clifden arts festival 2020 5 Connemara Creative Gallery Emergence An exhibition of mixed media.

We are emerging from an old way of life to a new ‘normal’. This body of work was developed during ‘lockdown’ with optimism that reflects a new vision of the world as it could be. Reflecting the beauty of the natural world enhanced by a spirit of cooperation instead of careless interference.

Bernie Dignam

Bernie Dignam has lived in Connemara since the 1990s. In this time she has developed a reputation as a professional artist and one the most important art educators in the area. In addition to her work with several third-level institutions, she has engaged with all levels and abilities within her community. She delivers workshops and programmes in printmaking and textiles from her home studio, where she also showcases her work. These workshops are catalysing for many and are essential to the creative pulse of the community.

Having completed a degree in design from D.I.T. Bernie completed a further year of study at Limerick School of Art & Design. During this year she was introduced to a variety of media were printmaking and textiles left an indelible mark on her.

6 clifden arts festival 2020 The Lavelle Gallery

She has exhibited her work both nationally and internationally for the last two decades and her work is in many private collections worldwide.

Drama in nature focuses my attention and offers me a challenge in representing this intensity in my environment. As well as a variety of themes, she likes to explore personal issues through my work.

As an interdisciplinary artist, she uses a variety of materials & processes, each medium conveys a different narrative about Lydia Brow my environment & the various themes that At The Lavelle Gallery inspire my work. Lydia Brow was born in Dublin but now lives Connemara Creative Gallery here in Clifden, Connemara. She creates Tooreen, Garraunbaun abstract paintings using acrylics and mixed Contact Details: 087 690 8137 media. Her work is based on textures, colour Opening Hours: 11.30 am – 6 pm and mood. Dramatic varied landscapes and the Atlantic imprint themselves in her mind Strictly by appointment: then transcend later into her work organically. [email protected] www.connemaracreative.ie VENUE | THE LAVELLE GALLERY, MAIN ST., CLIFDEN The Covid-19 Safety Charter has been completed and the gallery is Covid-19 compliant.

Please Note: Visual Arts programme of events as listed are correct at the time of publication. Events and venues may be subject to change.

Acknowledgements: Clifden Arts Festival wishes to acknowledge the support of John Sweeney, Royal Hibernian Academy, Margaret Irwin West, Patricia Morrison, Alannah Robins, Bernadette Dignam, Dr Eimear O’Connor HRHA, John and Joan Nagle, Isobel Marinot-Wood, Janet Mercer, Veronica Sanderson, James O’Sullivan, Stephen Ward and finally to all the artists, businesses, volunteers and our friends, neighbours, visitors and the public in general who support the Art Trail and the Visual Arts.

clifden arts festival 2020 7 Arts On Air Ad 2020.qxp_artwork 20/08/2020 14:06 Page 1

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Procedures

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Clifden Community Arts Festival is committed to protecting your health. All our events will observe social distancing and all government guidelines. We have significantly reduced the capacity at our venues and 2020 the number of venues in use to operate within these limitations. Observe social distancing Covid-Free Zone We ask that you carefully read Clifden Community Arts Festival signage at events, observe guidelines and Can’t attend? follow staff instructions with regard to public health No need to miss out! measures. We request that you wear a facemask to all indoor events in this programme and if you have any Tune in daily for the best mobility issues, please contact us in advance so that Wear a of the festival 2020 facemask we can plan for your attendance. B r o a d c a s t i n g t i m e s Your health and that of our artists, staff and volunteers thursday 17th 7 - 9 pm live coverage of opening night are of utmost importance, so if you are feeling unwell friday 18th 11am - 12 noon & 5 - 7pm on the day of an event, we ask that you stay at home for your safety and that of others. saturday 19th 11am - 12 noon & 5 - 7pm

Wash your sunday 20th 10am - 12 noon & 5 - 7pm Venues and times are subject to change due to hands regularly COVID-19 Restrictions. monday 21st 11am - 12 noon & 5 - 6pm tuesday 22nd 11am - 12 noon & 5 - 6pm For further information please visit wednesday 23rd 11am - 12 noon & 5 - 6pm clifdenartsfestival.ie

Stay Safe. call 087 4104494 email [email protected] ConnemaraCommunityRadio connemarafm@ConnemaraRadio live streaming and podcasts available 18 hours live broadcasting www.connemarafm.com

a r t s o n a i r i s k i n d l y f u n d e d b y t h e B r o a d c a s t i n g A u t h o r i t y o f I r e l a n d ’ s S o u n d & V i s i o n S c h e m e 8 clifden arts festival 2020 Arts On Air Ad 2020.qxp_artwork 20/08/2020 14:06 Page 1

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2020 Covid-Free Zone Can’t attend? No need to miss out! Tune in daily for the best of the festival 2020 B r o a d c a s t i n g t i m e s thursday 17th 7 - 9 pm live coverage of opening night friday 18th 11am - 12 noon & 5 - 7pm saturday 19th 11am - 12 noon & 5 - 7pm sunday 20th 10am - 12 noon & 5 - 7pm monday 21st 11am - 12 noon & 5 - 6pm tuesday 22nd 11am - 12 noon & 5 - 6pm wednesday 23rd 11am - 12 noon & 5 - 6pm

call 087 4104494 email [email protected] ConnemaraCommunityRadio connemarafm@ConnemaraRadio live streaming and podcasts available 18 hours live broadcasting www.connemarafm.com

a r t s o n a i r i s k i n d l y f u n d e d b y t h e B r o a d c a s t i n g A u t h o r i t y o f I r e l a n d ’ s S o u n d & V i s i o n S c h e m e clifden arts festival 2020 9 The Clifden Arts Festival Schools programme is deferred until the end of October and the beginning of November or to quote Seamus Heaney “the mid- term break.”

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 42 years.

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

10 clifden arts festival 2020 clifden arts festival 2020 11 Special Thanks to Isobel Marinot-Wood for Clifden Arts Festival the use of the Church of Ireland. acknowledges and thanks the great We are profoundly grateful to Fr. James contribution made Ronayne for the use of St. Joseph’s Church. to the festival by We would like to thank the Board of the West Connemara Leisure Centre and Stephen our talented local Gibbons. musicians. Clifden Arts Festival acknowledges the Eugene Barry, Marie Walsh, Liz and Yvonne support of Dublin International Piano Kane, Michael Roche, Mirella Murray, Peter Competition. Carey, Peter Carey Jnr, Michael Carey, Martin Conroy, Sean Halpenny, Kevin Barry, Michael McNamara (Clifden), Michael McNamara (Roundstone), Feichin Mitchell, Adam Conroy, Clifden Arts Festival Aidan Curran, Kieran Coyne, Frank Coyne, PJ McInerney, Pat Flaherty, Pat Keaney, Phil Remembers Coyne, Gerry Hannon, Simon Kearns, Tom Scullion, David Slevin, Danny Scullion, Nicholas Eavan Boland, John Claro, Johnny Connolly, Timothy, Tom Mullen, Paddy Newman, Richie Tara Coyne, Christy Dignam Sr, Paddy Newman, Eamon McLoughlin, Tom Wallace, Fahey, Kay Fanning, Jean Kennedy Smith, Liam Aspell, John Durning, Jarlath Hession, Madeline King, Noel Kirby, Ben Lennon, Paul Mulligan, Pat O’Toole, James Mullen, Seamus Mallon, Artie McGlynn, Tom Michael Connolly, Martin Sullivan, Eileen McIntyre, Hal McNab, TeTe Murray, Colm O’Malley, Shane Flaherty, Kenneth Coyne, Alan Ó Briain, Dessie O’Halloran, Joe Steve Ó Shattock, Fionnuala Hannigan-Dunkley, Lol Neacthain, Michael Roche, Tim and Mairead Hardiman, Shona Flaherty, Tommy Kenny, and Robinson, Jordan Ward. Fiachra O’Regan. Clifden Arts Festival

Thanks to the Clifden Town Hall Volunteer Programme Committee and Chair Sean Henaue as well The Festival Committee would welcome the as Kevin Gavin, Anna Carey, and all staff. participation of members of the community in giving a little of their time and help as Thanks to Bernhard Sanders for his digital volunteers in various areas during the festival. archiving expertise and the use of his photos. All help and assistance would be greatly appreciated. For further information, we can Thanks to James Sweeney at all staff at the be contacted at: [email protected] Station House Complex. Thanks to Veronica Sanderson and Janet A big thank you to Clifden Tidy Towns for Mercer for all their help with the Volunteer their hard work and dedication to the town Programme. of Clifden all year round.

12 clifden arts festival 2020 GENERAL PROGRAMME

clifden arts festival 2020 13 IMRAMH Clifden’s favorite spectacle company LUXE will present IMRAMH in and To the traveler arriving from the around the town a number of times mountain pass, the town’s spires and throughout the weekend. chimneys resemble a tall ship making ready. When approaching from the sea Exact locations and times will not be she sees the town, through the coastal publicised so keep your eyes peeled for mist, as the embroidered saddles random acts of celebration. of a pony train that will carry her to freshwater springs. www.luxe.ie IMRAMH is a roving vignette Instagram @luxelandscapetheatre performance, an exotic procession, traveling amongst new people in the DAY | FRIDAY 18TH, SATURDAY 19TH streets of a strange land. AND SUNDAY 20TH

14 clifden arts festival 2020 Thursday 17th September

LECTURE BY HUGH DUFFY The Diary of a Nobody

The history of a nobody’s first 31 years before he became a tyrant, psychopath and implementer of a ruthless programme of racial extermination in his final 23 years this is the story of Adolf Hitler and the long shadow his short reign has cast over today’s world.

Hugh Duffy is a forensic student of history now in his 87th year. Hugh has been a frequent visitor to Clifden since 1980 to his holiday home which has become his permanent residence for the last ten years. After a long and varied career ranging from Public Service through the hospitality industry both in Ireland and abroad culminating in the protection of copyright. LUNCHTIME CONCERT WITH He retired in the year 2000 from full-time employment but still engaged in a non- Ultan Conlon executive capacity in several industries. Ultan Conlon is a Galway based Singer- Songwriter, and Recording Artist who has Sponsored by: John Sweeney to date recorded four studio albums, scored a feature film and compiled its soundtrack. TIME | 10AM His latest album ‘There’s a Waltz’ was DAY | THURSDAY 17TH SEPTEMBER recorded in Los Angeles and produced VENUE | STATION HOUSE THEATRE by Grammy Award Winner Sean Watkins ADMISSION | €5 (Nicklecreek).

“Waltzing along lyrically with the worlds Clifden Historical greatest” The Irish Independent

Walking Tours His songs have been covered by John with Kathleen Villiers-Tuthill Martyn and Mary Coughlan to name but a few. Ultan has appeared on RTE Television, Explore the history of this 200-year-old and his songs have played across the town with an expert guide. Hear stories of National Airwaves on RTE Radio 1, Lyric FM, famine, war, religious conflict, street riots and Today FM and also on BBC Radio in the UK. political rallies in the Capital of Connemara. He tours Europe and the USA regularly and Kathleen is the author of several books on continues to write, perform and record new the history of west County Galway and has material. a wealth of knowledge about the history and heritage of her native Clifden. Sponsored by: Pat and Anne O’Malley

POETRY WITH Patrick Deeley and Catherine MacCarthy

Loughrea native Patrick Deeley is a poet, memoirist and children’s writer. The Recipient of the 2019 Lawrence O’Shaughnessy Poetry Award, the 2014 Dermot Healy International Poetry Prize, and the Eilis Dillon Children’s Book of the Year Award. His critically acclaimed memoir, Official Opening ‘The Hurley Maker’s Son’, was a bestseller with Maureen Kennelly in 2016 and 2017. His seventh collection of & Marie Walsh ensemble poems with Dedalus Press, ‘The End of the World’, has been shortlisted for the 2020 Official Opening of the 43rd Clifden Arts Farmgate National Poetry Award. Festival by Maureen Kennelly, Director of the Arts Council followed by a concert with Marie Catherine Phil MacCarthy was born and Walsh and an ensemble of local musicians. grew up in Crecora, Co. Limerick. A graduate of University College, Cork. She has Maureen Kennelly was director of Poetry published five collections of poetry and a Ireland from 2013 until April 2020. She was novel, most recently, The Invisible Threshold previously director of Kilkenny Arts Festival, (2012) and Daughters of the House (2019), artistic director of the Mermaid Arts Centre, both from Dedalus Press Dublin. She general manager with Fishamble Theatre received the Lawrence O’Shaughnessy Company, and she also worked with Druid Award for Irish Poetry from the University Theatre Company, the Cat Laughs Comedy of St Thomas, St Paul, Minnesota, in April Festival, The Arts Council and the Design 2014; the Dromineer Literary Prize in 2012; and Crafts Council of Ireland. On a freelance and the Fish International Poetry Prize basis, she worked with a wide range of in 2010. She is a former editor of Poetry organisations including Theatre Forum, Ireland Review and has lived in Dublin since Sing Ireland, the Performance Corporation 1987. and Age and Opportunity. She was Primary Curator with the Mountains to Sea DLR Sponsored by: Anne and Robert Jocelyn Book Festival and Programme Director with the Cúirt International Festival of Literature. TIME | 4PM DAY | THURSDAY 17TH SEPTEMBER Maureen grew up in Ballylongford, Co Kerry, VENUE | CHURCH OF IRELAND and is a graduate of NUI Galway and of UCD. ADMISSION | €5 Sponsored by: Foyle’s Hotel

TIME | 7PM DAY | THURSDAY 17TH SEPTEMBER VENUE | CLIFDEN TOWN HALL ADMISSION | FREE (SEATING LIMITED) Seating strictly limited, reservations must be made online at clifdenartsfestival.ie or tune in to Connemara Community Radio (connemarafm.com) to listen live. 16 clifden arts festival 2020 Friday 18th September TALK BY BENIG MAUGER Clifden Historical Our Resilient Soul- Walking Tours Riding, the Waves of our Emotions with Kathleen Villiers-Tuthill Explore the history of this 200-year-old town with an expert guide. Hear stories of famine, war, religious conflict, street riots and political rallies in the Capital of Connemara. Kathleen is the author of several books on the history of west County Galway and has a wealth of knowledge about the history and heritage of her native Clifden.

TIME | 11AM DAY | FRIDAY 18TH SEPTEMBER MEETING POINT | STATION HOUSE HOTEL ADMISSION | €10, UNDER 15 FREE

Most of us grapple with our emotions and with the understanding that our feelings and our reactions are transient. We often Dante and the get bogged down or overwhelmed and find it hard to simply ‘detach’. In this talk, we will Irish Writer learn how to balance the spiritual teachings a lecture by Declan Kiberd of yoga with those of depth psychotherapy as we move towards feeling centred and Declan Kiberd was for many years Professor whole. Learning to recognise when our ‘ego’ of Anglo-Irish Literature at UCD and later is dictating terms and blocking our greater Keough Professor of Irish Studies at Notre sense of Soul will help us navigate and ride Dame. He has served on Board of Directors the waves of our emotions while recognising of Abbey Theatre and as Director of both the resilience of the human spirit in the face Yeats Summer and Winter Schools. Among of adversity. his books are Synge and the Irish Language, Inventing Ireland, Irish Classics, The Irish TIME | 10AM Writer and the World, and After Ireland. He DAY | FRIDAY 18TH SEPTEMBER has been a visiting professor in many places, VENUE | CHURCH OF IRELAND including Cambridge University, Sorbonne, ADMISSION | €5 Duke University, Cluj Romania, Trento Italy.