Kilkenny Arts Festival Programme 2009

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St Francis Abbey Brewery, Parliament Street

Monday - Friday 10am-6pm, weekends from 1 August 2009 12 noon-5pm

Tel +353 (0)56 775 2175 www.kilkennyarts.ie Email [email protected]

Board of DirectorsEmer Foley (chair), Fergus Cronin, Susan Proud, Maureen Kennelly, Anna O’Sullivan, Conor Langton, Thomas O’Toole, Michael O’Toole, Isabell Smyth, Orla Kelly, Gobnait Kearney, Brian Kiely.

Festival TeamChief Executive Damian DownesMarketing Director Brendan RiceOffice Manager Valerie RyanLocal PR Co-ordinator Cathy PowerProgramme Co-ordinator Jacqui DempseyProduction Manager Michael BurkePublicity Christine MonkSocial Media Maestro Layla O’MearaVolunteer Co-ordinator Niamh DuffeMarketing Executive Bryan O’ReganMarketing Intern Emilie Le GoffArtist Liaison Liz NolanArtist Liaison Gwen O’SullivanGraphic Design A&DWeb Design Pixel DesignIT Support TectrixWeb Maintenance Spot OnFestival image Alé Mercado

Curators Street Kilkenny Arts Festival TeamTheatre/Dance Tom CreedClassical Music Susan ProudMusic Gerry GodleyWired Matthew NolanLiterature Colm TóibínVisual Art Aisling PriorCraft Angela O’KellyChildren’s Events Joe Brennan

Kilkenny Arts Festival thanks the curators, artists and performers whose passion and commitment inspire us year after year.

Thanks to the hard-working volunteers, especially those who have worked with the festival year after year. It could not take place without them.

Thanks to the festival sponsors and friends without whose generosity the festival could not happen.

Thanks to everyone who gets involved in the wonderful happening that is the Kilkenny Arts Festival.

The Kilkenny Arts Festival gives special thanks to: Mary Butler and Kilkenny County Council Arts Office, Ger Cody and the Watergate Theatre, Caroline Coode, Niamh Finn, Office of Public Works, Kilkenny Tourist Office, The Dean, Chapter & Staff of St Canice’s Cathedral, Róisín McQuillan, Sharon O’Gorman, Mary Heffernan, Jaki Jordan, Anne Teehan, Frank Kavanagh, Ground Staff of Kilkenny Castle, Sally O’Halloran, Fr Louis Hughes, Willie Meighan, Philip Edmondson, The Order of Malta, John Cleere, Kilkenny Rhythm & Roots Festival, The Cat Laughs Festival, Eamon Walshe, Eamon Langton, Eddie Langton, Fiona Flood and the girls, Sunniva O’Flynn, Brian Tyrrell, Tony Walsh, Joe Crockett, Sgt Gary Gordon, Isabelle Etienne, Rolf Stehle, John Purcell, Sarah Quinlan, Una McCarthy, Imelda Rey, Rory McCarthy, Ken Maguire, Julia Compton, Keith Johnson, Des Doyle, Ann Mulrooney, Nathalie Weadick, Maeve Butler, Naoise O’Donovan, Brian Keyes, Tess Felder, Sue Nunn, Tomm Dowling, Lucy Yates, Cathal O’Neill, Deirdre Davitt, Sean McKeown, Kilkenny School of Music, Staff at Rothe House, Staff at Butler House, the Ormonde Hotel, St Canice’s Credit Union, the Hibernian Hotel, the Clubhouse Hotel, Declan Murphy, Kilkenny VEC, the Garda Síochána, Kilkenny Fire Brigade, Regina Fitzpatrick, Business2Arts, Theatre Forum, Heather Maitland and Susan Hallam.

SYMBOLS GUIDEWheelchair Accessible

Not Wheelchair Accessible

Parking Available

Limited Parking Available

No Parking Available

Funding Bodies

KILKENNYDESIGNCRAFT

CENTRE

Programme Sponsors

Media Partners

General Sponsors

Embassies and Cultural Institutions Festival Partners

Bluett O’DonoghuePoe Kiely Hogan LaniganJC Minogue

KILKENNY INDUSTRIAL

DEVELOPMENT COMPANY LTD

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JIM AND DR NICK Saturday 8 August

2.30pmMacDonagh Junction5pmThe Canal Walk

Saturday 8 August 9.45pm

Kilkenny Castle Park

Free tickets available at Festival box office

Please note that this performance contains flashing imagery.

KILKENNY !"" and KILKENNY ARTS FESTIVAL present

TEATRO DO MAR (Portugal)NUSQUAM

Nusquam is a sensuous and emotive production. It is an awesome performance of physical theatre, aerial acrobatics, music and film.

It is performed on four, seven-metre high mobile structures. It features big transparent spheres and projections onto a screen in front of which the actors hang over their worlds.

It expresses how humans balance in the void, rootless. They are smothered by an avalanche of information that cannot be absorbed and cannot nourish them.

Nusquam is a reflection on human nature, man in search of himself and his reason to exist in modern society.

He is in a desperate search to survive the social pressures, imprisoning individuals in private bubbles of patterns and rules. Lack of communication, loneliness, adoration of television, the pursuit of perfection, alienation and illusionary views of freedom and happiness, drive the four characters within their own frustrations to lose touch with reality.

TURBO AND DAI Saturday 8 August

1pm, 3pm & 5pmStreets of Kilkenny

PRICE CHECKERSSunday 9 August

2.30pmMacDonagh Junction4pm & 5pmStreets of Kilkenny

CARPET MAN AND LINO BOYFriday 14 August

2.30pmMacDonagh Junction5pmThe Canal Walk

JIM AND DR NICK

Fire juggling and two eight-foot unicycles make this a show for the whole family. And then you might get the chance to join in too.

TURBO AND DAITurbo and Dai breakdance to old 80s classics like Paul Hardcastle’s Nah-nah-nah-nah-Nineteen and the theme tune from Beverley Hills Cop. It’s time to get that lino out, Pledge it up and windmill like you just don’t care. Unfortunately these two have had minor mishaps and have to wear their neck brace and leg cast until the fractures heal properly.

These two checkout girls, with their scanners, price guns and lovely ‘muzak’ accompaniment, are ready to mark you up! Is your spouse reduced to clear? Does your friend need a special promotion? Could you be 2 for 1? Quick on the draw, this priceless pair of pricers take a funny look at the shopping side of life.

PRICE CHECKERS

Visionary fashion gurus Carpet Man and Lino Boy bring their incredible couture creations to the catwalk on the pavements of Kilkenny.

Carpet Man has seen the future of fashion through the colossal highs and the bottomless lows of the retail carpet trade.

With the family’s most resourceful nephew, Lino Boy, as his sidekick, Carpet Man proudly presents astounding couture creations fresh from the Garden Shed Studio.

CARPET MAN AND LINO BOYCreated in 1986 in Sines, Portugal, Teatro do Mar is a travelling, physical theatre group. It focuses mainly on a young audience. Its modern voice and artistic language encompass new circus, dance, music, visual arts, video image and animation.

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Friday 7- Tuesday 11 August 8pm70 minutes, no interval

The Watergate TheatreParliament Street

Admission 25/ 21

Ticket DealGet this event (Mon or Tues) & Paula Meehan et al (p.39) for 29.50

Post-show discussion Mon 10th

Lucia’s Chapters explores the life and death of Lucia, the adored daughter of James Joyce. As a young woman in Paris, Lucia’s life was filled with writers, artists and intellectuals. She was a dancer and a painter. Her father believed Lucia to be the true inheritor of his genius. While still in her twenties, Lucia’s behaviour grew erratic. Lucia spent the next 50 years in confinement, until her death in 1982.

Following the sell out success of A Prelude To A Death in Venice in 2007, New York’s seminal experimental theatre troupe Mabou Mines returns to Kilkenny with another extraordinary production. Featuring set and lighting design by Wooster Group founder member Jim Clayburgh and music by Coen Brothers collaborator Carter Burwell, Lucia’s Chapters is an exquisite sensory experience.

Written and directed by SHARON FOGARTYPerformed by RUTH MALECZECH and PAUL KANDELSet and Lighting by JIM CLAYBURGHMusic by CARTER BURWELLProjections by JULIE ARCHERCostumes by MEGANNE GEORGEChoreography by J’AIME MORRISONDramaturgy JOCELYN CLARKE

“…compelling work… subtle and beautiful”NEW YORK TIMES

“Lucia may be dead… but in the hands of the extraordinary actress Ruth Maleczech, she is brimming with life and full of mischief” BOSTON GLOBE

KEYSTONE KOPS

The bungling Kops are trying hard but they can’t catch the elusive escaped convict Slippery Jack. On the run from law and order with his ball and chain in tow, Jack outwits the Kops at every twist and turn with his nimble guile and cunning disguises. Could the crazy Kops be even more stupid than they look?

GANDINI JUGGLERSVirtuoso juggling with balls, clubs, rings and bouncing balls from some of the most versatile technical jugglers in Europe. Elaborate patterns of objects fly through the air whilst the jugglers gracefully weave, leap and turn beneath them. Catch one of their spectacular nighttime glow shows.

Gothic slaphead Futter finds himself a teensy bit out of his depth when he’s left minding the baby. Mr Futter is something like Uncle Fester from the Addams Family. You are welcomed into his unique world of love and horror. He is a misunderstood lovable misfit doing his best to look after a rather challenging baby.

FUTTER’S CHILD

Poor Edmond tries to look the part of a bowler-hatted gentleman with a flower in his buttonhole. He is followed by swarming angry bees, finds himself in the middle of a spaghetti western gun fight and hears alarm bells. He meets huge monsters, hears ringing telephones, avoids crashing glass, low flying helicopters, packs of hunting hounds and squeaky prams. In the middle of it all he attempts to keep his composure.

EDMOND TAHL

KEYSTONE KOPSSaturday 15 August

1pmKilkenny Castle Park2.30pmMacDonagh Junction4.30pmStreets of Kilkenny

GANDINI JUGGLERS Saturday 15 August

4pmKilkenny Castle Park9.30pmSet Theatre, John Street10.15pmThe Canal Walk

FUTTER’S CHILDSunday 16 August

1pmKilkenny Castle Park 2.30pmMacDonagh Junction4pmStreets of Kilkenny

EDMOND TAHLSunday 16 August

2.30pmKilkenny Castle Park3.30pm & 5pmStreets of Kilkenny

MABOU MINES (US)LUCIA’S CHAPTERSof Coming Forth by Day

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Thursday 13 - Saturday 15 August 8pm50 minutes, no interval

The Watergate Theatre Parliament Street

Admission 25/ 21

Ticket DealGet this event (Sat 15) & Krapp’s Last Tape (see opposite) for 31

Apart from his masterpieces, Shakespeare also wrote uncommonly beautiful sonnets. Chosen by Peter Brook, they will be performed by Natasha Parry and Bruce Myers.

We are delighted to welcome Peter Brook and his long-time collaborators to Kilkenny for the first time, to present this simple and elegant staging of some of the most extraordinary love poetry ever written.

“This astonishing collection allows us to penetrate into Shakespeare’s own,most secret life. It is his private diary, in which we find his intimate questions, his jealousy, his passions, his guilt, his despair. Above all, he searches to discover for himself the deep meaning of being attracted by a man or by a woman, even by the act of writing itself.” (Peter Brook)

C.I.C.T/THÉÂTRE DES BOUFFES DU NORD (France)LOVE IS MY SIN Sonnets by William Shakespeare

Adapted by PETER BROOKMusician FRANCK KRAWCZYKLighting design PHILIPPE VIALATTEWith BRUCE MYERSNATASHA PARRY Artistic collaboration MARIE HÉLÈNE ESTIENNE

Saturday 8 & Sunday 9 August Saturday 15 & Sunday 16 August 6pm45 minutes, no interval

The Parade TowerKilkenny Castle

Admission 15/ 13

Ticket DealGet this event & Love is my Sin (Sat 15) (see opposite) for 31

Post-show discussion Sun 9th Directed by ART Ó BRIAIN

Performed by FERGUS CRONIN

On the occasion of his birthday Krapp sits alone at a desk replaying extracts from his journals, which he has gathered on old reels. Sadness and extreme loneliness combine with extraordinary humour to offer an emotionally powerful theatre experience.

Galway based company Moving Still presents what is often described as one of Beckett’s most accessible works.

MOVING STILL (Ireland)KRAPP’S LAST TAPE By Samuel Beckett

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Saturday 15 August9.30pmSunday 16 August3pm & 8pm60 minutes, no interval

The Great HallKilkenny Castle

Admission 25/ 21

Post-show discussion Sun 16th after 3pm show

Serbian pianist Aleksandar Mad!ar is among the most sought-after of the younger generation of musicians whose pianistic skills are described as a “flight on the wings of imagination, sensitivity and wide horizons”. (The Slovenia Times).

His programme includes Beethoven’s late Opus 126 Bagatelles, four of Chopin’s most popular compositions and Ravel’s notoriously demanding Gaspard de la Nuit, a work considered to be one of the most difficult solo piano pieces in the standard repertoire.Since he first came to prominence at the Leeds Piano Competition in 1996, Mad!ar has worked with a host of British orchestras. He travels extensively in Europe and Asia and is professor at the Royal Flemish Conservatoire in Brussels and the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Bern.

PROGRAMME

L.V. BEETHOVEN (1770-1827) Bagatelles Opus 126

FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN (1810-1849) Polonaise Opus 53Nocturne Opus 62Scherzo Opus 54, No. 4

F. CHOPIN Ballade Opus 52, No. 4

MAURICE RAVEL (1875-1937) Gaspard de la Nuit

ALEKSANDAR MAD!AR (Serbia)piano

Saturday 8 August3pm

The Black AbbeyAbbey Street

Admission 15/ 13

PROGRAMMEALBERTO GINASTERA (1916-1983) (Argentina) Sonata in Four MovementsNIKITA KOSHKIN (b.1956) (Russia)Usher WaltzCARLO DOMENICONI (b.1947) (Italy)Koyunbaba

Martin Adams said in The Irish Times that his playing was “fluent, shapely and always apt”. Such accolades herald a delight for Kilkenny audiences. Michael O’Toole is not only a leading classical guitarist, he is always rising to the challenge of performing new work.

His commitment to contemporary music, the range of composers with whom he has worked and his performances with world famous pipa virtuoso Liu Fang set him apart.

MICHAEL O’TOOLE (Ireland)guitar

REX LEVITATES DANCE COMPANY (Ireland)UNSUNG A unique traditional music and contemporary dance collaboration

Choreography by LIZ ROCHEMusic by MÍCHEÁL Ó SÚILLEABHÁINPerformed by GRANT McLAY, MATTHEW MORRIS, KATHERINE O’MALLEY and LIZ ROCHE danceMÍCHEÁL Ó SÚILLEABHÁIN pianoIARLA Ó LIONÁIRD voiceKENNETH EDGE clarinet/saxophoneKATE ELLIS cello Housed within the performance structure of the traditional Irish “session”, the formal and improvisational structures that form the basis of traditional dances and music are re-interpreted, creating a new fusion between modern bodies, traditional instruments and the audience.

This collaboration features new and existing music performed live by Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, a cast of four world-class dancers and the voice of sean nós maestro Iarla Ó Lionáird.

Friday 7 August8.30pm

St Canice’s Cathedral

Admission 22/ 19

Ticket DealGet this event & Roy Foster (p.36) for 27

Originally co-produced by Éigse Carlow Arts Festival. Developed from the short film Unsung, commissioned by RTÉ and the Arts Council for the dance film initiative RTÉ Dance on the Box.

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Tuesday 11 August8pm


Admission 22/ 19



Admission 30/ 25

Harpsichordist, pianist, singer, composer, choirmaster and conductor Hervé Niquet made his debut as choirmaster at the Opéra National de Paris (1980). Under his baton, Le Concert Spirituel

breathes new life into the stunning French repertoire of sacred and instrumental music of the 17th and 18th centuries.

In this programme for twelve male voice soloists, five cellos and basso continuo, Le Concert Spirituel performs sacred music of the French high baroque written specifically for some of France’s most magnificent buildings such as Sainte Chapelle in Paris and the Cathedrals of Troyes and Strasbourg.

The chamber organ used in this concert has been kindly loaned by the Irish Baroque Orchestra.

PROGRAMME

MARC"ANTOINE CHARPENTIER (1643–1704) De Profundis

HENRI FREMART (1590-1646) Motet

PIERRE HUGARD (1726-1765)Motet

LOUIS LE PRINCE (c.1650) Motet

SÉBASTIEN DE BROSSARD (1655-1730) Stabat Mater

PIERRE BOUTEILLER (c.1655-1717) Requiem

LE CONCERT SPIRITUEL (France)HERVÉ NIQUET director

Splendour of the cathedrals under Louis XIV – The Sun KingA musical voyage from Paris to Strasbourg

PRIYA MITCHELL (UK)violin

POLINA LESCHENKO (Russia)piano

Polina Leschenko, from St Petersburg, is a brilliant young pianist about whose performance a British critic wrote: “There is something exceptional and compelling about her combination of delicacy, fluency and well-timed bursts of fireworks.” She made her solo début at the age of eight with the Leningrad Symphony Orchestra.

Priya Mitchell, from the other side of Europe, began violin lessons at the age of four. Five years later she was at the Yehudi Menuhin School. One critic described her performance as “Tearing into its spiky atonalism and finding exactly the right mood of glacial intensity for its lyrical interludes, this violinist was taking no prisoners”.

In the splendid setting of St Canice’s Cathedral, this promises to be an unforgettable evening.

PROGRAMME

FELIX MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847)Violin Sonata in F major

ALFRED SCHNITTKE (1934-1998)Sonata No.1

BÉLA BARTÓK (1881-1945)Romanian dances

EDVARD GRIEG (1843-1907) Sonata No.3

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Friday 14 August8pm


Admission 30/ 25

IRISH BAROQUE ORCHESTRA(Ireland)MONICA HUGGETT directorSARAH McMAHON cello

EX CATHEDRA CONSORT & BAROQUE ENSEMBLE (UK)

HIS MAJESTYS SAGBUTTS AND CORNETTS (UK)JEFFREY SKIDMORE director

In 2009, music lovers around the globe commemorate the 200th anniversary of the death of Joseph Haydn. Haydn started his career as a member of the Vienna Boys’ Choir, the city to which he also returned after working for the Princes Esterházy in today’s Burgenland and Hungary. In this concert of ‘classical’ music the Irish Baroque Orchestra will move from its familiar homeground in the world of the baroque to the classical period of Haydn and Mozart under the inspirational direction of Monica Huggett, who has recently been appointed Director of Early Music at the prestigious Juilliard School in New York. Sarah McMahon, known to many as the cellist in the Callino String Quartet, performs Haydn’s sparkling cello concerto in C.

PROGRAMME

JOSEPH HAYDN (1732-1809) Symphony in F minor No. 49 La Passione

J. HAYDN Cello Concerto in C

W.A. MOZART(1756-1791) Symphony No. 29 in A

From 1613 until his death in 1643 Monteverdi was the ‘maestro di capella’ at the famous Basilica of St. Mark in Venice. The acclaimed Ex Cathedra will endeavour to recreate the majesty and pomp of the religious services of that period in the beautiful surroundings of St Canice’s Cathedral, where the ensemble has performed memorably at previous festivals.

From its home in Birmingham, Ex Cathedra has established an international reputation as a leading UK choir and Early Music ensemble. Under founder and Artistic Director, Jeffrey Skidmore, Ex Cathedra is known for its vibrant performances and a passion for seeking out not only the best but the unfamiliar and the unexpected in the choral repertoire.

His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts is a group of virtuoso wind players who specialise in playing Renaissance and Baroque music in historically appropriate styles on original instruments. The noble sound of cornetts and sackbuts was among the most versatile instrumental colours available to composers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

This concert forms part of Kilkenny’s 400th anniversary celebrations.

The chamber organ used in this concert has been kindly loaned by the Irish Baroque Orchestra.

PROGRAMME

CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI (1567-1643) Marian Vespers of 1610

Thursday 13 August8.30pm


Admission 25/ 21

Ticket DealGet this event & Heaney/O’Driscoll (p.41) for 30

KILKENNYDESIGNCRAFT

CENTRE

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THE DRESDEN GROUP(Germany)

Kilkenny Arts Festival continues its association with The Dresden Group who gave such powerful performances at last year’s festival. Five wind players from the world renowned Dresden Staatskapelle Orchestra are joined by the celebrated German pianist Paul Rivinius for two programmes of German and French music.

The Irish Times’ Michael Dervan describedThe Dresden Group’s performance at last year’s festival as“exquisite in its floating delicacy”.

PROGRAMME #

FRANZ DANZI (1763-1826) Wind Quintet in D minor, Opus 68 No. 3

PAUL HINDEMITH (1895-1963) Kleine Kammermusik for wind quintet Opus 24 No 2

GYÖRGY SÁNDOR LIGETI (1923 -2006)Six Bagatelles

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)Quintet for Piano and Winds in E flat Opus 16

BERNHARD KURY fluteVOLKER HANEMANN oboeCHRISTIAN DOLLFUß clarinetJULIUS RÖNNEBECK hornANDREAS BÖRTITZ bassoonwithPAUL RIVINIUS piano

PROGRAMME 1Saturday 15 August6pm*


Admission 20/ 15

*As another event will take place in The Great Hall later on Saturday night, this performance must begin at 6pm sharp. Latecomers will not be admitted.

PROGRAMME $

MAURICE RAVEL (1875-1937) Le Tombeau de Couperin

CLAUDE"PAUL TAFFANEL (1844-1908) Wind Quintet

FRANCIS POULENC (1899-1963) Sextet for piano and winds

PROGRAMME 2 Sunday 16 August11am


Admission 15/ 13

Ticket DealGet this morning event & O’Toole/Kilroy (p.40) for 22



Admission 20/ 17

RTÉ CONCERT ORCHESTRA(Ireland)DAVID BROPHY conductorCARA O’SULLIVAN soprano

Always one of the most popular events at the Kilkenny Arts Festival, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra plays a lunchtime concert this year in St Canice’s Cathedral. Bring all the family to hear this programme of tunes from well-known films and musicals. Guest soprano Cara O’Sullivan is sure to bring the house down.

PROGRAMME

SIR WILLIAM WALTON Prelude and Fugue from Spitfire

JOHNNY MERCER/HENRY MANCINI Moon River

ROGERS AND HAMMERSTEINBill (Carousel)

JOHN WILLIAMSET Adventures On Earth

ERIC COATESThe Dambusters

GEORGES BIZETBeat Out That Rhythm (Carmen Jones)

EDUARDO DI CAPUAO Sole Mio

VINCENT KENNEDYDublin - Overture to My City

RON GOODWINTheme from 633 Squadron

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Hotel Kilkenny

Admission 22/ 19

Admission and Meal47

Friday 7 August 9pm

Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel

Admission 22/ 19

AKAMOON & BLACK MACHINE(Belgium/Mali)

“Europe’s most innovative trio.” JAZZMAN MAGAZINE

Saxophonist Fabrizio Cassol, electric bassist Michel Hatzigeorgiou and drummer Stephane Galland have created an enlightened and highly evolved understanding of rhythm, an exhilarating constant in their ever-changing and unique soundworld.

In Kilkenny they unveil their latest creation, where jazz at its most rhythmically addictive gets an infusion of West African percussion, courtesy of Black Machine, a choir of Malian griots (sacred singers or bards) led by one of that regal culture’s most celebrated musicians: the talking drum master Baba Sissokho.

Akamoon’s last Irish appearance was at the Dublin Dance Festival, performing with the celebrated Brussels company Ballet C de la B. It was another landmark in the continuous invention and renewal of this remarkable Belgian band, whose collaborative approach has yielded 12 landmark albums with artists as diverse as Indian virtuoso U.K. Sivaraman, The Brussels Opera and DJ collective Grazzhoppa.

FABRIZIO CASSOL alto saxophoneMICHEL HATZIGEORGIOU bassSTEPHANE GALLAND drumsBABA SISSOKHO percussion

GENTICORUM (Quebec) & THE TAP ROOM TRIO (Ireland)

PASCAL GEMME fiddle, feet, vocalsALEX DE GROSBOIS!GARAND flute, fiddle, bass, vocalsYANN FALQUET guitar, jews harp, vocals

Belfast and Montreal undergo a temporary festive twinning. It is celebrated by two outstanding trios, shedding light on the thriving traditional music life in both cities.

Genticorum is an evolution in the Quebeqois sound of legendary groups like La Bottine Souriante. Sure footed three-part harmony vies with wooden flute, fiddle, acoustic guitar, jaw harp, bass and that all important foot stomping percussion to create a rousing evocation of lost nights in Acadia.

Slightly less gregarious, but no less seductive is The Tap Room Trio. Belfast’s much remarked resurgence in flute-playing of the highest order, is brilliantly illuminated by the invention and drive of Harry Bradley. He is joined by fiddler Jesse Smith and guitarist John Carthy.

HARRY BRADLEY fluteJESSE SMITH fiddleJOHN CARTHY guitar

“There’s an astonishing lift and drive to their music and, at times, a dazzling degree of precision in evidence.” fROOTS SAID OF THE TAP ROOM TRIO

“This is bracing stu!, replete with gorgeous three-part harmony singing and powerful instrumental work” HOT PRESS SAID OF GENTICORUM

Sunday 9 August 9pm

Set TheatreJohn Street

Admission 18/ 15.50

Sunday 9 August 4pm

The Heritage Council/Áras hOidhreachtaChurch Lane

Admission 15/ 13

1918 THE XI’ AN SI (China )

Ireland knows comparatively little of China’s great regional diversity in traditional music but a young musician from Zhengzhou City is set to change that. Now living in Co Clare, Li Kai is bridging the geographical divide with The Xi’ an Si, a trio that reunites her with musicians from home and introduces us to the exquisite instruments and provincial styles of China.

Together they will take you on a journey that starts on the Silk Road and ends a little closer to home, with Irish airs heard on Chinese instruments. It’s as if they were made for each other.

Eighteen years since his passing, Miles Davis casts a long shadow into jazz’s second century. In a 50-year career, his restless music reached peaks of creativity that few have seen since. In his productive middle years Miles served notice that a major shift in musical aesthetics was underway, bringing forth a series of electric albums whose impact has not yet subsided in creative music of all persuasions.

Last heard at The Electric Picnic 08, Electric Miles convenes the elite of Irish jazz including saxophonist Michael Buckley and drummer Sean Carpio in a workout on the vintage 1970s Miles of the Bitches Brew and In a Silent Way period. It’s the spirit, not the letter of Miles that matters and this will be no arid tribute of worthy reconstruction. Sparks fly.

PAUL WILLIAMSON trumpet MICHAEL BUCKLEY tenor saxophoneJUSTIN CARROLL fender rhodes

“A fearsome concentration of Irish jazz talent.” THE SUNDAY TRIBUNE

LI KAI guzhengTANG WEI pipaXU ZHEN erhu

ELECTRIC MILES (Ireland)

JOE O’CALLAGHAN guitarRONAN GUILFOYLE bassSEAN CARPIO drums

THE HEARTSTRING SESSIONS(Ireland)

The Heartstring Sessions, with two exceptional guitarists and two very gifted sisters, marries two renowned duos. Celebrated names in Irish music are here: guitarist Arty McGlynn, fiddler Nollaig Casey and harpist Máire Ní Chathasaigh with the UK’s finest flat-picker Chris Newman.

It is the music they love: old airs and songs, dance music, Irish and otherwise, originals and old time standards, pulled from a collective trove gathered on four journeys that have taken in all points from Planxty to Riverdance. All that experience and kinship has distilled into a graceful, soulful debut album that has drawn effusive praise. Live in performance: a session to remember.

NOLLAIG CASEY trumpet MAIRE NÍ CATHASAIGH tenor saxophoneARTY McGLYNN fender rhodesCHRIS NEWMAN guitar

“Traditional music at its very best, crossing boundaries, tapping our own tunes alongside bluegrass and ragtime borrowings. Many lifetimes’ worth of music.” THE IRISH TIMES

Monday 10 August 8.30pm


Admission 20/ 17

Tuesday 11 August 11.30am & 2pm


Admission 13/ 11

Ticket DealGet this event (Mon) & GAA Night (p.38) for 25.50

Tuesday 11 August 8pm

Cleere’s Pub and TheatreParliament Street

Admission 15/ 13

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MORLA & CAOIMHÍN Ó RAGHALLAIGH(Ireland)

Morla comprises two of the bolder spirits in Irish music today, and it’s also a product of Bottlenote, a Dublin creative collective that mirrors the emergence of similar coalitions of young musicians throughout Europe such as London’s F-IRE and Copenhagen’s Ilk. Guitarist Simon Jermyn has just released a debut CD for Barcelona’s Fresh Sounds imprint, and his beautifully textured guitar manipulations are a talking point in the Irish jazz scene. Similarly,

alto saxophonist Sean Óg has foregone the instrument’s more linear approach, opting for microtonality, electronica and the use of DIY instruments and objet trouvé to forge a personal vocabulary. The contrast of new and old, digital and acoustic, is made bold here with an additional solo set from that most adventurous of traditional fiddlers Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh, before what promises to be an intriguing encounter with Morla in their own organic soundworld.

“A surprising music whose kaleidoscopic colours, textures and original lines constantly confounded expectation” THE IRISH TIMES

SIMON JERMYN guitar, electronics SEAN ÓG alto saxophone, electronicsCAOIMHÍN Ó RAGHALLAIGH fiddle, hardingfele

Wednesday 12 August 8.15pm


Admission 20/ 17

Ticket DealGet this event and Ivor Browne (p.40) for 25.50

NORMA WINSTONE TRIO (UK/Italy/Germany )

Certainly England’s and possibly Europe’s finest ever jazz singer, Norma Winstone has saved some of the very best work of a 40-year career until now. A first CD in 10 years for ECM and a new partnership with two outstanding young musicians, Italian pianist Glauco Venier and German saxophonist Klaus Gesing, has drawn forth something special and intimate. Together they embrace an absorbing song-focused repertoire that spans Cole Porter and Peter Gabriel, Erik Satie and Pasolini, folk songs and Winstone’s own evocative, often poetic lyrics.

In two players that are alive to a universe of musical possibilities, Winstone has found an empathic foil for her lissome voice and forthright delivery. It’s a style all the more affecting for its absence of histrionics and melodrama, attesting to the power of time, experience and a constant refining of the artist’s own voice.

“Winstone continues to show her juniors what it means to be a genuinely original jazz singer. Here, everything fits together – Winstone’s ethereal, gently sad tone, the softgrained soundworld and the harmonic subtlety of her co-musicians.” THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

NORMA WINSTONE voice GLAUCO VENIER pianoKLAUS GESING bass clarinet, soprano saxophone

FRANCESCO TURRISI TRIO(Ireland)

Turin-born Francesco Turrisi was the harpsichordist with acclaimed baroqueensemble l’Arpeggiata. He put the experience to use since becomingestablished in Ireland. He’s a pivotal member of Balkan group Yurodny andleads Tarab, a small group experimenting with different elements of Irish traditional, Mediterranean and medieval music.

In piano trio, these elements are expanded and the debut CD Si Dolce È Il Tormento was said by The Irish Times to be ‘exquisite’.

These days Austin is on the map as home to SXSW, the world’s largest rock showcase. The Texan city is also HQ to Grupo Fantasma, currently the hottest ticket on the US Latin scene. Grammy nominated for their third album Sonidos Gold, this 11-strong orchestra has earned a reputation as the US’s hardest working and funkiest Latin band. They regularly open for Prince’s American shows.

Unlike salsa from Cuba, this is founded in the harder Puerto Rican sound, evoking the 70s groove of Larry Harlow, Ray Barretto and the halcyon days of labels like Fania, whose music still reverberates through salsa dance clubs around the world. The ingredients are insistent grooves of timbales and congas, the percussive drive of the piano montuno, soaring brass and rock steady bass all rebooted with a funky edge for the 21st century.

ADRIAN QUESADA guitarJOHNNY LOPEZ drumsJOSE GALEANO vocals, timbalesGILBERT ELORREAGA trumpetBETO MARTINEZ guitar

FRANCESCO TURRISI pianoDAN BODWELL bassSEAN CARPIO drums

GRUPO FANTASMA (US )

Thursday 13 August 10pm


Admission 22/ 19

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If you haven’t heard Hazmat Modine, it’s hard to describe what they do. After you’ve heard Hazmat Modine, it’s still hard to describe what they do.

New York seeps out of every musical pore of this wilfully eccentric slice of Americana. Hazmat Modine embraces everything from jug bands and Jamaican rocksteady to country blues and klezmer.

It’s all delivered with deadpan charm that includes harmonica, tuba, Hawaiian steel guitar, a bizarre Chinese reed organ and other staples of the self-respecting Waitsian junkyard orchestra.

The precarious balancing act is orchestrated by singer and virtuoso harmonica man Wade Schuman, flanked by seven equally brilliant, equally restless, musical orphans for whom one genre was never going to be enough.

At the heart of the beast is a serious enough point about the melting pot of American roots culture, but trust us, you won’t need a degree in ethnomusicology to have a ball in their irrepressible company.

“It’s as if 1930’s calypso legend Wilmouth Houdini, Sidney Bechet and a Haitian band all ran into each other at a Gypsy wedding” METRO LONDON

WADE SCHUMAN harmonica, guitar, vocalsBILL BARRETT harmonica, sheng, vocalsJOSEPH DALEY tubaPAM FLEMING trumpetSTEVE ELSON saxophones, dudukPETE SMITH guitarMICHAEL GOMEZ guitar, steel guitarRICH HUNTLEY drum

HAZMAT MODINE (US )

Friday 14 August 1pm


Admission 15/ 13

“Delightful, unusual, decidedly un-Irish jazz.” THE SUNDAY TRIBUNE


Set Theatre, John Street

Admission 22/ 19

KINO RODRIGUEZ vocalsGREG GONZALEZ bassJOSHUA LEVY saxophonesMATTHEW “SWEET LOU” HOLMES congasMARK “SPEEDY” GONZALES trombone

“This freight train of a Latin band could easily hold its own in The Bronx…they’ll knock you down with the grooves. ” THE VILLAGE VOICE

JOHN SPILLANE (Ireland)

After decades on the Irish music scene, John Spillane seems to have become an overnight success with the launch of his new album, So Far So Good, Like. John Spillane has become a master of making us all relate to his songs. He is an artist who knows how to deliver all that he has to offer to anyone ofany age, male or female, no matter the musical preference.Place him in the genre of folk, acoustic, traditional, world or pop - that’s fine with John. He’s a man who is very comfortable in his skin.

If the piano trio is the heartland of the jazz romantic, then the organ trio is where its mischievous alter ego comes out to play. It appears that way with Copenhagen’s Ibrahim Electric, who fairly barnstormed Stradbally when they closed out the Electric Picnic jazz stage last year.

This is a glorious swamp thing of distorted sounds from a Lesley amp’s rotating horn, guitar riffs indebted to ’60s psychedelia and some brawny drumming that wouldn’t be out of place in stadium rock.

This hugely enjoyable dancefloor proposition is brought to you by three outstanding Danish musicians on a mission to excite. Organist Jeppe Tuxen is well got as pianist with the group Endorfin but takes a robust approach to the Hammond console. Guitarist Niclas Knudsen exploits an interest in African music to inject a vibrant Afrobeat element. Mighty drummer Stefan Pasborg puts aside the colouristic devices for which he’s highly regarded in the Danish contemporary scene to bring only the good groove.

NICLAS KNUDSEN guitarJEPPE TUXEN hammond organSTEFAN PASBORG drums

IBRAHIM ELECTRIC (Denmark)

“The tunes are fresh, the energy is high, the chemistry perfect. ” JAZZTIMES

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Saturday 8 August 1pm


Admission 13/ 11

JULIE FEENEY (Ireland)

As her new album, pages, continues its meteoric rise to fame, Julie Feeney comes to Kilkenny to perform in St Canice’s Cathedral with a small string ensemble. The album has been described as a collection of songs performed with stirring, spellbinding elegance, yet delivered with a strange, almost whimsical sense of fun.

Julie may be a dreamer, but she is also one of life’s achievers. She has three Masters degrees, plays ten instruments and was a professional singer for the National Chamber Choir in Ireland for five years.

Not only did the multi-tasking composer-performer from Galway sing, compose and produce the album’s songs, she even conducted the top-flight full orchestra which performed them all in one epic six-hour recording session at the Irish Chamber Orchestra studio in Limerick.



Admission 12/ 10


Set Theatre, John Street

Admission 22/ 19

Get there early and catch The Gandini Jugglers (p.4) at 9.30pm

AMIINA (Iceland)with KATIE KIM (Ireland) &GEPPETTO (Ireland)

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Sunday 9 August 8pm


Admission 30/ 25.50

Saturday 8 August 10.15pm


Admission 12/ 10

RSAG (Ireland)and special guests

RSAG is one man. RSAG is a multi-instrumentalist who records, performs and produces all his own material. RSAG is Kilkenny’s Jeremy Hickey.

Live on stage, RSAG plays drums/percussion and sings. His backing tracks are pre-recorded in studio and are his support. RSAG shares his stage with a virtual band, projected on a screen behind him. Hickey is every member. Think of Joy Division, Talking Heads, Fela Kuti, New York rockers ESG with the visual impact of Gorillaz. This is so much more than just music. It is a friendly, full-sensory virus with no known cure.

"EPKANO (Ireland)in collaboration with DONAL DINEEN &HALFSET (Ireland) with special guests NICK CARSWELL and the Elective Orchestra

Sunday 16 August 8pm


Admission 15/ 13

3epkanoSince its inception in 2004, 3epkano has made a name for itself with live silent movie shows in diverse venues in Europe and the US. Recent shows include several multimedia collaborations with Donal Dineen and his extraordinary film footage.Those who discovered 3epkano last year, will rush to experience a mix of experimental, soundtrack and rock music.

HalfsetThere is a sense of taking a musical line for a walk, with democratic improv, starting with a structure but allowing it room to expand and compress. The genesis comes from an electronic framework kicked off by Stephen Shannon, with the other three offering their layers and interpretations. Hot Press said they create mini-masterpieces.

Nick Carswell and the Elective OrchestraNick’s unique voice echoes John Lennon and Jeff Tweedy, with a hint of Joe Cocker’s soulfulness. Insightful lyrics cover ideas of hope and truth and span the breadth of human emotion.

AmiinaAmiina’s collaboration with Sigur Rós started in 1999. Since then Amiina has been on most of their tours and collaborated with them on the albums ( ) and Takk.

The organic sounds of Amiina merge with Kippi Kaninus´s fascinating world of electronics. With Magnús T. Eliassen’s dynamic percussion, it is an intriguing programme of new as well as recycled material.

Amiina´s members have collaborated individually with many artists, performed at art festivals and toured in North America and Europe.

Magnús Trygvason Eliassen started his music studies at the age of eight and has been active in the Icelandic music scene for several years. He played with K Trio among others.

Katie KimPerfect swellings, sedated, distorted chaos and sculpted slowburns somewhat describes the music that bleeds from Katie Kim.

She left dreampop outfit Dae-Kim in early 2008 to record songs written over five years. A computer mishap had wiped over 50 of her works.

The collection, born from the mourning of the loss, butterflied into Twelve. The debut vinyl-only album provoked an overwhelming response. Her performance here will be one of only a few live performances this year. Her second album, being recorded in seclusion, is out in October.

GeppettoA visual and audio collaboration between artists is at the core of local act Geppetto. Paul Mahon’s idea has developed into a unique blend of live visuals and ambient melodic tunes to please the senses.

Artist Mick Minogue provides live projection painting to the sounds of musicians Colm Ó Caoimhe on piano, Jane Murphy on cello and Paul Mahon on guitar.

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Admission 30/ 25.50

J SPACEMAN (UK) &SI SCHROEDER (Ireland)

One of the top live shows of 2008 was how The Irish Times described Spiritualized’s end-of-festival performance last year in St Canice’s Cathedral.

J Spaceman is renowned as the driving creative force behind the pioneering drone/space rock band and now he returns to the Great Hall in Kilkenny Castle with a solo performance.

J Spaceman has been active with a host of free jazz players and improvisers. He provided much of the soundtrack to Harmony Korine’s film, Mr Lonely. He composed the original score for an art installation called Silent Sound by British artists Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard. He released his second solo work: a collaboration with Matthew Shipp, entitled SpaceShipp last year.

Si SchroederSi Schroeder is a six-foot hairy male who makes ‘music’. It has generally sounded like the combined contents of his record collection (mostly classic sixties pop, scratchy old ethnic recordings and the odd bleep or two).

On top, he layers ruminative, whispered vocals about the tough times we all go through.

His shows create a bridge between live electronics, guitars, drums, percussion and the combined singing of men, women, children and machines.

LOW (USA) MICK TURNER (Australia) ADRIAN CROWLEY (Ireland)

Low Low creates and records interesting and unique music.

The first album, I Could Live in Hope was pegged as “slowcore,” with minimalist soundscapes and the beautiful harmonies of Sparhawk and Parker. That was 1994.

From Duluth, Minnesota, with Alan Sparhawk on vocals and guitar, Mimi Parker on vocals and drums and Matt Livingston on vocals and bass, Low released a stream of critically acclaimed albums. The trio toured the world and performed with the likes of the Dirty Three, Radiohead and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

Mick TurnerDescribed as “an Aussie wunderkind of meditative guitar poetry,” Dirty Three guitarist Mick Turner has played live and on recordings with Cat Power, Nick Cave, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy and Bill Callahan. It seems that only in nature can a body find parameters worthwhile enough to describe the palpitating gorgeousness of Turner’s compositions.

Mick is a renowed painter. An exhibition of his work forms part of the Visual Arts Strand Two programme. (See page 51).



Admission 30/ 25.50

Adrian CrowleyHe was praised in the Sunday Times as “this great Irish songwriter [who] continues to creep under the skin and behind your defences …by stealth and without the slightest suggestion of an imminent explosion.”

No doubt this gig combines explosive ingredients.

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THE FESTIVAL HUBYou told us you wanted a place to meet other festival visitors, so here it is!Bang smack in the middle of the city, Paris Texas is a spacious bar and has seating for over 150. It serves an extensive daytime menu from 11am until 6pm and in the evening there is an early bird and à la carte menu until 9pm.

Paul and his team are looking forward to welcoming you.A great place to relax from a hard day’s festival-going or to discuss the fi ner points of the event you have just been to. You never know who you might bump into!

92 High StreetKilkenny City056 776 1822

Every year the Kilkenny Arts Festival bring so many amazing events to the city that it is almost impossible to make sure you fi nd what really appeals to you. So, we’ve put on our thinking caps and come

up with this guide to suggest events you may not have considered. Simply fi nd an event that you are interested in and chances are, there will be something else in the same column that you will also enjoy.

Or, alternatively, pick the column that is of most interest to you and explore the events listed.

This is my fi rst time at an arts festival. I want to see what this festival is all about. I haven’t heard of a lot of these names before and I’d like suggestions on what might be great to see.

Something Else Exhibition

Aleksander Madzar

RTÉCO (Lunchtime)

William Trevor Film Day

GAA Night

Seamus Heaney & Denis O’Driscoll

Garrison Keillor

Peter Murphy & Colm Toibin

Genticorum & Tap Room Trio

Heartstring Sessions

Hazmat Modine

Grupo Fantasma

John Spillane

Krapp’s Last Tape

Amiina & Katie Kim

Craft exhibition

Other street acts

I want to think. I want to get out of my comfort zone and confront the world head on. I don’t want to be spoon fed. I want to be blown away. I want to argue.

Le Concert Spirituel

Irish Baroque Orchestra

Dresden Group 1

Roy Foster (Hubert Butler)

Ivor Browne

Akamoon & Black Machine

Julie Feeney

Miles ElectricNorma Winstone TrioLucia’s Chapters

I want to fi nd those hidden gems - things I may not have heard of but once I’ve experienced I will never forget.

Priya Mitchell & Polina Leschenko

Ex Cathedra

Dresden Group 2

Kamila Shamsie & Eugene McCabe

Paula Meehan, Don Paterson & Susan McKeown

Fintan O’Toole interviewsThomas Kilroy

The Xi’ an Si

Morla & Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh

Francesco Turrisi Trio

Ibrahim Electric

Unsung

3epkano, Halfset

Gandini Jugglers

I want to see edgier, grittier more experimental stuff. I want to dance, have some fun. I want to stay up late.

Michael O’Toole

Love is My Sin

RSAG & special guests

J Spaceman & Si Schroeder

Low

Nusquam

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MY FIRST FESTIVAL

MY INSPIRING FESTIVAL

MY SUPRISING FESTIVAL

MY ALTERNATIVE FESTIVAL

CHECK OUT THE GREAT VALUE PACKAGE DEALS

Only available from the box offi ce: Telephone 056 775 2175

GAA Night (p.38) & Heartstring Sessions (p. 19) !25.50 Lucia’s Chapters (Mon or Tues) (p.05) & Paula Meehan et al (p. 39) !29.50 The Dresden Group (Lunchtime) (p.15) & O’Toole/Kilroy (p.40) !22.00 Roy Foster (p.36) & Aleksandar Mad#ar (p.09) !27.00 Heaney/O’Driscoll (p.41) & Irish Baroque Orchestra (p.12) !30.00 Ivor Browne (p.40) & Norma Winstone Trio (p.21) !25.50 Krapp’s Last Tape (p.06) & Love is my Sin (Sat 15) (p.07) !31.00

CHILDREN GO FREETO CHILDREN’S EVENTSTHANKS TO TAXBACK.COM• Tickets are only available at the Festival box o" ce.• Children can attend free of charge at children’s events only.• Accompanying adults must pay for their tickets.• Free tickets are restricted to two events per family.• Each adult may bring fi ve children to performance events and two children to workshops and smaller events.• Parents and guardians are requested to sign up to the Kilkenny Arts Festival mailing list when collecting their tickets.

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FRIDAY 7

Lucia’s Chapters 8pm

Roy Foster 6pm

Aleksandar Mad!ar 8.30pm

THE FESTIVAL HUBParis Texas

Akamoon & Black Machine 9pmKilkenny Ormonde Hotel

SATURDAY 8


Turbo and Dai 1pm, 3pm & 5pm

Jim and Dr Nick 2.30pm & 5pm

Nusquam 9.45pm

Krapp’s Last Tape 6pm

Julie Feeney 1pm

Le Concert Spirituel 8pm

William Trevor on Screen 10.30am-4.30pm

RSAG and special guests 10.15pm

THE FESTIVAL HUBParis TexasMichael O’Toole 3pmThe Black AbbeyGenticorum & The Tap Room Trio 9pmHotel Kilkenny

SUNDAY 9


Price Checkers 2.30pm, 4pm & 5pm

Kamila Shamsie & Eugene McCabe 11am

Krapp’s Last Tape 6pm(& post-show discuss.)

Amiina with Katie Kim & Geppetto 8pm

Electric Miles 9pm


The Xi’ an Si 4pmThe Heritage Council/Áras hOidhreachta

MONDAY 10

Lucia’s Chapters 8pm(& post-show discuss.)

GAA: Blood and Thunder 6pm-8pm

The Heartstring Sessions 8.30pm


TUESDAY 11


The Heartstring Sessions 11.30am & 2pm

Paula Meehan & Don Paterson et al 10pm

Priya Mitchell andPolina Leschenko 8pm


Morla & CaoimhÍn Ó Raghallaigh 8pmCleere’s Pub and Theatre

WEDNESDAY 12

Norma Winstone Trio 8.15pm

Ivor Browne interviewed by Colm Tóibín 6pm


THURSDAY 13

Love is my Sin 8pm

J Spaceman & Si Schroeder 8pm

Seamus Heaney & Dennis O’Driscoll 6pm

Irish Baroque Orchestra 8.30pm

Hazmat Modine 10pm


FRIDAY 14

Love is my Sin 8pm

Carpet Man and Lino Boy 2.30pm & 5pm

Francesco Turrisi Trio 1pm

Ex Cathedra Consort & Baroque Ensemble andHis Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts 8pm

Garrison Keillor 6pm

Grupo Fantasma 10pm


SATURDAY 15

Love is my Sin 8pm

Keystone Kops 1pm, 2.30pm & 4.30pm Gandini Jugglers 4pm& 10.15pm

The Dresden Group Programme 1 6pm

Unsung 9.30pm


John Spillane 9pm

RTÉ Concert Orchestra 2pm

Low with Mick Turner & Adrian Crowley 8pm

Peter Murphy & Colm Tóibín 3pm

Gandini Jugglers 9.30pm

Ibrahim Electric 10pm


SUNDAY 16

Futter’s Child 1pm, 2.30pm & 4pm

Edmond Tahl 2.30pm, 3.30pm & 5pm

The Dresden Group Programme 2 11am

Unsung 3pm & 8pm(& post-show (3pm) discussion

Thomas Kilroy interviewed by Fintan O’Toole 12.30pm


3epkano & Halfset with special guests Nick Carswell and the Elective Orchestra 8pm


WATERGATE THEATRE

STREET(MacDONAGH JUNCTION, STREETS OF KILKENNY, THE CANAL WALK)

KILKENNY CASTLE

PARADE TOWER

ST CANICE’S CATHEDRAL

SET THEATRE

OTHER CITY VENUES

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VISUAL ART

Something ElseRothe House

VISUAL ART

Strand 2

CRAFT

Sterling IrishCastle Yard Galleries

46 CIARAN MURPHY46 CORBAN WALKER47 ISABEL NOLAN47 GARY COYLE

48 JO ANNE BUTLER48 JOHN BYRNE49 KEVIN ATHERTON49 MICK WILSON

50 BUTLER GALLERY 50 KILKENNY COUNTY COUNCIL 50 ESTATE YARD 0951 GRENNAN MILL CRAFT SCHOOL51 ENDANGERED STUDIOS51 MICK TURNER52 DONAL DINEEN

52 BLACKBIRD GALLERY52 MARY LEE MURPHY53 SINEAD NÍ MHAONAIGH53 BLAISE SMITH 53 GILLIAN FREEDMAN53 ALAN COUNIHAN & GYPSY RAY

CRAFT Strand 2

ARCHITECTURE

44 THE LIVES OF SPACES Kilkenny Castle

58 NATIONAL CRAFT GALLERY58 MADE IN KILKENNY58 WORKHOUSE STUDIOS

COLOUR GUIDE

Street Spectacle

Theatre/Dance

Classical Music

Music

Wired

Literature

Architecture

Visual Art

Visual Art Strand 2

Craft

Craft Strand 2

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54 CLAIRE CURNEEN54 CÓILÍN Ó DUBHGHAILL55 GRAINNE MORTON 55 JENNIFER BROWNE55 JAMES TOAL

56 JOAN MacKARRELL56 SADHBH McCORMACK56 SUZANNE GOODWIN57 VICTORIA ROTHSCHILD 57 CARMEL McELROY57 CJ O’NEILL

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THEATRE/ PUPPETRY

Run, Run, The Little Goat and the Wolf (Age 3-10 yrs) 2pm & 4pmThe Watergate Theatre

Run, Run, The Little Goat and the Wolf (Age 3-10 yrs) 2pm & 4pmThe Watergate Theatre

Tales from the Workshop (Age 4+ yrs) 11.30am & 2pmThe Parade Tower

The Bedmaker (Age 3-5 yrs)St Luke’s Hospital(Not open to the public)

The Bedmaker (Age 3-5 yrs)10.30am, 11.45am, 2pm & 3.15pmThe Parade Tower

Bedtime/Pa Cama (Age 1+ yrs) 2pm & 4pmBarnstorm Theatre

Bedtime/Pa Cama (Age 1+ yrs) 2pm & 4pmBarnstorm Theatre

MUSIC/STORYTELLING/FILM

Sticks and Stones (Age 8+ yrs) 12pm & 2pmThe Heritage Council/Áras na hOidhreachta

The Secret of Kells11.30amThe Parade Tower

Liz Weir (Age 6-8 yrs) 11.30am - 12.20pm (Age 9-12 yrs) 2pm - 2.50pmThe Heritage Council/Áras na hOidhreachta

WORKSHOPS

Creative Dance: Fantasy JourneysWorkshop 1 (4-6 yrs) 11.30am - 12.30pmWorkshop 2 (7-9 yrs) 2pm - 3.30pmThe Parade Tower

Creative Dance: Take Flight (Age 10-12 yrs) 3.45pm - 5.15pmThe Parade Tower

Summer Tunes(Age 2-4 yrs with parents) 3pm - 4pmThe Parade Tower

Masks(Age 2-4 yrs with parents)4.30pm - 5.30pmThe Parade Tower

Flat Felt BasicsWorkshop 1 (7-9 yrs) 10.30am - 12.30pmWorkshop 2 (10-12 yrs ) 2pm - 4pm The Parade Tower

DIY Animation(Age 7-9 yrs) 10am - 12 noon (Age 10-12yrs) 2pm - 4pmThe Heritage Council/Áras na hOidhreachta

Extreme Arts Express(Age 10-12 yrs) 10.30am - 12.30pm (Age 13-15 yrs) 2pm - 4pmThe Heritage Council/Áras na hOidhreachta

SATURDAY 8

SUNDAY 9

MONDAY 10

TUESDAY 11

WEDNESDAY 12

THURSDAY 13

FRIDAY 14

SATURDAY 15

SUNDAY 16

35

In Hidden Ground William Trevor explores the landscape of his childhood in Cork, visiting Mitchelstown, Youghal and Skibbereen as part of a BBC documentary first screened in 1990. It is directed by Tom McAuley.

Felicia’s Journey (1999), stars Elaine Cassidy and Bob Hoskins. Felicia is an Irish teenager on a journey to Birmingham, searching for the young man who made her pregnant. She finds Joe Hilditch (Hoskins). He has a darker side than the one first perceived. The film is directed by Canadian-Armenian director Atom Egoyan.

Access to the Children (1985) created a sensation when it was screened by RTÉ as Ireland was working itself up to the first divorce referendum. Starring Donal McCann, it deals with middle-aged Malcolmson, estranged from his wife, Elizabeth, after an unwise episode of infidelity. His delusional desire to be restored to his former life as faithful husband and father to his two daughters serves to highlight his decline into alcoholism and loneliness.

The Ballroom of Romance, set in Ireland of 1959, was the very first RTÉ/BBC co-production. It follows Bridie, who has been going to the ballroom on Friday nights since she was 16 years old. Directed by Pat O’Connor, when it was shown on television in Ireland in 1982, the reaction was sensational in young and old alike. With subtle and wonderful performances by Brenda Fricker, Niall Toibin and Cyril Cusack, the one-hour production won a BAFTA for Best Single Drama and the Silver Drama Award in New York.

WILLIAM TREVOR ON SCREEN

THE LIST OF HONOURS BESTOWED ON WILLIAM TREVOR IS ALMOST AS LONG AS THE LIST OF HIS WORKS. IT IS THE WRY HUMOUR AND ECCENTRICITY OF HIS CHARACTERS THAT SAVES HIS WRITING FROM BEING GLOOMY IN ITS TREATMENT OF THEMES SUCH AS ENDURANCE OF THE INEVITABLE AND MARGINALISATION OF THOSE WHO ARE UNHAPPY WITH THEIR LOT.

10.30am Introduction by Colm Toibin and Prof Roy Foster 10.40am Hidden Ground 11.10am Felicia’s Journey

BREAK 1.10pm - 2.15pm

2.15pm Access to the Children3.15pm The Ballroom of Romance

Saturday 8 August 10.30am to 4.30pm

Set Theatre John Street

Admission 16/ 13 (full day) 13/ 11 (two films)

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CHILDREN UNDER 12 YEARS MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY AN ADULT AT ALL TIMES TO ALL PERFORMANCE EVENTS

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The Hubert Butler Annual Lecture was established in 2007 to honour the Kilkenny writer, historian and broadcaster whose remarkable consistency of vision and clarity of mind made him unique among Irish essayists and whose work evinced an unsurpassed moral, political and literary integrity.

NATIONALISM AND RELIGION WERE ONCE TABOO SUBJECTS FOR POLITE CONVERSATION. BOTH PREOCCUPIED HUBERT BUTLER. BOTH HAVE BECOME MORE RELEVANT THAN EVER, IN WAYS THAT HE DID NOT ANTICIPATE.

Professor Roy Foster, who is the most distinguished and influential historian of Ireland writing today, will look at interpretations of nationalism in Europe and beyond. He will deal with its revival and how it has changed since the upheavals of the late 1980s. He will discuss the implications for individual nationalisms of the European movement and international globalisation. The interaction of national and religious revival will be considered, as well as the ideal of ‘cosmopolitanism’ and the notions of ‘benign’ versus ‘toxic’ strains of nationalism.

He has written biographies of Charles Stewart Parnell and Lord Randolph Churchill. Foster is the editor of The Oxford History of Ireland (1989) and author of Modern Ireland: 1600-1972 (1988), as well as several books of essays. More recently, he has produced a much-acclaimed biography of William Butler Yeats. His most recent book is Luck and the Irish: a brief history of change 1970-2000.

Professor Roy Foster will be introduced by Catriona Crowe, Head of Special Projects at the National Archives and Chairperson of the Irish Theatre Institute.

Sunday 9 August 11am


Admission 13/ 11

Speaking of Burnt Shadows, Kamila Shamsie describes how the women of Nagasaki, who were wearing white kimonos when the atomic bomb dropped in 1945, were tattooed by the blast. While the white material reflected the blast away, the black pattern absorbed it and scorched it into their skin. Burnt Shadows covers five countries and 60 years starting in Nagasaki and ending in Afghanistan after 9/11.

It is Kamila Shamsie’s fifth novel and like her other four, it has been showered with acclaim and award, including shortlisting for this year’s Orange Prize. Born in Pakistan in 1973, she now lives in London and besides novels, writes book reviews for The Guardian and other publications.

“Shamsie exerts a Miltonic control, not only is she watching her characters, she is guiding them through time, tragedy and contrasting cultures,” was Eileen Battersby’s verdict in the Irish Times.

Friday 7 August 6pm


Admission 13/ 11

Ticket DealGet this event & Aleksandar Mad!ar (p.9) for 27

The Hubert Butler Annual Lecture

ROY FOSTER (Ireland)Carroll Professor of Irish History, Hertford College, OxfordThe Shark and the Jellyfish: Nationalism, Religion and Cosmopolitanism after Butler

Most famous for his powerful and moving novel Death and Nightingales, Eugene McCabe’s new novella The Love of Sisters follows two traumatised women in mid-20th century Ireland. It has been described as disturbing but funny in its treatment of different kinds of love.

This latest work has delighted his readers, waiting since his 2004 short story collection, Heaven Lies About Us.

Born in Glasgow in 1930, McCabe was raised in Monaghan where he still farms. Since 1964 he has written many plays, novels and stories and scripted films.

KAMILA SHAMSIE (Pakistan)

EUGENE McCABE (Ireland)Reading from their latest works

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The event will be introduced by Diarmaid Ferriter, Dublin author, historian and university lecturer. He has written several books of Irish history. He went to school in Kilmacud and follows Dublin’s footballers, at times with heavy heart, he admits.

Dr Paul Rouse is a lecturer at UCD’s School of History and Archives and an award-winning journalist. Among other courses he teaches Sport and Society in Britain and Ireland, 1800-1939.

Mark Duncan was central to the research project that underpinned the establishment of the GAA Museum in Croke Park. A former co-editor of High Ball magazine, he is a regular current affairs researcher with RTÉ.

Regina Fitzpatrick is a researcher with the GAA Oral History Project. Her research interests include cultural and museum studies, oral history and the Irish language.

Diarmaid Ferriter

Dr Paul Rouse

Mark Duncan

Regina Fitzpatrick

IT WAS A SPECTACULAR HURLING DECADE FROM THE THREE!GAME CORK!KILKENNY ALL!IRELANDS OF "#$" TO THE THUNDER AND LIGHTNING FINAL OF "#$#.

In 1932 five percent of households held radio licences. A year later there were 100,000 when a new transmitter opened in Athlone. Isn’t it hard to imagine that the Kilkenny All-Ireland champions in ’33 went to New York and attended a white-tie-and-tails banquet there? What did lads from rural Ireland make of New York in the jazz age? What was their social life at home?

The stars of the day, the politics and economics, the anti-jazz crusade and the dispute with “foreign games” all will feature.

An intriguing mosaic of film footage, audio recordings, photographs and documents will re-tell the local, national and international story of hurling during a fascinating decade in Ireland.

Monday 10 August 6pm - 8pm


Admission 13/ 11

Ticket DealGet this event & Heartstring Sessions (Mon) (p.19) for 25.50

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Many of the greatest songs are poems that begged to be sung, says Susan McKeown, a Grammy winner for The Klezmatics’ Wonder Wheel album. She will perform some original and some traditional songs accompanied by fellow Dubliner, guitarist Aidan Brennan.

“McKeown grabbed both song and audience by the throat, dragged them through heaven and hell and back again, and left the stage to the loudest applause heard all evening.” Rolling Stone.

From working class Dublin to Ancient Greece Paula Meehan shares her life’s experience and knowledge with great wisdom and authority. One critic says of her latest volume Painting Rain, that she “makes music that is a powerful confluence of themes: a field lost to a housing development, a north wind that whines through the dunes, an Irish mother whose daughters ‘taught their mother barring orders and legal separation’”.

Don Paterson says he chooses what to read to an audience only after he “sees the whites of their eyes”. He is an accomplished jazz musician as well as an acclaimed poet. His poetry reads like a score: undeniably composed, even when deceptively colloquial. His delivery is sharp, with a distinctive tang and in a melodious Scottish accent. His latest volume is called Rain.

Tuesday 11 August 10pm


Admission 13/ 11

Ticket DealGet this event and Lucia’s Chapters (Mon or Tues) (p.5) for 29.50

GAA: BLOOD AND THUNDER Hurling and Life in 1930s Ireland

An evening of POETRY AND MUSIC with PAULA MEEHAN (Ireland) DON PATERSON (Scotland)SUSAN McKEOWN (Ireland) AIDAN BRENNAN (Ireland)

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“WE DON’T SAY THAT SOMEONE IS BROKEN!MINDED, WE SAY SOMEONE IS BROKEN!HEARTED; SWEETHEART, SOFT!HEARTED, HARD!HEARTED. THE HEART IS THE ONLY ORGAN THAT NEVER STOPS…”

A psychiatrist who looks to the heart as well as the head is a rare thing. Rebellion comes easily to Ivor Browne, he has been doing it for over 50 years at the forefront of psychiatric care in Ireland.

Music and Madness is not just autobiography, it is a fascinating insight into Ireland in the context of how it treats its mentally ill. Ivor Browne is deeply dissatisfied with Irish psychiatry. He notes “the world-wide pandemic of mindless prescription drug misuse by psychiatrists and other physicians to patients who may not need them”.

Thomas Kilroy, is a Kilkennyman whose literary achievements span 50 years.His novel The Big Chapel has been republished by Liberties Press. It wasshortlisted for the Booker Prize and won the Guardian Fiction Prize and theHeinemann Award when first published in 1971. His adaptations have beenlauded as much as his original works and he is the author of nine plays.

No important political or social event in Ireland in the past 20 years has happened without Fintan O’Toole’s analysis and opinion adding to the public debate. His literary criticism is studied and valued widely. He has written for The Irish Times for the past 20 years as well as being author of many non-fiction works, including The Irish Times Book of the Century in 1999.

IVOR BROWNE (Ireland) psychiatrist, musician, authorinterviewed by COLM TÓIBÍN (Ireland)

Wednesday 12 August 6pm


Admission 13/ 11

Ticket DealGet this event and Norma Winstone Trio (p.21) for 25.50

Sunday 16 August 12.30pm


Admission 13/ 11

Ticket DealGet this event and The Dresden Group (16 Aug) (p.15) for 22

Seamus Heaney came to Kilkenny Arts Festival’s debut in 1974. The young poet spellbound an audience in the back room at Kyteler’s Inn. He wasn’t world famous then, but he was a joy to listen to and to observe as he read and enlightened. Some things never change and he has been invited back regularly ever since.

Kilkenny Arts Festival is honoured that as he turns 70, Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney has managed a festival date. In the magnificent setting of St Canice’s Cathedral he will read with eminent Tipperary poet, Dennis O’Driscoll.

What Heaney is to the rural landscape and life of Ireland, O’Driscoll is to Celtic Tiger Ireland. He is said to give expression to those feelings that are closest to us and so go unobserved. According to Adam Kirsch in Slate, he makes “how we feel about work and possessions and ageing”, seem exciting.

Seamus Heaney and Dennis O’Driscoll will be introduced by television and radio broadcaster, Olivia O’Leary, who has presented programmes on RTÉ, the BBC and ITV for the last three decades.



Admission 13/ 11

Ticket DealGet this event and Irish Baroque Orchestra (p.12) for 30

SEAMUS HEANEY (Ireland)

DENNIS O’DRISCOLL (Ireland)

THOMAS KILROY (Ireland) interviewed by FINTAN O’TOOLE (Ireland)

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Peter Murphy’s first novel John the Revelator is the story of an introverted adolescent in rural Ireland, with a chain-smoking, bible-quoting mother. It is said to be a novel to fall in love with.

The author is best-known as a writer and critic for Hot Press. He is a contributor to the Anthology of American Folk Music and it is from that genre that he found the title for his book.

Undoubtedly one of Ireland’s greatest living writers, Colm Tóibín, is the curator of the literature strand of Kilkenny Arts Festival. Here he will read from his acclaimed sixth novel, Brooklyn.

It is a heartbreaking and beautiful story. Eilis Lacey is a young

Wexford woman in the early 1950s who crosses the Atlantic to make a new life for herself. After finding a kind of happiness in Brooklyn, she is summoned home by tragedy and there finds she must choose between personal freedom and duty.

GARRISON KEILLOR IS RENOWNED FOR HIS WRY HUMOUR AND HIS EXTRAORDINARY VOICE.

He is best known as host of the Minnesota Public Radio show A Prairie Home Companion which airs to over four million listeners every week on 580 US public radio stations. He broadcasts regularly on RTÉ Choice and the BBC and is a regular contributor to The Irish Times.

The programme features comedy sketches, music, and Garrison’s signature monologue, “The News from Lake Wobegon”.

Imagine seeing him as well as hearing that voice. Garrison Keillor will read from his latest book, Pontoon: A Novel of Lake Wobegon. His characters as well as his stories meander along in the distinctive, hypnotic voice recently employed in Honda’s Power of Dreams advertisements.



Admission 13/ 11

PETER MURPHY (Ireland)

COLM TÓIBÍN (Ireland)

GARRISON KEILLOR (US)Author, storyteller, humorist, columnist, musician, satirist, and radio personality



Admission 13/ 11

Unlike curators in previous years, I decided to centre the visual arts element of the Festival in one place. The interior rooms, courtyards and formal gardens of Rothe House, the magnificent 17th century Irish merchant’s town house in the centre of Kilkenny city, are the tranquil venue for this year’s exhibition.

Something Else is an exhibition of surprises, with each artist showing two entirely different manifestations of their practice: live performances, sound works, film and digital work, sculpture, text or web-based work, music, paintings and drawings. We hope it will be an interesting way to spend a few hours in the afternoon or evening.

Aisling Prior

Something Else

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7 - 16 August Fri 7, 5pm-10pmSat 8 & Sun 9, 10am-9pmMon 10 - Wed 12, 10am-7pmThurs 13 - Sat 15, 10am-9pmSun 16, 10am-7pm

Rothe HouseParliament Street

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8 August - 6 September9.30am-5pm

Kilkenny Castle

THE LIVES OF SPACESIreland’s participation at the 11th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice 2008

The title, The Lives of Spaces, deliberately invites multiple interpretations, suggesting that, while spaces can contain many lives, they can equally live many lives themselves.

The story of a space can be traced through its emergent life in design, its life in construction, its life in use and reuse, its life in individual and collective memory and its life within a culture. For each of the nine spaces explored in this exhibition, life is at a different stage. Some are still in various stages of design and construction, some are only beginning to be inhabited, while others have already accumulated long histories of occupation and, in one case, are about to fall finally out of use.

This exhibition proceeds from the modest proposition that the designed spaces that architects produce, play a crucial role in supporting, shaping and framing our lives. The exhibition consists of a series of filmic representations displayed in specially-designed armatures. Most display film on single or multiple LCD screens; some break film down into its constituent elements of sound, light and time.

This exhibition is presented with the kind support of the Office of Public Works.

PARTICIPANTSHassett-DucatezSimon Walker & Patrick LynchMcCullough-MulvinGerry Cahill ArchitectsGrafton ArchitectsdePaor architectsTAKAO’Donnell + TuomeyDara McGrath

COMMISSIONERS AND CURATORSThe Irish Architecture Foundation (IAF)

DIRECTORNathalie Weadick

CO!COMMISSIONER AND CO!CURATOR Dr. Hugh Campbell, Professor of Architecture at UCD

SOMETHING ELSEVisual Art 2009AISLING PRIOR curator

Daily emails from around the globe, announcing block-buster exhibitions, international biennales, major survey shows and so on, may have one believe that everything is happening elsewhere!

I want to question that assumption. With the emergence of so many post-graduate courses across this island, many significant art commissions and award schemes and a host of new artist-led galleries, the Irish art scene is undergoing a renaissance.

So, I decided to curate close to home, to celebrate what is being made right here, right now.

Something Else is an exhibition of work by Ireland’s most interesting contemporary artists, whose practice is not confined to a singular mode of expression, or concerned with a definitive point of view. It defies expectations.

Visual Arts performances:

CIARAN MURPHY Fri 7, 6pmSat 8 & Sun 9, 7pmFri 14 & Sat 15, 5pmSun 16, 5pmSarod performance by artist Ciaran MurphyThe Sarod is a type of lute originating in Afghanistan but often identified with styles of music in India.

GARY COYLE Fri 7, 9pmSat 8 & Sun 9, 8pmAt SeaA spoken word performance based on artist Gary Coyle’s daily swimming routine at the Forty Foot in Dun Laoghaire.

JOHN BYRNE Fri 14 - Sun 16, 6pmPerformance by artist John Byrne Byrne explores the idea of investing belief in ‘High Culture’ and the notion that Art is somehow a route to salvation.

IT IS VERY EXCITING TO HAVE BEEN INVITED TO CURATE THE VISUAL ARTS STRAND OF KILKENNY ARTS FESTIVAL !""#.

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CIARAN MURPHY The habitual collecting of imagery forms an important part of Ciaran Murphy’s practice. Images spanning vastly different eras taken from art history, natural history, scientific enquiries, nature documentaries and other more arbitrary sources, serve as a starting point for his work. His work takes the form of large and small-scale paintings.

The finished paintings depict objects treated in isolation, tiny snippets of time and ambiguous contexts or sites that seem to hold out the vague anticipation of an event. As well as working as individual paintings, the grouping of the works becomes important; meaning and interpretation in individual works become both reliant and unhinged within the context of the larger group.

Murphy is also an accomplished musician and will give a number of live Sarod performances throughout the Festival. The Sarod is a type of lute originating in Afghanistan but often identified with styles of music in India.

Ciaran Murphy studied at NCAD and Dun Laoghaire College of Art and is represented by Mother’s Tankstation, Dublin. Murphy was the recipient of the Eurojets Futures Award in 2004. In 2008 he had solo exhibitions in Philadelphia and Chicago.

CORBAN WALKER Corban Walker has gained international recognition for his installations, sculptures and drawings that relate to perceptions of scale and architectural constructs. Local, cultural and specific philosophies of scale are fundamental to how he defines and develops his work, creating new means by which viewers can interact with, and navigate, their surroundings. Walker will exhibit drawings and a new installation.

Corban Walker graduated from NCAD in 1992 and has lived in New York since 2004. He has mounted solo exhibitions throughout Europe and America and realised numerous public commissions including the Bank of Scotland Headquarters, Dublin and Mitsubishi Estate, Tokyo. His work is part of numerous public and private collections around the world. Walker is represented by PaceWildenstein, New York, where he had a solo show in September 2000 and again in 2007.

GARY COYLE Gary Coyle lives and works in Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin, a place that informs much of his work. He works in a variety of media including drawing, film, photography and, more recently, performance. Over the past number of years Coyle has photographically recorded his daily swimming ritual at the Forty Foot in Dublin and has recorded, in his notebooks and diaries, the mood of the sea and the idiosyncrasies of the characters who swim there regularly. At Sea, commissioned by Project, Dublin is a spoken word performance based on his daily swimming routine.

Gary Coyle has exhibited in the Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris, the Tate Liverpool and the Irish Museum of Modern Art. Coyle, who was recently elected into Aosdána, is a member of the RHA and is represented by the Kevin Kavanagh Gallery, Dublin. He is working on a major solo exhibition, which will be held in the RHA Gallery, Dublin in March 2010.

ISABEL NOLAN The intimacies and distances inherent in relationships; the ambiguity of language; desire and self-consciousness; depictions of the natural world and symbolic abstraction are recurring sources for both motifs and themes in the work of Isabel Nolan.

Though there are frequent shifts in tone, between coldness, bemusement, melancholia and yearning, a point of entry common to much of Nolan’s work is its recognition of our seemingly implacable need to define our relationships with others. The artist’s hypersensitive, even neurotic, persona is both sceptical of and empathetic to humanity’s relentless compulsion to understand everything - from our inner lives to the inscrutable nature of the universe. Nolan’s practice encompasses drawings, paintings, animation, mixed media and fibreglass sculptures and most recently, embroidery and fabric wall-hangings.

Isabel Nolan represented Ireland at the 2005 Venice Biennale as part of a group exhibition. Recently she has presented new work at the Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin and ARTSPACE, New Zealand and this summer, has shown as part of ‘Coalesce Happenstance’, SMART, Amsterdam, at the Doggerfisher Gallery in Edinburgh and at the Musée d’Art Moderne de Saint Etienne Metropole, France. Her work is represented in various collections, public and private, in Ireland and abroad. Nolan is represented by the Kerlin Gallery, Dublin.

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JO ANNE BUTLER What do we value? And how does the way in which we interact with, build and destroy our environment encode these value systems? Jo Anne Butler makes installations, drawings and animations that aspire to poetry, whimsy and protest, disregarding the conventional boundaries of art, architecture and design. Recent work, such as The Folly (2008), evolves from the moment between unravelling and evolving, a notion derived both from current economic chaos and personal loss. Her installation work for Kilkenny will take as its starting point a comment by RIAI president Sean O’Laoire at the recent National Housing Conference. “After the 2008 crash we need new local and global paradigms, developed by people who are not tied to the constructs that have collapsed”. Jo Anne Butler will also make a work in collaboration with Gearoid Muldowney, (Superfolk Design Studio).

Jo Anne Butler graduated from NCAD in 2005 and began to study Architecture at UCD in 2007. Her continually evolving art practice includes a number of curatorial and collaborative projects with Tara Kennedy under the name Culturstruction. Gearoid Muldowney is a graduate of the Craft Design department at NCAD and is founder of Superfolk Design Studio.

JOHN BYRNE John Byrne’s work explores the idea of investing belief in ‘High Culture’ and the notion that art is somehow a route to salvation. Byrne is interested in areas and instances where ‘Art’ and ‘Faith’ overlap or replace each other - a contest perhaps between Art and God. “I believe in the visual as the foremost articulation of meaning, mapping the ridge between perception and conception, navigating contested spaces, seeking the expression of a distillation of experience in and of nature.”

John Byrne was born in Belfast and studied art in Belfast before attending The Slade School of Art in London. Previous work includes ‘Border Interpretative Centre’ (2000), a week long visitor centre project on the border, ‘Would you die for Ireland?’ (2003) and ‘Dublin’s Last Supper’ a large photo-work on Blooms Lane, Dublin. Byrne is currently working on a permanent sculptural work commissioned by Breaking Ground. He has performed throughout Ireland, the UK, Denmark and Poland.

KEVIN ATHERTON Kevin Atherton was a part of a generation of artists in Britain who pioneered video and performance art in the ’70s and early ’80s. For Something Else Atherton will present a new installation that develops his ongoing interest in the relationship between the virtual and the fictional. He will also exhibit the two-screen video installation In Two Minds - Past Version 1978-2006. This video installation is also running at The Museum of Modern Art San Francisco (SFMOMA) from June - September 2009.

Kevin Atherton teaches at NCAD and lives and works in Dublin and Co Kilkenny. He has exhibited at The Serpentine Gallery and the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London and in major survey exhibitions of British Art such as ‘Un Certain Art Anglais’ at the Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris in 1979, and the ‘British Art Show’ at the Ikon Gallery, Birmingham in 1984. Forthcoming exhibitions include “Of Art and Television: Changing Channels” at the Museum of Modern Art, Vienna (MUMOK) in 2010. Recent performances include ‘In Two Minds’ at Tate Britain in 2006, which he also performed with Sarah Pierce at Four Gallery, Dublin in January 2009.

MICK WILSON By way of an artist’s statement, a short act of confession: I hate making things with other people’s help but then I make stuff really badly, and sloppily, because I am lazy, fickle and undisciplined. I’m ok with that though. Is that irritating? I’d just ignore it then if I were you. Not much of an artist’s statement, but hey… I spend a lot of time advising people not to use ‘I’ in formulating a sentence. By way of controversy, I would like to suggest that you need never bother your arse to read The Irish Times on art, or listen to RTÉ for interesting ideas about culture for that matter, and while I’m at it, ‘God bless all in the holy orders’ - at least now, finally, we can think sociologically in public together. Well, that’s the nugatory wisdom that I have for you. God bless, best of luck and don’t squander it.

Mick Wilson is an artist, writer and educator. He stopped making art in the early 2000s following a series of one-person shows and projects including: ‘Trains Made Mary Vague’, Temple Bar Gallery (2000) and ‘The Tuileries Incident’, Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin (1999).

He recently returned to artmaking when invited to participate in several group exhibition projects: ‘Float’, SSP, New York (2007) ‘Blackboxing’, Project, Dublin (2007); ‘Coalesce: Happenstance’, Smart Project Space, Amsterdam (2009); and ‘Reach Out and Touch Faith’ (with Isabel Nolan) Gallery For One, Dublin (2009). Recent published work includes: Emergence, in Nought to Sixty, ICA, London (2008) and Autonomy, Agonism, and Activist Art: An Interview with Grant Kester, Art Journal, v.66: n.3. (2007).

ESTATE YARD "#

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9 August - 4 October10am-5.30pmOpeningSaturday 8 August 3.30pm-5.30pmKilkenny Castle

BUTLER GALLERYDAVID GODBOLD (UK)The end of the beginning of the beginning of the end

Godbold is described as an artist who has found a curiously viable reason for making old master quality drawings with an acidic relevance to the contemporary world. Language and humour are central to his practice, which ranges from intimate “imagetext” drawings to mural-scale installations and recent large canvases. They form irreverent and iconoclastic commentaries on the philosophical struggle with daily life.

Born in the UK, David Godbold lives in Ireland and holds a PhD from the NCAD in Dublin. His solo exhibitions were in Antwerp, Dublin, Hong Kong, Munich and New York. He is represented by the Kerlin Gallery, Dublin.

KILKENNY COUNTY COUNCIL ARTS OFFICE GALLERYTHE MUSEUM OF BROKEN RELATIONSHIPS

7 August - 16 August10am-6pm4 William Street/Castlecomer Estate Yard

Romantic letters and gifts, teddy bears and photos, are exhibited alongside more unusual items such as a gallstone or a prosthetic leg donated by a war veteran who fell in love with his physiotherapist.

Olinka Vi"tica and Drazen Grubi"i founded the Museum of Broken Relationships to create a space of secure memory, preserving the material and nonmaterial heritage of broken relationships.

Individuals have donated mementos, turning them into museum exhibits, participating in the creation of a preserved collective emotional history.

31 July - 31 AugustMon - Sat, 10am-5pm Sun, 11am-5pm 76 John Street

Six artists from the Art & Craft studios in Castlecomer present new work in a joint exhibition in Kilkenny City. Andrew Ludick (ceramics), Maeve Coulter (textiles), Ruairí Carroll (sculpture), Rachel Burke (painting), Lucy McKenna (mixed media) and Ross Stewart (painting) all share the same working environment at the Estate Yard, whilst creating their own varied personal artworks.

GRENNAN MILL CRAFT SCHOOL

Seven artists with local links exhibit their work in the beautiful Grennan Mill Craft School. The artists are: George Vaughan (painter), Jock Nichol (painter), Caroline Conway (relief printmaker), Eva Lynch (jeweller), Cathy Dineen (illustrator), Mary Ann Gelly (painter/sculptor), Tania Mosse (sculptor).

7 August - 16 August10am-6pmThomastown

ENDANGERED STUDIOS

Endangered Studios is Kilkenny-based with 11 local artists working in a range of disciplines.

Endangered Studios began in 2003 with six artists in a disused factory: the first artists’ studios in Kilkenny to be supported by the county council. Though there has been a consistent founding core, the group continues to fluctuate in size allowing new artists to utilise the space and opportunities, whilst other members of the group have left to continue study and career paths.

Since March 2007 the group has been housed in the old Workhouse in Callan. The artists exhibiting here are: Andrew Ryan, Bridget O’Gorman, Caroline Schofield, Conor Cleary, Etaoin Holahan, Gary Tynan, Jennifer Hughes, Richard Coghlan and Tracy Sweeney.

GrennanMill Craft School

8 - 16 August, 11am-6pmFennelly’s Bridge Street, Callan

MICK TURNER (Australia)

He is best known as a musician with Australian instrumental combo The Dirty Three, but he also has a longstanding practice as a painter.

His work deals with the embedded psychology and emotion of Australian and European landscapes. His paintings include an array of human and animal characters and a lyrical use of colour and gesture.

7 - 16 August12 noon-6pm Opening Friday 14 August, 5pmThe MaltingsTilbury Place, James’ Street

ALAN COUNIHAN and GYPSY RAY (Ireland)Townland 1Townland 1 specifically explores the townlands in the

parish of Rathcoole, Co Kilkenny in all their resonant complexities. The work is informed by the rural community in which they live and Gypsy’s childhood in an American farming community.

Alan Counihan has realised many large public sculpture commissions in Ireland and the USA where his work is in many collections.

Gypsy Ray’s social documentary photography is renowned in the US. The Poetry of Place is her book of landscape imagery. An exhibition of her drawings, Concealment is on tour.

7 - 16 August, 11am-6pmJohnswell Community HallJohnswell

BLAISE SMITH (Ireland)

MARY LEE MURPHY (Ireland)Batik

Waterford artist Mary Lee Murphy paints through the medium of wax resist and dye, traditionally known as batik.

She has exhibited widely, both nationally and internationally.

Her latest commission has been a series of works for a church in Florida, USA designed by architect Michael Graves.

“As an artist I am inspired by nature, the land, the light and the colours. Inspiration is a movement of the spirit, and as an artist I am drawn to create works that reflect something of the beauty of Creation,” she says.

7-16 August, 10am-6pm dailyThe Black AbbeyAbbey Street

BLACKBIRD GALLERYPATRICK SCOTT Works on Paper2002-2009 (Ireland)

This is the first time that Patrick Scott’s entire body of work on paper has been shown. He began collaborating with Stoney Road Press in 2002. By this year he had made 13 major prints and one piece of sculpture using his signature applied gold and palladium leaf.

At 87, Scott feels he has freedom to draw on the imagery of a long career, re-working many important themes of his life’s work. He is one of Ireland’s greatest living artists.

A mixed show of 16 acclaimed artists will also be at the gallery during the festival, including works by Donald Teskey, William Crozier and Felim Egan and local artists such as Patrick O’Connor and Kathleen Holahan.

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DONAL DINEEN (Ireland)

Donal Dineen says he sees music as the framework through which all creativity passes, so pretty much every attempt he’s made to start a film or photographic project has turned into a music video.

“Usually what happens is the track I’ve been listening to most while shooting Super 8 film becomes the eventual soundtrack for the resulting pictures. The visual records I make and keep of these songs are my attempts at a tribute and more often than not simply a labour of true love,” he says.

This exhibition will incorporate Donal’s early photographic work and more recent super-8 projects.

7 - 16 August, 12 noon-6pm Opening Friday 14 August, 5pmThe MaltingsTilbury Place, James’ Street

7 - 16 August,12 noon -7pm daily18 William Street

SINEAD NÍ MHAONAIGH (Ireland)

Sinead Ní Mhaonaigh’s work to date has explored space and non-spaces in the form of abstract images. She describes these

spaces and non-spaces as portraying a void. Portraying a void on the canvas surface relates to a journey into the unknown or the work being exiled on the edge of this space. These concerns are central to this exhibition.

Weapons obsess western society. They appear relentlessly on television and in the media. We are martial, whether we like it or not. As a painter, an observer, Kilkenny artist, Blaise Smith believes we have a duty to look closely at something that is central to society. He has done the looking for you.

Blaise Smith was granted unprecedented access to the Army’s weapons and made 14 paintings of different forms of weapon, including the soldiers themselves. There will also be a sideshow of other current work.

7 - 16 August, 10am-6pmZavvi StoreMacDonagh Junction

7 - 16 August , 10am-6pmRyan’s Electrical, High Street

GILLIAN FREEDMAN (Ireland) Surfacing

The aim is to address continuing thoughts of growth and regeneration: a life force that drives itself through hard ground to surface despite all odds.Gillian Freedman has made a strong individual statement with her eye catching contemporary tufted art rugs and hand woven tapestries and with an innovative use of paper, lead and silk.

7 - 16 AugustMon - Fri 10am-6pm, Sun 12 noon-5pm Rudolf Heltzel Gallery, Patrick Street

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Castle Yard Galleries 7 - 16 August Mon - Sat 10am-6pmSun 11am-6pm

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STERLING IRISH: Irish contemporary craft artists living in England, Scotland and Wales

ANGELA O’KELLY curatorFOR THE FIRST TIME, KILKENNY ARTS FESTIVAL IS HOSTING A CRAFT STRAND TO RECOGNISE AND CELEBRATE THE CONTRIBUTION OF CRAFT TO THE CULTURAL LANDSCAPE, BOTH IN IRELAND AND INTERNATIONALLY. AS PART OF THIS STRAND, STERLING IRISH IS A CURATED EXHIBITION OF WORK FROM LEADING IRISH CRAFT ARTISTS BASED IN ENGLAND SCOTLAND AND WALES. THE DIVERSITY AND QUALITY OF THEIR WORK DEMONSTRATES HIGH LEVELS OF ORIGINALITY, INNOVATION AND FINE CRAFTSMANSHIP.

The exhibition aims to heighten awareness and showcase exceptional talent by 11 Irish craft artists. It features contemporary jewellery, silversmithing, glass, ceramics and textiles from established and new makers.

Some of the artists are concept driven, working with themes such as personal identity, culture and heritage, whereas others focus on design processes and the manipulation of materials. Contemporary jewellery, silversmithing, glass, ceramics and textiles from established and new makers, will feature.

CLAIRE CURNEEN’S trademark white porcelain figure depicts St Sebastian suffering the ordeal of martyrdom yet at the same time seeming almost unaware of it. She emphasises that dual nature of matter and spirit through the depiction of his blood, - the visceral reality of his situation - in gold, an indicator of preciousness and value. She is based in South Wales.

CÓILÍN Ó DUBHGHAILL’S work centres around the development of specialised alloys and patination techniques that explore the application of colour on his metal vessels. This exhibition will showcase work resulting from his recent time as Senior Research Fellow at Sheffield Hallam University, on a project examining the production and application of Japanese alloys and patination. He is based in Sheffield.

GRAINNE MORTON uses found objects as the main inspiration for her jewellery. Using a diverse range of materials, she works on a miniature scale, in order to create attention and draw the onlooker into the piece. She references traditional ornament and kitsch to create quirky, nostalgic pieces that are evocative and entertaining. She is based in Edinburgh.

JAMES TOAL is interested in the opacity of the colour black and how it is transformed through the transparent qualities of glass. When black pigment is applied to glass in varying quantities, it absorbs and reflects light, creating and revealing different depths of tone and colour. This allows the true nature of the colour black to reveal itself - to come out of darkness and become truly luminous. He is based in London.

JENNIFER BROWNE’S work is based around Biomimicry, which is the study of processes, systems, structures and behaviour in the natural world. She is particularly interested in the efficiency of nature’s methods of building and growing, and in the manner in which individual organisms are intrinsic parts of eco systems in which they all contribute and benefit from one another. This model of co-operation and multifunctionality forms the basis for her working practice. She is based in London.

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SADHBH McCORMACK’S current jewellery pieces had their origin in her photography of bodies in motion. These photographs formed the basis of a drawing series that explored the inner workings of the bone structure and spine, and in turn led to her jewellery pieces. She photographs her finished pieces on male bodies, whose strength and form provide the perfect sculptural backdrop for the work. She is based in London.

SUZANNE GOODWIN’S current work is based on her interest in the environment. In response to her concerns about climate change and rapidly evolving weather patterns, she has produced a range of innovative fabrics that react to changing weather, and are embedded in our natural behaviour. Her responsive scarves, anoraks and dresses offer a vision of our future daily lives. She is based in London.

VICTORIA ROTHSCHILD investigates the possibilities of combining hot blown work with different techniques in kiln work and cold decoration. Her inspiration is drawn from nature, in particular the seashore. The inherent qualities of glass - such as transparency, reflection and light - work perfectly to convey the movement and energy of water. She is based on London.

CJ O’NEILL is inspired by nostalgia, captured in discarded domestic objects and graphic lettering. Recognising the evocative qualities of the second-hand, she takes old and vintage pieces, sourced in charity shops or closed down factories, and re-interprets their use. She converts her ideas, thoughts and drawings to surface decoration through cutting and juxtaposing sections, patterns and words. She hopes to imbue these pieces with a new story, another lifetime, to provoke conversation and inspire new ways of seeing objects.

CARMEL McELROY is a multidisciplinary designer who combines the practices of textiles, three-dimensional, and product design in her finished pieces. Her work is based on her passion for materials, ideas and form, and is rigorously informed by research and development in these areas. This approach results in innovative and ingenious work designed to enhance the relationship between the object and the user. Her exploratory approach is combined with exquisite craftsmanship and attention to detail in the finished and manufactured product.

JOAN MacKARRELL’S enamel pieces evoke fragments of childhood memories spent on the Atlantic coast of Donegal. Her use of materials is central to her practice, and in her recent work she pushes the boundaries of her chosen medium to the limits of fused glass and metal. These pieces combine unusual, talismanic stones with textured matt-finished glass, resulting in highly individual necklaces imbued with an elemental and spiritual feeling. She is based in London.

Other festival craft events:

Friday 7 AugustJack Doherty CeramicsWorkshopPottery School, Grennan, Thomastown

Saturday 8 August 4.30pmO!cial opening of all Craft exhibitionsCastle Yard Galleries and National Craft Galleries

Saturday 8 August 6.30pmPecha Kucha NightShort, stimulating presentations around the 2009 craft strand in20 images, 20 seconds each. Castle Yard Galleries and National Craft Galleries

Sunday 9 AugustSterling Irish artists’ talksCJ O’Neill, ceramic artist, 1pm Cóilín Ó Dubhghaill, silversmith, 2.30pm Castle Yard Galleries

Curators’ talkAisling Prior, festival visual arts curatorBrian Kennedy, Crafts Council of Ireland, Objects exhibition curator 4.30pm Castle Yard Galleries

Throughout the festival11am to 12 noonExhibition tours Castle Yard GalleriesNational Crafts Gallery

Daily Craft Workshops For children 5-12 yrsDetails at exhibitions

MADE in Kilkenny

WORKHOUSE STUDIOSAt Red Aesthetic

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National Craft Gallery

8 August - 27 October 10am - 6pm

NATIONAL CRAFT GALLERY

JACK DOHERTY (Ireland) PotterA solo exhibition celebrating the work of this internationally reknowned potter from Derry, who was resident at the Kilkenny Design Workshops in the 1960s.

OBJECTAn exhibition juxtaposing abstract work from the Arts Council Collection with contemporary Irish craft, linked by shared interests in line, form, texture and colour. Curated by Brian Kennedy, the exhibition includes work by Siobhán Hapaska, Fergus Martin, Michael Moore and Frances Lambe.

National Craft Gallery

8 August - 28 October10am - 6pm

Butler HousePatrick Street

7 - 16 August10am - 6pm

MADE in Kilkenny launches with new innovative works influenced by Kilkenny 400.

MADE consists of 26 professional craftspeople who work to the highest standard of excellence using a wide range materials including glass, clay, stone, metal, wood and textiles. Their studios are open to visitors throughout the county of Kilkenny.

Workhouse Studios was established late in 2008. It is one of Ireland’s newest craft groups, in a studio equipped for several disciplines, including textiles, glass and jewellery.This talented mix of young designers has already achieved international success and has been selected for Origin, the leading craft fair based at Somerset House in London.

2 Rose Inn Street

7 August - 16 AugustMon - Sat, 10am-6pmSun, 12 noon-5pm

KKArtsFest176x145w(outline).indd 1 06/06/2008 22:30:46

LIZ WEIR (Ireland)Storytelling

This woman has been all over the world and everywhere she goes she tells stories and listens to

people telling stories and then comes back and tells those stories to us. And you know what?

The children in other places are really just the same as the ones here.

They all love magic, being happy, being amazed and more than anything else, having a good laugh. Her stories will do all that with fairies, talking animals, mermaids, ghosts and adventures.

Liz Weir has so many stories she had enough to fill two brilliant books called Boom Chicka Boom and Here There and Everywhere. As well, she wrote a book about a child whose father is in jail called When Dad Went Away.

Everyone loved her when she was here before, so come and enjoy again.

BEDTIME/PA CAMA (Spain) An original idea by Carolina Ramos and Kevin Stewart.Directed by Omar Alvarez and Kevin Stewart

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Children 3-10 yrs

Saturday 8 & Sunday 9 August 2pm & 4pm each day

The Watergate Theatre

Admission 10

Duration 60 minutes

It’s funny, it’s beautiful and it’s a fairytale. You’ve got a clever wolf, a curious child, a worried parent and a twist in the tail when the baddie turns out to be not so bad after all.

It is based on a Slovenian folktale and the dancing is great. You will never forget it!

RUN, RUN, THE LITTLE GOAT AND THE WOLF (Italy) (Scappa Scappa - Le Caprette e Il Lupo presented in English) Written by Tiziana Lucattini

Everyone loves sleepovers. You get to eat treats, to have fun and the last thing you want to do is fall asleep even though you have to pretend to try.

Join two friends having a sleepover, who use their imagination to turn the bedroom into a world of unexpected things and daring adventures.

There is no talking but loads of music, moving around and puppets. You will love it.

Children 1+ yrs

Saturday 15 & Sunday 16 August 2pm & 4pm each day

Barnstorm TheatreChurch Lane

Admission 10

Duration 45 minutes

Sticks and Stones is all about beat and groove and having fun with rhythm. You bring your own sticks and stones. As well, you can bring your parents and friends, your neighbours or anyone you want!

We are going to clap hands, bang stones together, tap sticks together and have fun together. All you have to do is turn up with a pair of rhythm sticks or a pair of stones.

You can make rhythm sticks from wood or plastic pipes about ! of an inch wide. They should be 8 to 12 inches long. And the stones, well, stones are stones: bring rocks or pebbles, but try them out for the sound they make first.

Children 8+ yrs and their families

Sunday 9 August 12pm & 2pm

The Heritage Council/Áras na hOidhreachtaChurch Lane

Admission 10

Duration 60 minutes

STICKS AND STONES (Ireland) Music and rhythm, interactive performance for familiesWith MARION GAYNOR

Wednesday 12 August

Children 6-8 yrs11.30am - 12.20pm

Children 9-12 yrs2pm - 2.50pm


Admission 8

Admission for children is free, thanks to (see page 30 for details) Admission for children is free, thanks to (see page 30 for details)

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Monday 10 August Fantasy JourneysChildren 4-6 yrs 11.30am - 12.30pmChildren 7-9 yrs 2pm - 3.30pm

Take Flight Children 10-12 yrs 3.45pm - 5.15pm

Max. 30 children

Tuesday 11 August Summer TunesChildren 2-4 yrs with their parents3pm - 4pm

MasksChildren 2-4 yrs with their parents4.30pm - 5.30pm

Max. 15 children with accompanying adults

Wednesday 12 August Flat Felt BasicsChildren 7-9 yrs 10.30am - 12.30pmChildren 10-12 yrs 2pm - 4pm

Max. 10 children

Family show, Children 4+ yrs

Thursday 13 August 11.30am & 2pm


Duration 45 minutes

What happens when a storyteller meets a gang of noisy puppets by chance? A show that is full of magic and fun. It is presented by master puppeteer Tommy Baker and gifted storyteller Clare Murphy, who you will remember from last year’s festival.

Children 3-5 yrs

Thursday 13 August Children’s WardSt Luke’s Hospital(Not open to the public)Presented in association with St Luke’s Art Committee and HSE

Friday 14 August 10.30am, 11.45am, 2pm & 3.15pm


Duration 45 minutes

YOUR MAN’S PUPPETS (Ireland)

TALES FROM THE WORKSHOP

MONKEYSHINE THEATRE in partnership with TALLAGHT COMMUNITY ARTS CENTRE (Ireland)

THE BEDMAKER Going to bed will never be the same again after you’ve seen The Bedmaker. Stories, puppets and clowning around in your bed turns it into a very different place altogether.The Bedmaker is an intimate show with just six children joining in the performance on an oversized bed!

Devised by Helene Hugel with support from the Arts Council.

Creative Dance with JOKE VERLINDEN of MYRIAD DANCE (Ireland)

Fantasy JourneysForget hip hop. This is the real deal. All you need is a big imagination and to want to dance. Through dressing up, exploring our imaginations and dancing, we will create a magical world. We will play with time, rhythm, space and dreams. We will have the best of fun and at the end we will have a really cool dance put together by ourselves. You can bring your parents and if you want you can let them join in.

Take FlightYou want to take flight? Come along and learn to roll, jump, tumble, fall and recover, lift and float and take off using each others bodies, balloons, parachutes and small trampolines. Dancers will show you how to do really cool things with your body and at the end you will have made up a brilliant dance using all those movements. So, if you have energy and imagination and are the kind of boy or girl who can’t resist a dare, then this is the place to be on Monday afternoon. Wear a tracksuit and bring a drink (not a fizzy one because you will be jumping around). You can wear whatever shoes you like, because you will be taking them and your socks off when you’re dancing.

Art Workshop for Toddlers and Parents withArtist SARAH RUBIN of C" (Ireland)

Summer TunesThis art and craft workshop will have you humming and gazooing all your summer songs. So, come with some cardboard toilet roll tubes and join the fun.

MasksCome and see how you can transform yourself with a mask and explore the new you through different bright colours and simple shapes. Children must be accompanied by a participating adult.

Felt making withFelter NICOLA BROWNE (Ireland)

Flat Felt BasicsIn just one afternoon you can learn how to create felt. People did it in ancient times with simple raw materials. It is not a woven fabric so it is easier to make. Now you can do it too.When you come home after this workshop you will have a lovely piece of felt that you have designed and made. Then you can hang it on your wall, stitch it into a bag or stick it onto the cover of a book.

FILMTHE SECRET OF KELLS

Adventure, action and danger await 12-year-old Brendan who must fight Vikings and a serpent god to find a crystal and complete the legendary Book of Kells. The film, which was made by Cartoon Saloon here in Kilkenny, will be followed by a talk by its director, Tomm Moore.

Tuesday 11 August 11.30amThe Parade TowerKilkenny Castle


Thursday 13 August DIY AnimationChildren 7-9 yrs 10am - 12 noon Children 10-12yrs 2pm - 4pm Max. 10 children

Friday 14 August Extreme Arts ExpressChildren 10-12 yrs 10.30am - 12.30pm Children 13-15 yrs2pm - 4pmMax. 20 children

DIY Animation withFilmmaker MICHAEL FORTUNE and artist AILEEN LAMBERTThis fun and interactive workshop gives you the chance to make your own short animated film. The films will be put up on YouTube so you can show all your friends and family.

Extreme Arts Express facilitated by MICHAEL WAYThis exciting workshop will use drama, drawing and story composition to challenge the imagination and give you the opportunity to reflect on your experience of the world around you.

Admission for children is free, thanks to (see page 30 for details) Admission for children is free, thanks to (see page 30 for details)

Kilkenny City Map

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GREAT PLACES TO STAY

GREAT PLACES TO EAT

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056 7723999 056 7764987 056 7762720 056 7770699

056 771 2956 056 7770021 056 7761822 056 7765133 056 7761575

Lautrecs

For great deals and to book your accommodation visit

www.kilkennyarts.ie

Find us on the map opposite

Find us on the map opposite

CASTLECOMER ROAD

MICHAEL STREET

WOLFE TONE STREET

DUBLIN ROAD

JOHN

ST U

PPER

JOHN

ST L

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MAUDLIN STREET

TO NEWPARK

HOTEL

TO CASTLECOMER

TO LYRATH ESTATE HOTEL

GREEN’S BRIDGE

DEAN STREET

VICAR STREET

ST CANICE’S

PLACE

IRISH TOWN

ABBEY

STREET

NEW BUILDING LANE

BLACK MILL STREETPARLIAM

ENT STREET

HIGH STREET

THE PARADE

JAMES STREET

CHAPEL LANE

COLLIER’S LANE

WILLIAM STREET

FRIARY STREET

ORMONDE STREET PATRICK STREET

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ONDE

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PARNELL STREET

LOWER NEW STREET

GAOL ROAD

WALKIN STRE

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STEP

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TO THOMASTOWN

TO MOUNT JULIET CONRAD

TO HOTEL KILKENNYTO CALLAN

The Heritage Council

Cleere’s Pub

The Maltings

Hibernian

Hotel

Clubhouse

Hotel

Heltzel

Gallery NCG

The Parade Tower

Tourist Office

Set Theatre

Watergate

Theatre

St Francis Abbey Brewery

Winston’s

Pembroke Hotel

Kilkenny

Ormonde Hotel

Buttl

er

Galle

ry

MacDonagh Junction

Barnstorm Theatre

Black Abbey

BUTTER

SLIP

BOX OFFICE

Blackbird Gallery

Estate Yard 09

JOHN’S BRIDGE

CANAL WALK

Castle Yard Galleries

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St. Canice’s Cathedral

Kilkenny Castle

CASTLE GROUNDS

CASTLE ROAD

Butler

House

19056 7771666

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Kilkenny CoCo

Arts Office

Rothe

HouseKIERAN ST

TO JOHNSWELL

Take a bow!

The arts really matter to us in Ireland; they are a big part of people’s lives, the country’s single most popular pursuit. Our artists interpret our past, define who we are today, and imagine our future. We can all take pride in the enormous reputation our artists have earned around the world.

The arts play a vital role in our economy, and smart investment of taxpayers’ money in the arts is repaid many times over. The dividends come in the form of a high value, creative economy driven by a flexible, educated, innovative work force, and in a cultural tourism industry worth 5 billion a year.

The Arts Council is the Irish Government agency for funding and developing the arts. Arts Council funding from the taxpayer, through the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism, for 2009 is 75 million, that’s about 1 euro a week for every household.

So, at the end of your next great festival experience, don’t forget the role you played and take a bow yourself!

Find out what’s on at www.events.artscouncil.ie

Find out what’s on at

www.events.artscouncil.ieYou can find out more about the arts here:

www.artscouncil.ie

Documents

Kilkenny Arts Festival Programme 2009