Festival of Music & Arts returns to Carrick
The Re-imagined Clancy Brothers Festival of Music & Arts in Carrick on Suir, is making a welcome return this Summer with six weekends of blended outdoor, indoor and virtual events hosted by a collective of Community Partners for everyone to enjoy, in line with current government Covid-19 pandemic guidelines. This year’s festival is weaving the theme ‘Respecting and Healing Mother Earth’, a timely and urgent topic that the community is committed to embracing in creative ways.
Kicking off this new ‘Summer Series’ on Friday July 23rd from 11am – 1pm, we bring you the ‘Bee Wild’ pop-up outdoor stage, located in the grounds of the Heritage Centre alongside the Farmer’s Market. The ‘Bee Wild’ stage will bring you a live performance of work by local and visiting writers and musicians, all responding through words and music to this year’s festival theme. Curated by Margaret O’ Brien, Writing Changes Lives in association with the Tudor Artisan Hub, this promises to entertain, distract, and give you pause for reflection.
Later that evening at 8pm, the Carrick on Suir Musical Society is proud to present its 121st production: Musical Society goes Folk Vol 3. This fabulous 60 minute ‘one-act’ concert will mark the welcome return of live performances back to the Strand Theatre, the first ‘in person’ event since March 2020. The theatre will once again be filled with the sound of music, as members of the award-winning musical society bring to life some of our much-loved traditional folk songs like Fields of Athenry and Go Lassie Go. Tickets will be available to book online from Friday 16th of July
at 10AM from www.ticketsource.eu/strandtheatre. Tickets €10. Seating limited due to current Covid-19 guidelines for Theatres; social distancing must be strictly maintained, and masks must be worn at all times while on the premises.
On Saturday 24th July, the Carrick on Suir Lions Club are hosting two ‘Introduction to Kayaking’ sessions on the majestic River Suir Blueway instructed by Pure Adventure. Discover why the river is such a special place, steeped in history and a haven for wildlife, and explore the area from
the perspective of the river. Each one-hour session is limited to 8 participants. Over 18s only, cost €20 each. Participants must register in advance by contacting Brian on 086 8334844. Workshop times are subject to tidal conditions and will be announced shortly.
On Sunday 25th July, at 8pm to end our first weekend of the new reimagined Summer Series, we bring you a very special pre-recorded folk music session from Keever’s Pub, Faugheen with local musicians Breege Phelan, Will McLellan, Panie Bartley and Maria O’Shea Enright. This virtual event produced by Will McLellan will be streamed online.
Over the 6 weeks, the reimagined Art Trail curated by the Tudor Artisan Hub will showcase a host of diverse visual
art displays in unusual ways. Trees throughout the town are yarn-bombed by the Carrick on Suir Lions Club offering a beautiful funky array of colours in the Town centre. You will be treated to the launch of the visiting ‘Out My Window’ project which is an international collaborative project between Digital Animation Production students at LIT Clonmel and Animation students from Bradley University in Peoria, USA. In the Carrick on Suir Library you can visit the ‘Lockdown Is/Was’ mixed media sketch book created
by artist Sheila Wood using lines written as a collaborative poem by the Poetry Plus Writers’ Collective hosted on Zoom during Lockdown 1, 2020. Artists from the Hub will also
be painting en plein air throughout the town when the sun shines!
So come visit Carrick on Suir this Summer and enjoy this unique Re-imagined Clancy Brothers Festival Summer Series where there’s music, arts and a whole lot of restoring Mother Nature magical vibe in the air for the community and visitors to enjoy all Summer long!
For full programme of events, please visit www. clancybrothersfestival.com and follow us along on facebook to keep up to date on the action. For further information, please contact the Festival Office at the Tudor Artisan Hub on 051 640921.