Clifden man behind the longest-running community arts festival in Ireland

“I AM honoured for the arts and the community and for the imagination,” says Brendan Flynn of Clifden Arts Festival about the decision by NUIG to award him an honorary doctorate for his work in arts and education.

Clifden Arts Festival or arts week, as it’s known locally, is the longest running community arts festival in Ireland, and community has been at its core since the event was first held in 1977.

Many moons ago, the novelist Kazuo Ishiguro described it as “Ireland’s best-kept secret” and it’s one which from the beginning attracted the finest names in visual art, literature, theatre and music.

Seamus Heaney, John McGahern, Pat McCabe are just some of the Irish authors who have read there and it was at Clifden that the great poet, Michael Hartnett, gave his last public reading, in 1999.

From Dorothy Cross to John Behan, all of Ireland’s leading artists have exhibited their work there.

Likewise, with music.

Performers in recent years have included Christy Moore, Martin Hays and Dennis Cahill and Riverdance composer, Bill Whelan. Alongside all the established names, this festival has also given a platform to local talent across all the art forms, and it continues to do that.

Galway’s own Druid Theatre Company has been a stalwart of Clifden’s arts festival since 1977 and Brendan was delighted that those being honoured by NUIG last Friday included Druid co-founder Marie Mullen, who is a familiar face at the event. Likewise the members of Galway’s classical Con-Tempo quartet, who perform there regularly.

The community school still remains at the heart of Clifden Community Arts Week, where the vision for an arts-based education was nurtured by Brendan and became a reality, thanks to the support from within the school and from the wider community.

All the artists who take part in the festival each year engage with pupils in the school, continuing the tradition which began in 1977, and which has given an invaluable

legacy to the students.

This year’s arts week will be held from September 15-25 and plans are already underway for next year when the festival will celebrate its 40th anniversary.

■More information at www.clifdenartsweek.ie

For a complete interview with Brendan Flynn see T2 in this week’s Connacht Tribune digital edition here