Packed programme for 2016 Shorelines Festival

Arts Week with Judy Murphy

The boutique arts festival, Shorelines, will take place from Thursday September 15 to Sunday September 18 in Portumna, on the shores of the Shannon and Lough Derg.

This year welcomes an audio art installation, Megaloceros, commissioned by Shorelines, where sculptor Donnacha Cahill uses mild steel to recreate his innovative giant elk.

Other exhibits include an emigration themed collection by Joyce Little, and a live portraiture by Eamonn Byrne of a local Portumna face. Margaret Hickey, committee member and curator of the exhibition, is excited with The Gallery at the Workhouse as it “provides a perfect space for the month long exhibition of invited professional and local amateur artists that opens this Sunday, September 4”.

The Festival itself will be officially opened on Thursday, September 15 by RTE presenter, Rick O’Shea with music from renowned harpist, Michelle Mulcahy and the tapestry of harmony from The Whileaways.

Drama features throughout the festival with a Culture Night event from Seamus O’Rourke of Livin’ Dred Theatre Company; a one woman production Going Spare from Siobhán Donnellan, a writer for Fair City; and a look inside the world of institutional life with Floating World Productions as it recalls the story of Hanna Greally.

A local drama group stages a production The Chip Van Plays Dixie, and Portumna’s emerging musical and vocal talents are showcased throughout the programme along mainline acts like Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill.

Classical trio, Katherine Hunka (violin), Dermot Dunne (accordion) and Malachy Robinson (double bass) are in concert as The Far Flung Trio in a varied programme to entertain all.

The Commitments actress and singer, Maria Doyle Kennedy, headlines on Friday night where all the concerts take place in the atmospheric and intimate setting of Portumna’s Christ Church.

Children’s events include magic storytime with writers Geraldine Mills and Nigel Quinlan; workshops in Lego Robotics; copper and blacksmith art; and story writing and dance. Children can also juggle with Monsieur Gusto, battle with a Monster Teapot, or revisit Little Red Riding Hood in an afternoon of street theatre, face painting and circus acts.

Headlining the strong literary programme are award-winning writers, Donal Ryan, Paul Kingsnorth and Alan McMonagle. Donal’s third novel, All We Shall Know, will be launched late September following on his short story collection, A Slanting of the Sun.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.