Raise your spirits with First Fortnight Festival

First Fortnight, Ireland’s annual arts festival that focuses on mental health, runs until Sunday, January 17, and features an array of Galway artists, singers, musicians and writers. First Fortnight, which is now in its 10th year, is hosting its 2021 events online due to Covid-19.
These include a group exhibition from Art in Mind Gallery, based in Galway City’s Liosbán Business Park. Art in Mind is a creative hub that was set up last year to help promote wellbeing and mental health. It’s a non-profit organisation.
The Art in Mind Gallery is hosting a multidisciplinary exhibition while the organisation’s founder, sculptor Glenn Gibson, is offering a series of online wire sculpting workshops. In addition, Jane Hanberry who specialises in social media marketing, will host a marketing masterclass for artists who want to enhance their physical and digital promotions.
More information at artinmind.ie.
Galway film-maker Pat Comer is involved in It Doesn’t Matter, “an artistic film with a social purpose” which aims to raise awareness about suicide in the Traveller community, end the stigma associated with suicide and promote appropriate mental health services. Travellers from Ballyfermot, Finglas and Coolock collaborated with a range of mental and social support services to make this piece, with input from performance artist and acting coach Sian Ní Mhuirí.
This online event will also include a live performance of the poem, Gloke, which is the result of a series of workshops run by poet Geoff Finan for Traveller men, with support from First Fortnight. It deals with issues including racism, identity and discrimination. The performance and screening will be followed by a panel discussion, chaired by Geoff, with contributions from members of both projects. That’s on Sunday, January 17, starting at 2pm. It’s free but registration is essential.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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