Nollaig Healy, the new Festival Director of the Clonmel Junction Arts Festival, which kicks off on July 2nd, writes for Culture about this year's programme.
2018 is the 18th edition of Clonmel Junction Arts Festival and this is my inaugural year as Festival Director. I worked for the Festival as General Manager for many years before going to work in other arts organisations such as Kilkenny Arts Festival, Dublin Fringe Festival, the Visual Centre for Contemporary Arts and The Gate Theatre. I moved to Clonmel 15 years ago, so it’s just fantastic to be back living and working in the one place! And even sweeter in a position of Festival Director of a Festival that I feel so passionately about.
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This year’s festival is themed around the River Suir and the wealth of creativity that springs from it. The sheer number of amazing artists that hail from the town, or are connected to it in some way, is something that Clonmel is rightly proud of, and this year we’re celebrating these artists in our series of Home-Grown Heroes that are highlighted throughout the programme. From emerging band Pale Rivers, super-talented singer-songwriter Ruairí de Leastar to iconic DJ and activist Tonie Walsh, local artists are at the heart of CJAF18.
Clonmel Junction Arts Festival (CJAF) is a festival for all the people of the town and we’ve set out to programme as wide a range of events as possible. We have everything from award-winning theatre, cutting-edge dance, new sounds, traditional tunes, circus, visual art, street spectacle and even an 80’s-themed family fun day, there’s something to satisfy all ages and tastes. As a centre-piece of the Festival, we have a circus Big Top coming to the disused Army Barracks. 2018 is the 250th anniversary of circus so we wanted to do something to big to celebrate the occasion in appropriate style. The Big Top will serve as one of the main festival venues (Clonmel, unfortunately, is lacking in theatre space, but it does force us to be creative with what we have). We are also taking over the Army gym, church and the Magazine (once used to store ammunition, now to be home to John F. Kennedy’s art exhibition).
We have the Olivier Award winning Pat Kinevane with his Trilogy of magnificent one-man shows, the ever-popular Julie Sharkey with her new show The Three Fat Ladies of Antibes, and Timmy Creed’s Spliced (a play about individuality, mental health and the GAA set in a handball alley). We also have unique experiences, the opportunity for festival goers to help Maurice Caplice to finish his sculpture series, The River Animals Take to the Streets, the chance to learn the art of spoken-word poetry from Ireland’s masterful poet Stephen James Smith, and what I’m calling our little journey into mindfulness- Every morning I wake and seem to forget... our audio promenade show in Raheen House. Festival-goers can also look forward to special performances like the premiere of David Power’s Buile Shuibhne, based on a folkloric 12th century Irish poem and performed with the RTE ConTempo Quartet and Barry McGovern in Clonmel’s 13th century Old St. Mary’s Church.
Poet wordsmith SJSwords holding a large auadience rapt at launch of @clonmeljunction festival in the gorj space that is Baker’s. Can’t wait to hear the result of his writing classes with local kids. #CJAF18 #SuirThing pic.twitter.com/S9oMhxqVCI
— Tonie Walsh (@tonie_walsh) May 23, 2018
In the months leading up to the festival we’ve been working with a number of schools and community groups, and the fruits of their labours are all around. Stephen James Smith has been running workshops in some local secondary schools with Transition Year students and has also held classes for early school leavers. Choreographer and dancer Olwyn Lyons (another Home Grown Hero who is now based in Dublin) has facilitated dance workshops for 15 – 25 year-olds to create a performance piece which will be staged during the Festival. Renowned local artist Patricia Looby is working with seven local primary schools to create a tapestry based on river creatures which will be on display in the Barracks Church during the Festival. Finally, staying on the theme of the river, we’re honoured that James Earley is returning with another extraordinary public sculpture influenced by the motion and fluidity of the River to add to his popular mural created as part of last year’s festival programme. Alongside the installation, James is going to brighten up the town and work his magic on some gates around the town- one to watch out for.
We have a raft of free enterainment as well- in fact, over one third of the programme is free- including lego workshops, our midweek street parties, a family fun day, lunchtime entertainment Under the Arches, exhibitions, glitter make overs, a secret pop up piano bar and our message in a bottle project.
It’s been a crazy few months pulling it all together, but we’re very proud of our programme- especially our Home Grown Heroes- and cannot wait to welcome you to Clonmel this July.
Clonmel Junction Arts Festival 2018 runs from July 2-8 – check out the full festival programme here.
