Eve MacSearraigh, Festival Co-Ordinator of Sligo-based arts festival Tread Softly, introduces this year's event, which runs 2nd to 21st of August.
Tread Softly is a festival dedicated to working collaboratively with artists and communities inspired by the landscape, mythology and people of Sligo.
In these unprecedented times the way to bring this about has changed, although collaborative participation between artists and communities exploring place continues to be the bedrock of what it aims to achieve - so different forms are being used to make these collaborations happen, either at a physical location, through a digital platform, or a mixture of the two.
Highlights this year include:
Ancestors, a sculptural installation representing ghost-like former island inhabitants by sculptor Bettina Seitz collaborating with videographers Fionn Rogers and Peter Martin, is taking place daily 2-6 August at 8pm on the festival's website and Facebook pages.
Artists Tommy Weir, Kiera O’Toole, Ruth Le Gear, Christine Mackey, Julianna Holland, Kate Oram and Sarah Ellen Lundy participate in Walking Keshcorran, a reflection on a guided walk of Kesh Caves by archaeologist Marion Dowd. It can be viewed in The Factory Performance Space and Sligo Youth Theatre from 9-13 August.
Tidelines pursues five artists - Leonora Neary, Conor Gallagher, Karen Webster, Kari Cahill and Matt Jones - who chart the Sligo coastline over five days. The results of this can be viewed daily between 16-20 August, also on the festival’s website and Facebook pages. Site visits are also possible.
Sand Drawings is a mass art participation led by sculptor Jackie McKenna, on Streedagh Beach on 21 August - get in touch to participate via info@treadsoftly.ie.
Equally enjoyable: The Battle of the Books soundscape, based on the sixth-century battle at Cúl Dreimhne, written by Niamh Mac Cabe and performed by the Sandy Field Writers can be heard via online on 7 August. On Baile’s Strand by WB Yeats, performed by Blue Raincoat Theatre Company, is an online ticketed event taking place on 8 August. The launch of The Cormorant broadsheet’s selected works is taking place on 18 August in The Factory Foyer. Maugherow, beneath the blowing sands is a book launch and event; curated by Seán Golden, it is a community response to historical events in Maugherow and environs and is taking place in Ellen’s Pub on 21 August @ 8pm.
Exhibitions taking place include: Jack Butler Yeats; Assembled Memories at The Model until 13 September, while invited artists’ interpretations of Meditations in Time of Civil War along with Angela Hackett’s Amidst the Flowers I tell the Hours are on at Hamilton Gallery, both until 28 August, Mon-Sat, 10am-5pm.
To the Waters & the Wild is a walking festival with specially curated guided walks by archaeologists, mythologists and knowledgeable folk who have particular affinity for a subject or area in various locations throughout the county from 12-15 August. These require booking through info@treadsoftly.ie.
Further information Tread Softly is available on the festival’s website.
