EVENT: BALLYDEHOB JAZZ FESTIVAL
The little village at the gateway to the Mizen once again lights up with joy, music, circus, creativity, and - above all else, craic - with a packed weekend of happenings that includes Benji Bower's Terra Coda, featuring a cross-channel collaboration of musicians from the UK and West Cork, including formidable West Cork local Molly O'Mahony, plus swing, blues, and old-time jazz from Montpellier’s Canibal Dandies and Belgium’s Blue Mockingbirds, a late-night DJ set from Donal Dineen, and circus magic from Belfast’s Tumble Circus. Also: a music trail, and the Carnival of Creatures Parade (Ballydehob, West Cork – 2nd – 5th May)
EVENT: BEALTAINE
Age & Opportunity's Bealtaine Festival is Ireland's national celebration of the arts and creativity as we age. The Dawn Chorus is a nationwide choral event, in partnership with Sing Ireland, in which older people come together with a choir in their locality and sing at dawn to welcome the day and the season on the first Sunday of May. This year the Dawn Chorus takes place on the 4th May 2025, and to celebrate Bealtaine's 30th Anniversary, they've commissioned two choral arrangements from Susan McManamon of Iggy Pop's song Lust for Life, which is the theme for this year’s festival - find out more here (Various venues nationwide throughout May)
Ready for Bealtaine Festival 2025? 🎟 Book events & passes at https://t.co/a1S8bo8SFt or https://t.co/XkSxnzu8o1. Passes, events, pricing & more info available online! Free events may require booking.@age_opp @artscouncil_ie @HSELive @projectarts pic.twitter.com/zbMRTysCmk
— Bealtaine Festival (@BealtaineFest) April 4, 2025
EVENT: FESTIVAL OF FOOLS
Stroll up, stroll up! The streets of Belfast, and everyone on them, will be bursting their sides with laughter as they witness comedy alongside fabulous circus feats and high energy acts of every imaginable shape and size; this zany shindig features local Belfast acts alongside performers and artists from as far away as New Zealand to the Netherlands, Spain to Finland and Belgium to London; the streets of Belfast, and everyone on them, will be bursting their sides with laughter as they witness comedy alongside fabulous circus feats and high energy acts of every imaginable shape and size. It gets even better - all daytime events are free! (Various locations, Belfast, 3rd - 8th May)
EVENT: FEILE NA BEALTAINE
This Dingle-based bash began in 1995 as a modest weekend of poetry, drama and street theatre - these days, it's a five-day bilingual multi-disciplinary cultural extravaganza, anchored by the Parade of Street Theatre, which this year celebrates the resurection of our beloved Dingle landmark, the Phoenix Cinema. Elsewhere, you'll find everything from Teaċ Daṁsa dance workshop with Michael Keegan-Dolan (who alsio performs his acclaimed show How to Be a Dancer in Seventy Two Thousand Easy Lessons) to trad-metal supremos The Scratch and Kurdish/Syrian singer and Bouzouki player Mohammad Syfkhan, alongside formidable art, literature and children's events a go-go (Various venues, Dingle, 1st - 5th May)
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VISUAL ARTS: WAAG – AN ARCHIVE
Active until 1991, WAAG (the Women Artists Action Group) was a collaboration of women artists, art historians, and professionals working in the arts, including Pauline Cummins, Alice Maher, Louise Walsh, Una Walker and Patricia Hurl, to name but a few. Established in response to the exclusion of women artists in Ireland, their main purpose was to redress the imbalance in the selection process of that time, and to organise exhibitions and publications. An essential new exhibition at South Tipperary Arts Centre revisits their archive and examines the lasting legacy and impact of the group on Irish art (South Tipperary Arts Centre, until June 21st)
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