Car Tourismo Banner
Home » Arts & Culture (page 21)

Arts & Culture

Call & Response for Teenagers to Share their Creativity

TEENAGERS will be showcasing and sharing their creativity at a special gathering in Ennis this weekend. ‘A Teenage Gathering’is part of the Local Creative Youth Partnership’s Call & Response Festival and will be held on Saturday, September 17 in glór. Monica Spencer, Creative Youth Partnership Co-ordinator with the Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board explained, “It is a social and cultural event taking place over an afternoon where young people can share their creative skills in dance, music, spoken word, make-up, photography, henna tattoo, drawing and food. “This event is presented by the Local Creative Youth Partnership in response to requests from teenagers through consultations throughout Clare in recent years.” A Teenage Gathering is free but participants are asked to bring something to share in the form of a song, poem, drawing technique, some food or any part of their everyday culture that others might like to see or hear. LCYP is now in its third year of running …

Read More »

Young Clare choir strikes gold at Community Games finals

TALENTED young Clare singers struck gold at the national Community Games finals. A choir made up of 20 children ranging in age from nine to 15 representing the Quin – Clooney Parish brought home gold medals in the under 16 category of the finals in Carlow last weekend. And for those who haven’t yet had an opportunity to hear these award winning singers a performance is planned for Quin village later this month. Una Clune who put the choir together and has been working with the youngsters told us, “We’re thrilled with the win, the kids are so excited and happy.” The choir itself was only set up last May with Una saying the children have been “exceptional” and rehearsed diligently to prepare for the competition. “It involved a huge commitment from each member since May and all through the summer”. Explaining why the choir was set up, “I’m a music teacher and I have been working with choirs for …

Read More »

Aodán braced to fly solo with one-man show at Hope Cafe

FAMILIAR to many through Shannon Musical Society, Aodán Fox is taking on a new challenge this month. Muse Productions is bringing a one man show, A Night In November, to the Hope Cafe, and it will run for three nights, September 15, 16 and 17, with Aodán the star of the show. Readers of a certain age will remember the clash of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland soccer teams at Windsor Park in 1993, on a night when Loyalist animosity created a hateful, frightening atmosphere.  The play’s title is a reference to the night of that match, and the atmosphere on the night leads to Kenneth Norman McAllister, a Protestant who has previously taken anti-Catholic prejudices for granted, questioning his beliefs and his identity. Aodán said that while he was initially dubious about taking on yet another project, he was sold as soon as he saw the script. “Martin (McNelis)  saw the original version in Limerick years ago …

Read More »

‘Scenes from West Clare’ celebrated in new exhibition

ART lovers are able to enjoy a brand new exhibition of work by Clare artist Cathal Butler from anywhere in the world. Clare Arts Office, in conjunction with the Cultúrlann Sweeney Gallery, have launched Cathal’s exhibition ‘Scenes from West Clare’ which will run at the Kilkee gallery until September 23. The pictures for the Kilkee exhibition are all of iconic sites and scenes in County Clare, painted in oils. However, you don’t have to head to West Clare to see the works with Cathal embracing multimedia through a virtual tour of the exhibition available online at: https://clarearts.ie/events/scenes-from-west-clare/ Cathal Butler is registered as a professional member with Visual Artists Ireland, working from EASI Art Studios in Ennis, and mainly paints landscapes in oils, completing several collections for hotels around the country. Along with the pictures on sale, there is also an opportunity to buy prints of the pictures, both framed and unframed, with limited editions of each image also available.

Read More »

Late Late Show delight for Ennis Brass Band

VIEWERS tuning into Friday’s return of the Late Late Show to our screens were in for a big surprise when some very familiar faces were beamed to the nation. The popular Ennis Brass Band played a starring role in the opening sequence of the first show of the new season, playing its famous theme tune along with two other bands surrounded by dancers. Grainne Kearney of the Ennis Brass Band told The Champion they were sworn to secrecy about their involvement with the Late Late ahead of the broadcast, and they have been delighted with the reaction to their appearance. The filming was done in Limerick’s Na Piarsaigh GAA club with Grainne saying it was a fantastic experience for the band. Explaining how they got involved she said, “They got in touch and told us they wanted to do something to show that Ireland is up and running, that people are back doing their hobbies and enjoying themselves. I’m not …

Read More »

Clare libraries to benefit from dormant accounts funding grant

A range of exciting initiatives will be possible in Clare Library Service as a result of a €26,743.94 grant from the Dormant Accounts Funding, according to the county librarian. These will include aids to help those with reading difficulties, books in Ukrainian and other languages,­ and a programme of events for recent arrivals in Clare. The funding, announced by Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys TD, will enable the provision of electronic resources both in library buildings and online and will also be used to assist libraries in offering literacy supports across the library network. In recent years Dormant Accounts Funding has helped Clare’s libraries to fund online literacy supports, sensory spaces and gardens, among many other relevant and important literacy-based projects. One of the highlights of the funding this year will be the purchase of “C-pens”, which have a simple scanning mechanism that reads text aloud and will be available for borrowing in a number of libraries, …

Read More »

Clare native finalist in national short film competition

BAREFIELD-native Nell Hensey has been selected as a finalist in the Virgin Media Short Film competition for her film ‘Good Chips’. The script goes back to Dublin 1989, where a family of Vietnamese immigrants struggle to keep their takeaway business afloat, while their 12-year-old daughter Tam finds common ground with a local Irish boy in an unexpected way. Hensey is one of three finalists chosen from a shortlist of 10 talented applicants, who all received an investment of €6,000 to develop their script with a mentor. The judges included award winning director and screenwriter Lenny Abrahamson (What Richard Did, Normal People, and Room), rising Irish actress, writer, and star of hit crime drama, Kin, Clare Dunne; Clinton Liberty who played Kiernan in global hit drama ‘Normal People’ and Linus in drama ‘Holding’; screenwriter and executive producer Ursula Rani Sarma (Delicious and Red Rock) as well as representatives from Virgin Media Television, Screen Ireland, and the Dublin International Film Festival. Speaking …

Read More »

Ennis Camera Club shares its ‘collective vision’ in new exhibition

WITH a shared love of photography, members of the Ennis Camera Club have brought their ‘collective vision’ together in a brand new exhibition of works currently on display in the Clare Museum. The exhibition features 25 stunning images in varying styles taken by the club’s members, who range from beginners to experienced photographers, and regularly meet in Power’s Pub, Clarecastle. In an era where images are more likely to be shared online, club chairman Mike Reen tells us members are delighted to be able to showcase their work to the public through this exhibition which runs in Ennis until September 16. “We live almost exclusively in a digital world in terms of photography. It must be that 99% of photographs are now shared digitally through social media and online. We have a sort of standing mantra within the club, ‘A photograph isn’t a photograph until you print it’. “That was something the late Gerry Ryan who founded the club always …

Read More »