Loads on tonight’s arts show for the first of the month and I got to kick things off by chatting with Carol-Ann McKenna, the recently appointed new General Manager of the National Youth Orchestra who are performing a night of tango in Mount Juliet on Tuesday coming (July 10). When the audio from tonight’s show goes live, you’ll hear us chat about the background of the orchestra, their pending show in Kilkenny and upcoming summer proms series, the audition process the members go through to get involved in the orchestra and their meeting today with President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins.
Liam Merrins, one of the students on our certification in media and communications with IT Carlow and Coracle had a chance to air end-of-course package, an interview with UK author Anthony Penrose about his book The Boy Who Bit Picasso. This is the second of the student pieces I’ve aired on the show and we should have another one for you next week with student Corey Molloy in conversation with local filmmaker Alan Doyle.
Sinead Dowling, Carlow Arts Officer, joined me on the phone for a chat about ArtLinks.ie, an initiative by counties Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford, Waterford (County, not city) and Wicklow and their respective arts offices to further the professional development of artists working in the south east region. I’ve worked with Sinead on arts events before and I’ve also been involved in ArtLinks as a tutor in the organisation’s previous incarnation but over the past couple of months they’ve gone through an extensive evaluation and rebuilding period culminating in a relaunch on June 6th.
As a point of note, their bursary awards which provide access to development funding for emerging and professional artists, have a submission deadline of midday Friday July 6 (this Friday). Your application needs to be submitted to your local arts office (in the case of Kilkenny, it’s 76 John Street, with Carlow it’s at the County Council) in hard copy, electronic copies won’t be accepted.
To round out the conversations this week, I’d had the chance to chat recently with Minister Jimmy Deenihan and Fr. Willie Purcell at the launch of the Kilkenny International Gospel Choir Festival with both very happy to give me the full lowdown on the festival, its significance to Ireland and Europe alike and what to expect when it kicks off in August.
All of that, you can listen back to in full here on kclr96fm.com later in the week.
Music Tonight: July 3
- Samuel – Taken from the Winter 2012 programme CD by National Youth Orchestra
- Queen Medbh – Taken from Celtic Cry, opening at Watergate Theatre tomorrow night
Upcoming Events to Tuesday July 10
- National Youth Orchestra performs Tango in Kilkenny in Mount Juliet, 8pm. Full details available at NYOI.ie.
- ArtLinks bursary deadlines this week. Full details on artlinks.ie. You must be a registered member to apply.
- A second hand art exhibition runs at the Riverside Art Gallery, Tinaheely, until 5 July culminating in an art auction at the Riverside Business Centre.
- Celtic Cry opens at the Watergate Theatre, Kilkenny, tomorrow night and Thursday night continuing on Wednesdays and Thursdays until September.
- Orchard Theatre Company present UnderGround at Watergate Theatre on Saturday night at 8pm
- Tomorrow (Wednesday) is the last chance to catch Between Art & Industry, finishing tomorrow at the National Craft Gallery in Kilkenny.
- Helen O’Leary’s outawack at Butler Gallery and is open to the public daily until July 29
- The Importance Of Being Earnest is being staged at Jerpoint Abbey, Thomastown, this Friday and Saturday night at 7pm by Duked Productions
- Visual at GB Shaw Theatre plays home to Vanishing Carlow, Accumulation (Anthony Lyttle), New Works 2011-12 by Alice Beresford and Brian Duggan’s Everything Can Be Done In Principle, all of which continue at Visual in Carlow until August
- Finally, it’s your last chance to catch Betty Gannon’s exhibition this week at the upstairs Gallery in the Watergate Theatre, closing this weekend.
