All of Kinsale is a stage for arts weekend

JAZZ and blues singer Mary Coughlan and immunologist Professor Luke O’Neill are among the headline acts for this year’s Kinsale Arts Weekend.

Taking place from July 7th to 10th,  it will feature more than 35 events across more than 15 unique indoor and outdoor venues.

Taking art from its traditional locations, Kinsale Arts Weekend brings art to the streets, the pubs, the park, the shop, the café and in doing so makes it accessible to new audiences. St Catherine’s Church, which has been recently restored by its trustees, will provide a stand out location for the conversation with Prof Luke O’Neill and a poetry reading by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon.

The programme includes diverse artforms from spoken word to song and visual art to theatre. Theatre fans will be spoiled for choice with no less than 14 events to choose from, as well as comedy, improv, and dance.   

Chairperson Anna Mulcahy said: ‘Our focus on making our whole town a stage, means that you will find art in churches, on walls and in windows, breathing life into spaces that may have been previously unseen. Kinsale is a thriving town because of our welcome and openness, this festival mirrors that with local, national and international acts, many of whom call Kinsale home, or home for now.’

This year’s visual arts programme is being curated by Kinsale-local and artist, Audrey Cantillon, who launched her own full-time art career on the back of the festival six years ago. Cantillon has brought together an artist’s collective of established and emerging artists from Kinsale and surrounds. Highlights include a live painting showcase by Tony O’Connor and a large-scale mural installation by Bandon artist Shane O’Driscoll.

In addition, the arts trail will return this year with almost 40 businesses transforming their windows into exhibition spaces for national and international artists for visitors to explore.

This year the festival is also delighted to provide a platform for ‘Through Ukrainian Eyes’, a photography exhibition from newly arrived refugees from Ukraine where they share first impressions of their time in Ireland as well as memories of the homeland they have left.

Many events are free, and ticketed events prices range from €5 to €40. See kinsaleartsweekend.com