Spectacular arts festival puts the ‘green’ into Skibbereen

SKIBBEREEN is ready to shine later this month as the town lights up in sound and colour for the annual Arts Festival. 

First held in 2009, the festival has gone from strength to strength – having bounced back from the covid pause – and this year aims to get everyone in the community involved.

The festival this year will explore the themes of diversity, climate change, and sustainability through the arts. 

Artistic director Declan McCarthy is confident the festival has something to appeal to all tastes, and will bring visitors from across West Cork and beyond. The organisers themselves have also taken a more ‘green’ agenda.

‘We are making an effort to reduce our own carbon footprint at the festival. We’ve tried to cut out the use of plastics. We’ll be using wooden signage, and we’re working on making our own bunting.’

While the climate crisis is serious business, the festival is ultimately all about having fun, while showcasing local, national, and international talent. The show will open a little early this year with a show by the Martha Wainwright at the Town Hall on Wednesday July 26th at 8pm. Wainwright brings her unique vocal sound to Skibb in a real coup for the festival. 

Bird On The Wire bring the magic of the Leonard Cohen songbook to Skibbereen Town Hall on August 1, while the 15th Canon Goodman concert – an event that has straddled every running of the festival – takes place at Abbeystrewry Church on July 30th.

Bird On The Wire, a collaborative interpretation of The Leonard Cohen Songbook by singer Pauline Scanlon and Galway band The Whileaways takes place on August 1 at the Town Hall.

Across the spectrum the Mad Professor brings his dub reggae sound to Skibbereen Community Hall on August 4th (9.30pm). 

A very special musical event will see festival goes brought around the Fastnet Rock as part of ADT’s Little Lighthouse Tour in The Wind That Round The Fastnet Sweeps, with live music on board the ferry Carraig Aonair, as it circumstances the world-famous lighthouse. Two of the shows have already sold out but there are hopes that a third sailing could take place, such has been the interest. 

If you fancy trying your hand at sketching, a Sketch Crawl with urban sketcher Caroline Boyfield takes place in the town on July 29th and August 4th. The Hidden History of Skibbereen’s Alleyways will come to life with a new art project, beginning with the first mural taking shape at Coppinger’s Lane on Townshend Street from July 26th.

On the theatre front the 4 Plays in Day series will make August 2 a marathon day on stage to remember, with Gombean (1pm), The Humours of Bandon (3.30pm), If the River is Hidden, and The Man In The Woman’s Shoes (8.30pm) all taking place in the Town Hall. Other theatre highlights include Fred & Alice (July 27th, 8pm), while puppet show Millie’s Moonlight Adventure will delight children, taking place in the Library at August 4 at 11am. 

Award-winning movies will be screened throughout the festival, including a special outdoor evening screening of Nothing Compares, a documentary charting the musical rise of Sinead O’Connor, taking place in the beautiful setting of Liss Ard Estate on July 31 st (8pm), with a barbecue and music on the night.

These are just a small taster of the smorgasbord of music, art, film, theatre, and more taking place as part of the festival. 

The festival receives funding of €25,000 from the Arts Council and €4,000 from Cork County Council – with a varied and impressive line-up, it’s clear both bodies are getting plenty of bang for their buck. This year a study will also take place to examine the economic benefit to the town from the festival. 

Indeed in the long term, Declan hopes the festival can become even bigger. ‘Skibbereen and West Cork has a huge arts scene and is a home for so many artists. The festival’s most important focus is providing a showcase for this local talent, then adding national and international artists. The quality of programming is really high, and I believe we can take Skibbereen Arts Festival to the next level as one of the biggest in the country.’

FLASHDANCE

You might need your legwarmers and headband for this year’s street party at the Arts Festival. Flashdance … What a Feeling! is a free, family-friendly event inspired by the 1983 movie and song Flashdance taking place on Bridge Street at 7pm on Friday, July 28th with live music from St. Fachtna’s Silver Band, The Kates and an 80s singsong with Sing Along Social. The party will include games, street food, live graffiti, and prizes. 

AUDIENCE PLAYS PART IN BECKETT PLAY

Audience members get to play their part in a series of performances of Samuel Beckett’s Cascando. Director Gavin Quinn’s adaptation of Cascando sees the audience listen to the show through headphones and walk to different outdoor locations, wearing cloaks as they proceed. Cascando was first broadcast in 1963. Some 60 years later, the show around Skibberren will be an intriguing journey. The audience assembles at the Town Hall for each performance and tickets are available online with three one-hour shows on Saturday July 29th and three on Sunday July 30th (3pm, 5pm, and 7pm each day).