ARTS Westport Arts Festival stretches to two weeks

Westport Arts Festival 2012 stretches to two jam-packed weeks


Ciara Moynihan

This year marks the 37th Westport Arts Festival, and the 2012 programme  has been expanded to a full 14 days – October 1 to 14. How refreshing when all we hear about is contracting economies and shrinking budgets. It’s as though the legion of volunteers who work so hard to make this event happen every year decided to prove that the arts is the perfect colour-soaked antidote to all the beige talk of taxes and troikas.  
And so the town can expect another exciting, quirky and diverse line-up of acts and events, from Ireland and further afield, crossing every discipline of artistic endeavour, including music, visual arts, film, theatre, literature, dance, circus and more.
The visual arts offering this year includes an exciting Dermot Seymour 30-year retrospective at the Custom House Studios, starting on October 3. ‘Selected Paintings: 1982 to 2012’ showcases a sample of the celebrated Partry-based artist’s often-startling paintings, providing a rare opportunity to see a unique selection of his work from private collections within Ireland.
Other exhibitions of note include Island Art by the Tory Island Artists in the Wyatt Hotel, a group show by the Achill Artists Group in the Andrew Stone Gallery, and in a unique window onto the 13th Venice Biennale International Architecture Exhibition, the five Irish entries are sending a synopsis of their exhibits to Westport. A second ‘open call’ architecture exhibition will interpret the parallel theme of ‘Our Common Ground’, exploring the sharing of urban landscapes in Ireland.
A theatre highlight comes in the singular shape of Fishamble Theatre Company’s ‘Silent’, written and performed by Pat Kinevane. Winner of Fringe First and Herald Angel Awards at Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2011 and Argus Angel at Brighton Festival, 2012, ‘Silent’ chronicles one man’s struggle with depression and homelessness. Through a combination of narrative, sound and dance, the play is a comment on modern life and society’s attitude to mental health.
Award-winning novelist, playwright and poet Dermot Healy will be in town to host a workshop on ‘Short Story Writing’ – a wonderful opportunity to meet a master and to explore the fine art techniques behind the pen of one of the country’s foremost writers. Healy will also give a poetry reading at the announcement of winners of the first Westport Arts Festival Poetry Competition.
Music is once again a huge part of the Westport Arts Festival, with big acts like the innovative, avant-garde Julie Feeney, techno wizards Le Galaxie and purveyors of electro-pop Sleep Thieves. In a new departure, a series of music events showcasing the best of emerging Irish bands will be held at the venerable thatched pub The Sheebeen. For three nights acts such as Little Xs For Your Eyes, I’m Your Vinyl and Senakah will play an intimate series of ‘Sheebeen Sessions’ gigs to a capacity of only 100 people. Local indie, folk, alt-rock and alt-pop are being invited to open on these nights too.
In a new partnership with Westport Cineplex and Access Cinema, the festival will this year be bringing classic films to the big screen. The programme is divided into three strands: a nostalgic choice of box-office hits suitable for all the family; a treasure trove of musicals from the history of cinema; and pioneering art-house movies for dedicated followers of the art of film.
If it’s laughs your after, satirist, stand-up comic and street performer David McSavage will be performing. While these days he is perhaps best-known for RTÉ’s acerbic sketch show ‘The Savage Eye’, McSavage’s stand-up comedy is said to be much more laid-back, while retaining his trade-mark cutting commentary on all aspects of life. Having witnessed his street performances many moons ago in Dublin, I feel compelled to warn that ‘all aspects of life’ includes anyone his eyes might rest upon.
All of these aspects of the festival are but a taste of the packed fortnight that lies ahead in October. The Westport Arts Festival is not only one of the longest running arts festivals in the country, it truly is a credit to all those volunteers involved in putting it together. For beating back the beige, they deserve a big sparkly gold medal. On a very colourful ribbon. 

For more information on the upcoming Westport Arts Festival, visit westportartsfestival.com, follow @WestportArts on twitter or check out its Facebook page facebook.com/WestportArts.