Arts

Pictured at the launch of ‘Write By The Sea’ – the Kilmore Quay literary festival, on 22nd July, were back row L-R Anne Cousins, Sylvia Kehoe, Anne O’Brien, Derek Burke, Caroline Busher and Elena Winch. Front row L-R: Cllr Lisa McDonald (Chairperson Rosslare Municipal District), Theo Dorgan (who will open the Festival), Lucy Moore (Festival Chairperson) and Cllr George Lawlor (Cathaoirleach Wexford Co. Council).

The programme for the Write By The Sea 2022 Literary Festival in Kilmore Quay will include a strong Wexford presence among an appealing array of national and international literary figures. Write By The Sea 2022 is set to run from Friday, September 23, to Sunday, September 25, and the local representation includes Claire Keegan, whose award-winning, Booker-longlisted novel Small Things Like These is set in New Ross, Caroline Busher, Imelda Carroll, AM Cousins, Margaret Galvin, Fintan Murphy, Jan Doran, Fidelis Power, Kathleen Tierney, Simon Bourke, Celestine Murphy and Hazel Percival. They join a galaxy of acclaimed literary figures of the calibre of Roddy Doyle, Lucy Caldwell, Manchan Magan, Peter Cunningham, Fiona Scarlett, Robert Gogan, Martina Devlin, Hillary Fannin, Ronan Hession, Liz Nugent and Professor Derek Hand. The festival will be officially opened by keynote speaker Professor Kevin Rafter, Chair of The Arts Council, at 6pm on Friday, September 23. Lucy Moore, Chair of Write By The Sea says, “It’s been said that one of the key reasons for the success of Write By The Sea is that we annually attract a stimulating mix of local, national and international authors. So it’s very exciting to have such a strong representation from County Wexford for this year’s programme, our first almost fully live event since the Pandemic.”

The full programme and booking details for Write By The Sea 2022 are available on https://writebythesea.ie n

Check out the club’s Facebook page for full information and details on when the club meets up. https://www.facebook.com/enniscorthybookclub n

Art Classes For Beginners at The Presentation Arts Centre with Jamie Sinnott and Edward McGuinness. Starting Monday Sept 5th, and running for 5 weeks, 6:30pm 8:30pm, course cost €70. Book now at www.presentationcentre.ie n

On the third Thursday of every month the Adult Book Club meets in Enniscorthy Library at 7pm. New members welcome. If you are interested in going along please contact Enniscorthy library on 053 9236055. n

On the last Thursday of every month the Slaney Writers Group meets in Enniscorthy Library at 7pm. New members welcome. If you are interested in going along please contact Enniscorthy library on 053 9236055. n

‘The Cliffhangers’ Junior Book Club is back in the Enniscorthy branch for its monthly meetings – usually the last Thursday of the month. It’s a great way to try new authors and genres and there is no pressure to read aloud. New members are always welcome. If you would like your child to join, please contact 053 9236055 for more information. Suitable for ages 8–12. n

A young artist from near Enniscorthy, Sean Fitzpatrick, has been shortlisted for the Zurich Young Portrait Prize competition at the National Gallery of Ireland. Sean is a student at CBS Enniscorthy. From hundreds of entries, the shortlists of this year’s Zurich Portrait Prize and Zurich Young Portrait Prize have been announced by the National Gallery of Ireland. 26 artists, working across a variety of media, have made it through to the final stage of the Zurich Portrait Prize, while 20 young artists aged between four and eighteen years old have been shortlisted for the Zurich Young Portrait Prize. Sean Fitzpatrick from Davidstown, Enniscorthy, has been shortlisted for the Zurich Young Portrait Prize, for his drawing Constructing Ella.

Sean is an 18-year-old portraiture artist whose predominant medium is pencil. Combining a gentle aesthetic with the many strengths and depths of graphitem, his aim is always to capture the essence of the subject’s personality and demeanour. Sean says about Constructing Ella, which is done with pencil and charcoal on paper, ‘This is a portrait of my sister Ella. I wanted to capture the beginning of a smile, both in her eyes and on her lips. The inclusion of my own hand and arm was inspired by the Dutch artist M.C. Escher. I am fascinated by hyperrealism and surrealism

Sean Fitzpatrick

artworks, so I combined them both. I used pencil for this picture.’ The winner of the Zurich Portrait Prize will receive a cash prize of €15,000 and will be commissioned to create a work for the national portrait collection, for which they will be awarded a further €5,000. Two additional awards of €1,500 will be given to highly commended works. Judges for the Zurich Portrait Prize are Diana Copperwhite, artist; Anna O'Sullivan, Director of the Butler Gallery, Kilkenny; and Nick Miller, artist. The Zurich Young Portrait Prize is returning for its fourth year this year. Five winners (one from each respective age category and an overall winner) will be selected from a shortlist of hundreds of entries from young people aged four to 18 from across the island of Ireland. Winners will receive a bespoke art box and a cash prize. The overall competition winner will be awarded a personalised wooden box of high-quality art materials, specific to their choice of material in their portrait, and a cash prize of €500. All twenty shortlisted entrants will have their artwork professionally framed/prepared. This year’s Zurich Young Portrait Prize judges are: Janet McLean, curator, National Gallery of Ireland; Nick Roche, comic illustrator; Una Sealy RHA, artist. Exhibitions of shortlisted works in both competitions run at the National Gallery of Ireland between 26 November 2022 and 2 April 2023. n

The Courthouse Arts Centre in Tinahely opens its Autumn 2022 season with The ConTempo Quartet, Ireland’s longest established quartet, performing two Irish string quartets – Ina Boyle’s lovely E minor Quartet, written in Enniskerry in 1934, and a new piece by Galway’s Jane O’Leary. Brahms’ sunny, uplifting B flat major quartet was written in 1875 while he enjoyed a summer holiday in the beautiful German town of Ziegelhausen and it was to become his favourite of his three published quartets. The Contempo Quartet (Bogdan Sofei, Ingrid Nicola, Andreea Banciu and Adrian Mantu) is the resident quartet of the Galway Music Residency and was RTE’s Resident Quartet from 2014 until 2019. Praised as a “fabulous foursome” (Irish Independent) and noted for performances which are “exceptional” (The Strad) and “full of imaginative daring” (The Irish Times), RTÉ ConTempo Quartet has forged a unique place in Irish musical life.

Since its formation in Bucharest in 1995, the quartet has performed more than 1,800 concerts worldwide in 46 countries, including prestigious venues such as Wigmore Hall; Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris; St Martin-in-the-Fields; Berliner Philharmonie; Palazzo del Quirinale, Rome; Carnegie Hall and the Opera House Tel-Aviv. ConTempo have had the honour to meet and play in front of world personalities such as Prince Charles, Nelson Mandela, Pope John Paul II, EU Ministers, President Michael D. Higgins, Hollywood stars and Nobel Prize winners. The ensemble has won a record of 14 international prizes (including Munich, Rome, Berlin, Prague and London) and worked alongside artists of the highest calibre including Emma Johnson, Yuko Inoue, Hugh Tinney, Chen Zimbalista, Jérôme Pernoo, Peter Donohue and Martin Roscoe. Collaborations with other distinguished quartets have also been a feature, such as the Amadeus, Arditti, Vanbrugh, Casals and Endellion.

Programme: Ina Boyle - Quartet in E minor [1934] Jane O’Leary - Strings in the Air, Songs in the Stones [2021]

Brahms - Quartet in B flat Op.67 With thanks to the Arts Council, RTÉ Lyric FM and National String Quartet Foundation. n

Wexford County Council is thinking about arts and culture, what it would like to achieve with Wexford communities, the activities and infrastructure it would like to develop in the five years from 2023-2027. The Council would love to get your input and invite you to talk to them about what you believe should be included. Wexford has two strategies that help support its work with communities, artists, arts, culture and creativity – the County Wexford Arts Plan and the Wexford Culture & Creativity Strategy. WCC believes that implementing these plans over the last few years helped grow confidence in connecting many communities in Co. Wexford to more arts and cultural activities. These plans fostered more creative collaborations and supported more artists as well as local communities to engage in creative activity. In addition, they achieved positive outcomes in many key areas such as placemaking, wellbeing, the creative industries, film and heritage programmes. As part of WCC’s work to develop a new Wexford Arts Plan as well as a new Culture & Creativity Strategy, it is considering arts and creativity’s role in everything; from community, youth, artists’ development, the creative industries, to heritage, wellbeing, ageing, economic development, placemaking, climate change and the environment. WCC invites you to attend one of the upcoming Focus Groups in person this September. There will be general as well as focused discussion at each Focus Group, so feel free to attend the one closest, most convenient or most relevant to your area of interest.

All venues are wheelchair accessible. Refreshments will be provided.

FOCUS GROUP 1 - ENNISCORTHY 11.00am - 1.00pm. Venue: Presentation Arts Centre, Convent Road, Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, Y21 X889.

This focus group will look at the feeling of belonging in Wexford, equity of opportunity for all ages, abilities, and identities in relation to access to the arts and cultural activities. It will include discussion about the arts in a wide variety of community contexts, as well as in youth arts. To book a place: https://outlook.office365.com/owa/calendar/Group1Enniscorthy@wexfordcoco.ie/bookings/

FOCUS GROUP 2 – WEXFORD

Theme: Artists, the Arts and Creatives. Date: Thursday 8 September, 6.00pm 8.00pm. Venue: Wexford Library, Mallin Street, Wexford town, Co. Wexford, Y35 AY20.

This focus group will look at the needs of artists and creatives at all stages of their careers. It will include discussion about arts infrastructure, funding and grant structures, workspaces and opportunities for artists and creatives, who work to make Wexford a great creative county and place to live.

To book a place: https://outlook.office365.com/owa/calendar/Group2Wexford@wexfordcoco.i e/bookings/

FOCUS GROUP 3 – KILMORE QUAY

Theme: Social Inclusion, Well-being, Age Friendly Initiatives, Festivals. Date: Monday 12 September, 3.00pm – 5.00pm. Venue: Stella Maris Centre, Seaview, Kilmore Quay, Co. Wexford. This focus group is about promoting social inclusion, well-being and belonging in Wexford, and will include discussion of arts and health initiatives, age-friendly initiatives, arts festivals and other arts in community contexts. To book a place: https://outlook.office365.com/owa/calendar/Group3KilmoreQuay@wexfordcoco.ie/bookings/

FOCUS GROUP 4 - GOREY

Theme: Creative Industries, Screen Wexford, Crafts and Heritage. Date: Tuesday 13 September, 11.00am - 1.00pm. Venue: Gorey Library, Gorey Civic Square, The Avenue, Gorey, Co. Wexford, Y25 WK37.

This focus group considers how we can activate more opportunities in the creative industries, film, craft, heritage sector, and all fields working in the culture and the creative economy in Wexford. To book a place: https://outlook.office365.com/owa/calendar/Group4Gor ey@wexfordcoco.ie/bookings/

FOCUS GROUP 5- NEW ROSS

Theme: Placemaking, Environment, Heritage, Climate Action. Date: Wednesday 14 September, 6.00pm – 8.00pm. Venue: St Michael’s Theatre, South Street, New Ross, Co. Wexford.

This focus group will look at what makes Wexford a creative and environmentally aware county to live, work in, and visit, through our natural, built and cultural heritage, public spaces, and considers the environment and climate action.

To book a place: https://outlook.office365.com/owa/calendar/Group5NewRoss@wexfordcoco.i e/bookings/

If you cannot attend any of the focus groups and would like to contribute, an online questionnaire is being circulated and submissions will be accepted until 23rd September 2022. If you have any queries in relation to the above please contact the Arts Department at arts@wexfordcoco.ie or phone 053-9196564/6369. n