Opinion: An awakening of the senses as Kilkenny is host to multiple festivals

Kilkenny Arts Festival is renowned for its incredible ability to source and showcase the best of local, national and international artists, performers and productions year after year.

It has thrived over the decades and has become a highlight on the social calendar for many of us living in Kilkenny and also to visitors who flock to the Marble City every August to revel in the marvels that the festival has to offer.

Now alongside the Kilkenny Arts Festival there are the Alternative Kilkenny Arts Festival and the Thomastown Creative Arts Festival, which both boast programmes brimming with local talent and full of free events and exhibitions for all to enjoy.

Local Minister welcomes KAF50 with pop-up art exhibition

It is also fantastic to see the Kilkenny Arts Festival supporting local artists and arts organisations as well as being host to some of the biggest names in the arts sector nationally and internationally.

Two of the highlights of this year’s Kilkenny Arts Festival theatre programme are Bench Tales - a highly-anticipated theatrical production by Kilkenny’s Barnstorm Theatre Company that will take place at the Castle Park and The Local, by Asylum Productions, an immersive experience of pub culture, set in 1992, which will take place in Sheridans of Ennisnag.

Bench Tales was devised during the pandemic when Barnstorm Theatre Company created new ways of reaching their audiences and creating new works during a time of lockdowns and restrictions and promises to be a unique experience. It will be performed three times a day from August 14 to 20 and will involve the audience (which will be small in size) watching discreetly from a distance and using binoculars and headphones to listen into the conversation and observe the interaction between the characters and also features some well known actors and directors.

Meanwhile some people have already given a glimpse into the beginnings of The Local which featured last year as a work in progress at the Kilkenny Arts Festival. This year Kilkenny-based theatremaker, Ita Morrissey will showcase her latest work, Taken for a Ride as a work in progress piece. This strand of the festival supporting artists to show their works in progress is to commended and encouraged.

Through the support of local artists and arts organisations and an impressive programme including classical music, contemporary dance, visual art, music, spoken work, poetry and literature from all corners of the world this year’s festival will be a knockout success.

In recent years a number of new arts festivals have been formed and have grown into festivals to be celebrated and enjoyed in their own right during the month of August.

This is the ninth Alternative Kilkenny Arts Festival and this year the programme has over 80 exhibitions throughout the city and county. The festival is run by a team of volunteers who work all year round on making sure the festival happens. This year is their biggest festival to date with art and photographic exhibitions. writing, printmaking and wood turning workshops and an eclectic programme of performances spanning from live music to the spoken word and much more. On August 12 a number of performances by local musicians and performers will take place in the Market Cross Stage in the heart of the city.

In Thomastown, the team behind the Thomastown Creative Arts Festival have also created a programme of events, exhibitions and workshops which will run from August 11 to 20.

There is much to celebrate in the success of the Kilkenny Arts Festival and all those involved are to be congraulated and commended on delivering another brilliant and thought-provoking programme of events. Likewise hats off to the organisers of Alternative Kilkenny Arts and the Thomastown Creative Arts Festival in compiling and creating festivals that are bursting to the seams with events and exhibitions.

A lot of hard work goes into producing these festivals both from the organisers and the artists so go out and soak up as much art as is possible over the coming weeks and enjoy the performances, exhibitions and experiences that are on our doorstep. Well done to all involved!