Kiltartan Gregory Museum, built in 1892, is an award winning museum that houses memorabilia, manuscripts and artefacts from Coole House. Visit the museum, and learn the history of this building, Lady Gregory, the people in the area and much more!
Click on the video where Sister De Lourdes explains the origins and importance of this museum.
Find Out More HERE.
Oscar Wilde Literary Tourism project launches in Co. Fermanagh
This week (10th May) sees the launch of the first phase of Wilde Island Town (WIT): Home of the Happy Prince, a Literary Tourism project which aims to stimulate new year-round tourism for County Fermanagh and to offer timely support for the revitalisation of the Enniskillen High Street.
The initial phase of the project will see the installation of 150 little swallows in gold leaf in and around Enniskillen centre, on the exterior facades of retail stores and community buildings including its schools.
According to Sean Doran Artistic Director of Arts Over Borders, the organisation delivering the project, the Swallows installation is a fitting start to the project as the swallow symbolises optimism and hope and builds upon Oscar Wilde’s association with Enniskillen. The number of swallows is also significant as 2021 marks the 150th anniversary of Wilde leaving Enniskillen where he had lived as a boarder at Portora Royal School from 1864-1871.
“Enniskillen was the longest Oscar Wilde lived anywhere outside his birthplace in Dublin and married years in London,” said Sean. “It is believed that his children’s story The Happy Prince was first inspired by Wilde looking out from his dormitory window at Portora Royal School across the island town to the opposite hill where stood Cole’s statue high above the town.
“This belief is the central tenet in an idea that will draw upon Wilde’s association with Enniskillen to drive tourism and help to revitalise the town and its surrounds as we move out of periods of lockdown that have impacted heavily on the retail, tourism and hospitality sectors.”
Literary Tourism is an emerging niche sector within the wider cultural tourism sector, where places with literary heritage offer author and fiction-related literary tourism opportunities, along with opportunities arising from literary festivals, trails and book shops. In Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland border counties, the potential for literary tourism is particularly rich and unparalleled worldwide through its literary heritage with Seamus Heaney, C S Lewis, W B Yeats, Brian Friel, Jonathan Swift, Flann O’Brien, Patrick Kavanagh and of course Samuel Beckett and Oscar Wilde school day associations in Enniskillen.
Bernie Mooney, Project Manager said, “significantly, this project is part of a wider European Initiative, the NPA funded Spot-lit programme, supporting economic development through the vehicle of literary tourism and Enniskillen will benefit greatly from the additional visibility and growth this will bring to the area.”
A key issue that Wilde Island Town will address is seasonality for Enniskillen and Fermanagh. The current reality is that it is principally a summer only tourism destination. Wilde Island Town aims to ignite the spark to transform the area in the future into a year-round 365-day tourism destination associated with Oscar Wilde. It will holistically connect place, events, performances, businesses and community.
Sally Rees, Project Support, who is working with local businesses and organisations on the installation, says that people across the town are delighted to be involved as they recognize that The Flight of The Little Golden Swallow will have a positive impact felt by the whole community.
“The project has already captured the collective imagination of people here and that is testament already to the power it will have. WIT will demonstrate how an entire urban town and community in all its facets of business, culture, education, tourism, services, leisure, hospitality industry, etc. can be holistically brought together and united under a single literary tourism concept, a case of the whole being made greater through this model than the sum of its parts. It’s very exciting.”
Among those who have welcomed the project is Enniskillen’s Business Improvement Task Team. Commenting Noelle McAloon said: “Many of the town’s businesses have been affected by the lockdown and are very relieved now to be re-opening. To the last one, the businesses who have been approached to become involved in the initiative are delighted by the innovation and artistry of the project and believe it will have a positive impact.”
The project builds on the work laid down by the Arts Over Borders destination literary tourism events in Enniskillen and Fermanagh on Samuel Beckett and Oscar Wilde that have been developed there since 2012. These are short 3-4 day festivals only and do not have the continuous year- round impact that Wilde Island Town seeks to develop. However, these existing Literary Tourism events have established the process of associating literary tourism with this part of the world.
The Alphabet of Birds Stage Show aired virtually at Cúirt International Festival of Literature, Galway . The show has been developed as part of the Spot-lit.eu Wild Atlantic Way Literary Performance Model.
This new audio-visual essay for stage written by Sara Baume includes live readings from Baume’s new essay and is interspersed with four short documentaries from Jamie Goldrick that feature artists Gary Coyle, Laura Fitzgerald, Sara Baume and Natalia Beylis. The essay and films are live scored by musicians Irene Buckley and Elaine Howley. (Watch The Video HERE)
The Alphabet of Birds is the second stage show from arts magazine and production company Holy Show.
‘The show will be touring throughout 2021 and early 2022. Check out the event page on Holy Show’s website for the latest dates and venues: https://holyshow.ie/the-alphabet-of-birds
Come on a journey and find a new perspective on familiar paths. Guided by writer Sarah Maria Griffin, immersive theatre maker Máiréad Ní Chróinín and visual artist Shane O’Malley, you will follow a path featuring an audio tour, a bespoke zine and street art pieces, that maps a route from the Town Hall Theatre, Woodquay, to Mutton Island Lighthouse. Mutton Island is a small island located approximately 1km off the coast of Galway City, and is connected by to the mainland with a causeway.
Follow the trail in Galway City, or map the trail onto your own familiar path anywhere around the world. The lighthouse is calling, the trail is designed to give space for reflection, and to encourage an experience of our city and its environment in a fresh light. This unique, interactive artwork is inspired by Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse and the theme of personal journey.
The Lighthouse Project is an exploration of space and environment, and takes place in six counties in 2021, beginning in Galway. The Lighthouse Project is supported by The Western Development Commission through the Interreg Northern Periphery & Arctic Programme Spot-lit Project, The Arts Council of Ireland and Galway City Council and is curated by Dani Gill. Cúirt International Festival of Literature is the Commissioning Partner of the Galway site.
‘’The concept works with the nautical miles out to sea of each lighthouse. By turning the outward radius inland, we create an internal zone where a project emerges…we want to take people on a journey, giving everyone a chance to be creative and explore an area in a new way’’.
To Access the Digital and Printed ‘Inland Radius Mutton Island Route’ Packs visit: https://www.danigill.com/mutton-island-route/
Wonderful new tourist attraction in Cootehall to launch on Friday 9th April at 11.30am. The writer, John McGahern lived in the barracks in Cootehall from 1944 to 1953 whilst his father was the serving sergeant there.
The virtual launch will include a 5 minute video introduced by Mary McAleese former President of Ireland. The video will be available on the website mcgahernbarracks.ie. The John Mc Gahern Booklet, written by Tom Inglis is available to purchase for €10 excl. postage on the website, all proceeds go towards reducing the €25,000 loan required to renovate the Barracks and for its upkeep. Booklets available to purchase now at mcgahernbarracks.ie.
Courtesy of John McGahern Barracks.
All images are courtesy of Keith Nolan Photography.
Signs of hope as WB and George Yeats’s cottage, at Thoor Ballylee gets a new coat of reeds. We look forward to welcoming you in the better, brighter, days ahead.
Spot-lit Project colleagues Yeats Thoor Ballylee Society are dedicated to restoring and keeping open Thoor Ballylee, the C14th Norman tower in Galway, Ireland, home and poetic symbol of Nobel Prize winning poet William Butler Yeats.
Through Spot-Lit, the group proposes to develop a new network connecting local people and visitors to locations and sites of international literary and artistic importance in our region.
The Raftery Returns Arts Festival is set to take place in Kiltimagh, County Mayo, between 26th September and 3rd October, celebrating the life and work of Anthony Raftery, the last Irish Baird.
The poet Anthony Raftery was born in the area in 1779, we look forward to him returning to the town and being the inspiration for poetry, drama and music.
Watch the Video HERE.
In May 2020, the Western Development Commission circulated a tender call for a creative partner to develop a Literary Tourism Performance Model for the Wild Atlantic Way. Following their successful application, curator/producer Dani Gill and partner Brendan MacEvilly are developing the model with two strands.
Literary Performance Model Strand 2: To The Lighthouse Project Creative Director Dani Gill: Inspired by one of my favourite books, To the Lighthouse, I felt drawn to exploring these outposts around Ireland, their origins, and stories, and how they are beacons, to both those at sea and on land. I decided to focus on mapping inland, the mirrored distance of each lighthouse’s nautical miles to sea, drawing a circle around each one, and creating a ‘zone’, within which, an artistic project will exist.– ‘Dani Gill, Project Curator’.
Commissioning partners involved with the project include Cairde Arts Festival, (Sligo), Creative Ireland, (Mayo), Meath County Council, Droichead Arts Centre, (Louth) Cúirt International Festival of Literature (Galway), and Earagail Arts Festival (Donegal).
Find Out More HERE.
Find out more about the The Alphabet of Birds HERE.
In May 2020, the Western Development Commission circulated a tender call for a creative partner to develop a Literary Tourism Performance Model for the Wild Atlantic Way. Following their successful application, curator/producer Dani Gill and partner Brendan MacEvilly are developing the model with two strands. The model include an impressive list of partners who have signed up to take part in 2021, featuring The Lighthouse Project and the live stage show Autograph of Birds , as part of their programmes.
Literary Performance Model Strand 1: by Creative Director Brendan MacEvilly: A new audio-visual essay for stage written by Sara Baume. Live reading’s of Baume’s new essay is interspersed with four short documentaries from Jamie Goldrick which feature artists Gary Coyle, Laura Fitzgerald, Sara Baume and Natalia Beylis. The essay and films are set to live music performed by Howlbux.
25 April | Cúirt International Festival of Literature, Galway
3 July | Wexford Literary Festival
9 September | St John’s Theatre, Listowel
11 September | Ennis Book Club Festival, Glór
1 October | Linenhall, Castlebar
mid-October | Kildare Readers Festival
Spring 2022 | Droichead Arts Centre
(more dates tba)
Event Outline
Sunday Mass and sea swimming; bird alphabets and stone collecting; Goya and Monet; the Stations of the Cross and the Sacred Heart of Jesus; bedrooms and bedsits; insomnia and parental love. Writer and artist Sara Baume covers wide ground in this spellbinding audio-visual essay. Ultimately, it’s a show about our obsessions and passions – the multitude of rituals that fill our daily lives with meaning.
The Alphabet of Birds is the second stage show from arts magazine and production company Holy Show, generously supported by The Arts Council of Ireland and the Western Development Commission through the Northern Periphery and Arctic (NPA) Programme Spot-lit Project.
Writer: Sara Baume
Musicians: Howlbux – Irene Buckley and Elaine Howley
Featured Artists: Natalia Beylis, Gary Coyle, Laura Fitzgerald
Films Director: Jamie Goldrick
Creative Director: Brendan Mac Evilly
Find Out More HERE.
Find out more about the Lighthouse Project HERE
The purpose of this tender is to engage Project Management support to assist in the delivery of Phase 1 & 2 of the WIT pilot project called ‘WILDETHINGS ‘.
Phase 1 & 2 ‘WILDETHINGS’ – Initially to include 3 key outcomes:
View Tender Document HERE (pdf).
Find Out More About Spot-lit Literary Tourism Models HERE
