Join us on Friday 17th September to celebrate Culture Night 2021!
Wexford Arts Cantre have teamed up with Wexford County Council and Culture Night Ireland to celebrate Culture in all forms and expressions, working with artists and creators to deliver a programme of events for you and your family to enjoy!
Visual Art, Workshops, Talks and more…
Wexford Arts Centre will facilitate a late gallery opening from 5-9pm, offering more time to enjoy the current exhibition of workThe Age of Reason/Unreason (Part 3), agroup exhibition by Na Cailleacha. We will host an exciting children’s workshop facilitated by visual artists Deirdre Buggy and Sonya Weston to kick of Culture Night followed by a gallery talk facilitated by artist and member of Na Cailleacha, Gerda Teljeur.
Theatre, Poetry and Entertainment…
In the evening in the theatre at Wexford Arts Centre, for the first time ever, two of Ireland’s most celebrated spoken word poets and performers will share the stage – Sasha Terfous and Stephen James Smith. Join us for an evening of spoken word followed by a night of joyful entertainment brought to you by the Ivy Sisters.
Offsite
The Arts Department of Wexford County Council and Wexford Arts Centre are pleased to present Whatever, the bi-annual Arts Ability initiative in CUMAS, New Ross. At the Presentation Centre, Enniscorthy, we will celebrate a night of performance, spoken word, experimental theatre and alternative drag performance with multimedia artist Kitsch Doom.
Here you will find some information on the events we have planned; please note that all event will take place under current COVID19 health and safety guidelines and, although tickets to the events are free of charge, you must book a ticket online to secure a place, places for these events are limited. You can book tickets here by clicking the links next to the event or by calling our box office team at 0539123764.
Please take a look at our current COVID19 health and safety guidelines here before attending any of the events listed here.
The Importance of Being a Young Adult
This workshop is for ages 12 years + and will run from 4pm – 5:30pm.
Artists Deirdre Buggy and Sonya Weston will host a workshop for young adults (12 years +) from 4-5.30pm on Friday 17th September to celebrate Culture Night. The workshop responds to the current exhibition in Wexford Arts Centre titled The Age of Reason/Unreason (Part 3) by a group of female artists collectively known as Na Cailleacha which is the Irish work for ‘divine hags’.
The exhibition presents Na Cailleacha’s version of the famous Guerrilla Girls poster titled the Advantages of being a Cailleach artist’. Using this as inspiration, the workshop will be performative and text based. Discussing social challenges, participants will discuss how they see the world around them and the changes they would like to make in the future. They will be encouraged to collaborate as a group to create their own manifesto and as social media is one of the main platforms used today for socialising and sharing information, we will create a Tik Tok video as a form of expression.
Gallery Talk with Gerda Teljeur
Late Gallery Opening Times from 5-9pm and Gallery Talk at 6pm.
We are pleased to present a late opening and a talk of The Age of Reason/Unreason (Part 3), a group show with artists Helen Comerford, Barbara Freeman, Patricia Hurl, Maria Levinge, Therry Rudin, and Gerda Teljeur, art historian/curator Catherine Marshall, and composer Carole Nelson. Through painting, drawing, film and performance, the group collectively known as Na Cailleacha – the Irish word for witches – will explore the nuanced process of growing older.
The group of eight older women, six visual artists, one musician and one curator, all, bar one, over 70 years of age, came together to explore issues around creativity, visibility, isolation, health and collective practice from an older feminist perspective. Na Cailleacha are committed to raising awareness and promoting public discussion about these issues, in keeping with Gloria Steinem’s assertion that ‘Women may be the one group that grows more radical with age’. The title of the exhibition alludes to the play of rational and irrational instincts in the creative process, especially challenging in relation to ageing and loss of capacity.
The gallery talk will be facilitated by artist and member of Na Cailleacha, Gerda Teljeur. Gerda is a familiar figure in contemporary Irish art having come her from the Netherlands in 1967. Her large scale, abstract ink drawings, frequently in black on white paper mix concentrated energy with a profound sense of the importance of each mark. She has worked with community groups and in care settings and as a teacher and artist-in-residence in schools and other education centres, where herability to draw out essential qualities in both the artist and the materials are particularly valuable.
Poetry Town – Absolutely Live: Sasha Terfous with Stephen James Smith
This event will run in the Theatre at Wexford Arts Centre at 7:30pm.
For the first time ever, two of Ireland’s most celebrated spoken word poets and performers will share the stage: Sasha Terfous was born and raised in New Ross where she was indoctrinated into a love of literature by her grandfather. Best known for the poems Identity and Warrior Women, Sasha has been appointed the Wexford Laureate for Poetry Town throughout September. She will debut her poem specially commissioned for Poetry Town at an evening performance at Wexford Arts Centre.
Also participating at this event is Stephen James Smith – My Ireland, Dublin, You Are – a poet central to the rise of the vibrant spoken word scene in Ireland today.
Poetry Town is an initiative of Poetry Ireland in partnership with Wexford County Council and is made possible with funding from the Arts Council of Ireland’s Open Call funding and is also supported by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
The Ivy Sisters
This event is sold out.
The Ivy Sisters are a vintage vocal harmony trio, based in County Wexford. Glamorous gals with killer vocals all dressed up with somewhere to go, Aileen Donohoe, Jilly Cox and Sharon Clancy. In December, The Ivy Sisters won The Christmas FM All-Ireland Song Contest with their version of ‘Mele Kalikimaka’ by Bing Crosby. Just as lockdown hit, their original sold-out launch was put on hold but The Ivy Sisters came back with a bang as the headline act for New Ross Culture Night at St. Michael’s Theatre!
With a growing reputation for corporate events, festivals, garden parties and weddings their calendar is looking sparkly for the coming year. Regular live performers on South East Radio and played extensively on Christmas FM the girls are looking forward to branching out across Ireland.
The Ivy Sisters were a featured act in the Wexford Festival Opera Fringe Programme 2020 and recently launched the main stage acts with their new set in The Inaugural Johnstown Castle Lake Arts Festival along with a spectacular line-up including Camille O’Sullivan and Corner Boy in August 2021.
Arts Ability, Whatever Exhibition Launch
This exhibition opening will take place at Cumas, Harte Complex, Butlersland Industrial Est., New Ross, Co. Wexford at 4pm.
Exhibition Dates: 17th – 24th September 2021
Visiting Hours: Monday – Friday: 10am-3pm
The Arts Department of Wexford County Council and Wexford Arts Centre are pleased to present Whatever, the bi-annual Arts Ability initiative in CUMAS, New Ross. Launchedonline earlier this year, Whatever comprises an exhibition of selected works, an original artist book, and documentary videos. The documentaries, produced by filmmaker Terence White, explore the studio processes of a number of the artists involved in the programme highlighting techniques and interests that are pertinent to them.
Speaking about Whatever, Guest Curator Jenny Haughton said: ‘This year, the aim is to explore the diversity of approaches to creative production. Whether through writing, singing, painting or sewing, Whatever offers a collective contribution to understanding creative experience. Referencing the writer and activist Irit Rogoff, she suggests that Whatever is ‘being such as it actually matters’ to you; this has formed the basis for artists and facilitators, and has resulted in some intriguing and authentic contributions.
The Arts Ability programme has expanded in recent years and is a partnership between the Arts Department of Wexford County Council, the HSE Disability and Mental Health Services and Wexford Mental Health Association through its Music Exploration Programme. Partner venues include: Killagoley Training & Activation Centre (KTAC, Enniscorthy), County Wexford Community Workshop, (CUMAS, New Ross), Wexford Residential and Intellectual Services (WRIDS, Enniscorthy) as well as care and residential homes countywide. It is a person-centered, participation focused initiative, the primary goal of which is to provide access to high quality art experiences based on meaningful engagement between participant artists and professional artists.
Whatever was curated by Jenny Haughton working in collaboration with the artists, and lead artists’ facilitators Declan Kennedy, Oonagh Latchford, Joe Brennan, Emily Redmond and John Busher, and filmmaker Terence White. The exhibition will be on view in CUMAS until Friday 24September and opening hours are Monday-Friday from 10am-3pm.
At the Presentation Centre Enniscorthy…
Reality Ends!
A night of performance, spoken word,experimental theatre and alternative drag performance with multimedia artist Kitsch Doom.
This event will run in the Theatre at the Presentation Arts Centre, Convent Road, Enniscorthy at 8pm.
The Presentation Arts Centre and artist Kitsch Doom in Partnership with Wexford County Council’s Culture Night 2021 are excited to present a collaborative event celebrating performance, spoken word, experimental theatre and alternative drag performance with host Baroness Von Boomdea, Poppy De Scrace and the Disgraceful Cabaret alongside multimedia artist Kitsch Doom.
Kitsch is inspired by theories on gender, sociology, and posthumanism, Kitsch transforms themselves and volunteers into fictional characters through acting techniques such as improvisation and the Method. The performance will be a Cabaret style introduction to spoken word, experimental theatre and alternative drag performance with performers highlighting various aspects of their artform. This performance is intended to be suitable for any member of the community seeking to deepen their understanding of alternative cultures and subcultures. This event will run as part of Culture Night on Friday September 17th, 2021 from 7pm.
Loring (2021) photographic self-portrait by Kitsch Doom. Photography by Magda Kaczmarska.
Culture Night
The sixteenth edition of Culture Night will take place on Friday 17 September 2021.
Culture Night / Oíche Chultúir is brought to you by the Arts Council; it is a national moment, celebrating all that makes up the richness and diversity of culture in Ireland today, connecting people to cultural activities locally and nationally and aims to open up pathways to ongoing engagement.
Culture Night / Oíche Chultúir celebrates culture, creativity and the arts and seeks to actively promote the belief that this rich and varied culture is alive, treasured and nurtured in people’s lives, today and every day.
Doors are opened late and special and unique events are specifically programmed at participating locations and, thanks to the continued support of the Arts Council and Local Authorities across the island of Ireland, all activities are made available to the public free of charge. Find out more at www.culturenight.ie
