It’s all kicking off this weekend!
Are you heading West for the summer? If so, you’ve got to be in Skibbereen for their annual Arts Festival, taking place this year from Friday the 26 th of July to Sunday the 4 th of August.
The Skibbereen Arts Festival pays homage to the arts – “this vital fabric of our community” –by providing a platform for their local artists to showcase their work. With so many events taking place, you’re in for a lot of treats throughout the festival.
Choose from theatre, environment, music, film, spoken word, art, community, and family events. Workshops will also take place during the festival, and there’ll be events focused on wellbeing as well.
Keep an eye out around the town during the week – for instance, the town hall, Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre, Liss Ard Estate, the library, and more – for different things happening in each and every corner of Skibb.
Get yourself to the town hall on the 30 th for a night of country, jazz, and blues with 16-time Grammy winner Jerry Douglas plus special guest Muireann Bradley. Other music gigs during the festival include “Take Me to the River” live music on the Ilen River with Molly O’Mahony and ADT; Aoife O’Donovan’s folk, bluegrass, and indie rock in the town hall; the Robert
Harris Memorial Concert; and “Resonate: Wrack ‘n’ Roll” a musical exploration of seaweed.
You should definitely check out ‘Portráidí an Sciobairín’ Live Portrait Competition on the 26th of July, where you can see the selected artists as they work on their portraits of singer- songwriter Lisa Hannigan as the day goes on.
And if that’s not enough, ‘Going for Gold’ at 7pm – an Olympics-themed street party on the 26th as well – will definitely keep the festival spirit going! Bridge Street will be the place to be, with interactive Olympic challenges, games, live music, food, graffiti installations, and a sing-song with Sing Along Social. We’ll need a sit down after all that activity!
Check out the official website here for the full lineup of events.