Public Arts Programme

Communities an integral part of Public Art in Kilkenny

Public-arts-programme-kilkenny

 Communities an integral part of Public Art in Kilkenny, Arts Officer says

Audience reaction to and community participation in two of the four major projects supported under Kilkenny County Council’s Public Arts Programme has been nothing short of phenomenal to date, the funders say.

The short, cinematic dancer film, Fearghus Ó Conchúir’s All to Play For, which features two camogie and two hurling All Ireland winners premiered to a public audience during Kilkenny Arts Festival.

And Asylum Productions’ Alice, the contemporary reimagining of the story of Dame Alice Kyteler and the Kilkenny Witch Trials of 1324, in five chapters in five different locations across the city was one of the highlights for many of the entire Festival.

Mary Butler, Arts Officer with Kilkenny County Council, said it’s an exciting time for the Arts in Kilkenny and looks forward to what 2027 will bring for the city and county under the Kilkenny County Council programme for 2024 – 2027 which is supported by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

“Our approach to Public Arts in this programme is very much about community engagement. We really want to public front and centre. Communities are an integral part of the development of each project. They’re not just audience members at the end of it.

“This is a really lovely way too for the general public to understand the processes around Art in general and it’s not really about that final product. The richness, the magic and the connections happen during that process.

“It was incredible to have about 150 members of the community involved in The Alice Project, an amazing theatre project with Asylum Productions. All to Play for engaged with a very different community and was a lovely way to connect dance and the GAA and Camogie and the physicality of sport and dance, culminating in a gorgeous ten minute film.”

2027 will see the launch of the final two projects under the Public Arts Programme Kilkenny. Work now continues into next year on Córa, by Michael Gallen, a multi-disciplinary project blending choral music, documentary, poetry, design, and animation to craft an evocative film about the heritage of Irish healing practices. It was inspired by Michael’s Opera, The Curing Line.

Pauline O’ Connell’s project From Hide to Heel also comes to Kilkenny in 2027. It explores and celebrates the intertwined leather and shoemaking traditions in Kilkenny. It tells the story of Padmore and Barnes, the landmark boot factory on the edge of Kilkenny city which provided a much-needed income for many families.

“It’s a really important time to tell those stories now. Because after this generation, those stories are gone,” Mary Butler concluded. To find out more about Kilkenny County Council Arts Office Public Arts Programme, log on to https://kilkennyartsoffice.ie/public-arts-2024-2027/