Event type: Comedy

The Bluecoat Display Centre and Liverpool Irish Festival are delighted to announce our 2023 maker: Níamh Grimes. This continues our annual In The Window partnership.
About the artist
A recent graduate from Manchester Metropolitan University, Níamh is an artist jeweller. Her work explores ideas of folk history, tactile memory and ritual. Specialising in metal casting -used in conjunction with other jewellery making processes- Níamh creates wearable objects. In each she celebrates the magical thinking of bygone days, in an endeavor to nurture belonging and protection.

Níamh incorporates inherited and found objects into her -often talismanic- works. Doing so provides a vehicle to preserve and reimagine stories and customs of the past. Such objects have recently included salt crystals, quenched coal and vials of anointed oil. These are then set into elements of cast brass.

The pieces  explore how traditional Irish -and superstitious folk customs  often relating to ‘the Otherworld’- inspires Níamh’s making of contemporary, ritual objects.
Connectivity
The resulting pieces intend to incite ‘ancestorial’ connection. By this, we mean the connection(s) we can make to our heritage via past generations through things we know they did, saw or felt. By rethinking and reproducing the protective practices used by these generations -and linking them with contemporary making- Níamh connects wearers to the past. Material connection (e.g., handling the metal or coal) is one aspect of engaging in the past, whilst fixing a piece to your clothing and adding coal, heat or other items or elements layers connectivity. Further, seeing or feeling the effects of the piece, such as the coal markings or warmth, continue the process of connection; engaging us in the same things our forebears saw or felt.

Spanning the month, Niamh’s pieces will be available to view throughout October, with a blend of exhibition and retail pieces. Watch out for an article from Niamh (on this site) and also our Meet the Maker event, at Bluecoat Display Centre,  at 11am on Fri 20 Oct 2023.
Artistic statement and theme
Each year the Liverpool Irish Festival sets a programme theme. Past themes have included hunger, exchange, unique stories; creatively told, migration, the meaning of ‘Irishness’ and conviviality. To build the theme, we pose questions to help us interrogate and understand Irishness, its influence and its creative spirit. 2023’s theme is ‘Anniversary’ – read more here.
In the Window partnership
Bluecoat Display Centre is an independent, regional centre for artistic activity. It brings together craft makers and audiences, in an environment that encourages creativity, collaboration and the exchange of ideas. Based in Liverpool city centre, Bluecoat Display Centre runs a gallery as well as education and community outreach programmes. It’s been a registered charity since 2010. The Centre provides a retail platform for 60+ local and 300+ nationally selected contemporary craft makers and designers. Established as one of England’s earliest craft and design galleries (1959), Bluecoat Display Centre was the first public gallery space within The Bluecoat. It’s an advocate, facilitator and audience maker for contemporary crafts.

Liverpool Irish Festival brings Liverpool and Ireland closer together using arts and culture. It is this use of arts and culture as an instrument for observing, learning, sharing and debating Irishness, in the particular context of Liverpool, which makes us unique. We represent Northern Ireland, the Republic and the Irish diaspora’s creativity throughout the Festival. Our thematic approach to programming, critical-thought and curation develops depth, resonance and inclusion. In this context, we believe the Liverpool Irish Festival is the only Irish arts and culture led festival in the world. We can’t find another!

Bluecoat Display Centre and Liverpool Irish Festival have partnered on In The Window events for October for many years. Together, they have presented work from Laura Matikaite, Mike Byrne, Sophie Longwill, Rory Shearer, Christy Keeney, Berina Kelly and Catherine Keenan, among others.

Image: Lace caged coal brooch, Níamh Grimes, 2023.

Bluecoat Display Centre logo

The Bluecoat Display Centre and Liverpool Irish Festival are delighted to announce our 2023 maker: Níamh Grimes. This continues our annual In The Window partnership.

This event provides visitors with the chance to chat with Níamh directly about her work. Refreshments will be provided on arrival.

Friends of the Bluecoat Display Centre will receive a 10% discount on all purchases during the event.

Booking is required. Please call +44(0) 151 709 4014, to book a place, or stop by the gallery to reserve a space with a member of staff.

This event has a recommended donation price of £10 per ticket, providing a speaker fee for Níamh.
About the artist
A recent graduate from Manchester Metropolitan University, Níamh is an artist jeweller. Her work explores ideas of folk history, tactile memory and ritual. Specialising in metal casting -used in conjunction with other jewellery making processes- Níamh creates wearable objects. In each she celebrates the magical thinking of bygone days, in an endeavor to nurture belonging and protection.

Níamh incorporates inherited and found objects into her -often talismanic- works. Doing so provides a vehicle to preserve and reimagine stories and customs of the past. Such objects have recently included salt crystals, quenched coal and vials of anointed oil. These are then set into elements of cast brass.

The pieces  explore how traditional Irish -and superstitious folk customs  often relating to ‘the Otherworld’- inspires Níamh’s making of contemporary, ritual objects.
Connectivity
The resulting pieces intend to incite ‘ancestorial’ connection. By this, we mean the connection(s) we can make to our heritage via past generations through things we know they did, saw or felt. By rethinking and reproducing the protective practices used by these generations -and linking them with contemporary making- Níamh connects wearers to the past. Material connection (e.g., handling the metal or coal) is one aspect of engaging in the past, whilst fixing a piece to your clothing and adding coal, heat or other items or elements layers connectivity. Further, seeing or feeling the effects of the piece, such as the coal markings or warmth, continue the process of connection; engaging us in the same things our forebears saw or felt.

Spanning the month, Niamh’s pieces will be available to view throughout October, with a blend of exhibition and retail pieces. Watch out for an article from Niamh (on this site) and also our Meet the Maker event, at Bluecoat Display Centre,  at 11am on Fri 20 Oct 2023.
Artistic statement and theme
Each year the Liverpool Irish Festival sets a programme theme. Past themes have included hunger, exchange, unique stories; creatively told, migration, the meaning of ‘Irishness’ and conviviality. To build the theme, we pose questions to help us interrogate and understand Irishness, its influence and its creative spirit. 2023’s theme is ‘Anniversary’ – read more here.
In the Window partnership
Bluecoat Display Centre is an independent, regional centre for artistic activity. It brings together craft makers and audiences, in an environment that encourages creativity, collaboration and the exchange of ideas. Based in Liverpool city centre, Bluecoat Display Centre runs a gallery as well as education and community outreach programmes. It’s been a registered charity since 2010. The Centre provides a retail platform for 60+ local and 300+ nationally selected contemporary craft makers and designers. Established as one of England’s earliest craft and design galleries (1959), Bluecoat Display Centre was the first public gallery space within The Bluecoat. It’s an advocate, facilitator and audience maker for contemporary crafts.

Liverpool Irish Festival brings Liverpool and Ireland closer together using arts and culture. It is this use of arts and culture as an instrument for observing, learning, sharing and debating Irishness, in the particular context of Liverpool, which makes us unique. We represent Northern Ireland, the Republic and the Irish diaspora’s creativity throughout the Festival. Our thematic approach to programming, critical-thought and curation develops depth, resonance and inclusion. In this context, we believe the Liverpool Irish Festival is the only Irish arts and culture led festival in the world. We can’t find another!

Bluecoat Display Centre and Liverpool Irish Festival have partnered on In The Window events for October for many years. Together, they have presented work from Laura Matikaite, Mike Byrne, Sophie Longwill, Rory Shearer, Christy Keeney, Berina Kelly and Catherine Keenan, among others.

Image: Lace caged coal brooch, Níamh Grimes, 2023.

Bluecoat Display Centre logo

This concert sees internationally-renowned traditional Irish band The London Lasses celebrating the release of their 25th Anniversary Album, LL25.

Featuring all new material, it includes both past and present band members. Since first getting together for an informal tour of the US (1997), the band have performed at some of the biggest festivals and venues in the world. This includes The Royal Albert Hall (London), where they played the first ever BBC Proms céilí, Cambridge Folk Festival, Dublin City Hall, The Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Philadelphia Irish Festival and Glastonbury.

It’s been 13 years since they last performed at Liverpool Irish Festival (when they hosted a sell-out night at Sefton Park Palm House). This is a reunion you won’t want to miss and a fitting opener for the launch night of the Festival.

Culture Ireland have supported this event.

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Completely informal opportunity to come a long for a tune.

The first seisiún of two in the Festival, the other takes place the following Fri (27 Oct 2022) – again at PK’s.

Bring an instrument, your voice and a will to play along. There’ll be Festival friends to help bring the gang together, whilst a fully stocked bar -in one of the most historic and quirkiest pubs in Liverpool- eases you towards the dawn. This event gets busy quickly and sometimes it is ‘standing room only’, so be prepared to ‘hotch up’ and swap places so everyone can get a piece of the action.

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Dir. Ciara Nic Chormaic (2023). Irish language with English subtitles
UK Premiere of Ó Bhéal, introduced by Mick Hannigan (IndieCork Film Festival) in celebration of 50-years of hip-hop.

Ó Bhéal -meaning ‘Oral’-is a cinematic exploration of the rise of hip-hop and electronic artists in Ireland. Embracing oral traditions of folklore, ancient poetry and sean-nós singing, it’s created a new fusion sound, a culture clash through music.

An ensemble piece, the film features Irish-language rappers Seán ‘Mory’ Ó Muirgheasa and Oisín Mac, producer and multi-instrumentalist Fehdah, and Limerick rapper Strange Boy. This beautiful black and white film delves deep into these four artists’ process and how they are breaking new ground in Irish music. Through insightful interviews, intimate portrayals of the creative process of each artist as they work on tracks in studio, and visceral live performances, Ó Bhéal tells the story of a moment in time in the Irish musical landscape.

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More info, here.

Interested in position on race equality? You might be interested in our recent Race Equality Manifesto signing.

Liverpool’s March with Pride is taking place on 29 July 2023 (full details here).

This year is especially poignant as we continue support for our Ukrainian LGBTQIA+ siblings. Russia’s Ukrainian occupation has rendered marching with pride there illegal.
Get involved
Liverpool Irish Festival and Irish Community Care are collaborating to March with Pride and invite other Irish services in the north (or from further afield, if you wish to travel) to march with us.
Organisations
In order we can report on numbers; represent everyone on the banner and plan for the mustering, we need:

your organisation’s name
a lead contact email and telephone number
company logo (preferably a .png file, without a background), and
estimated/planned number of ‘marchers’.

Organisations that want representing on our shared banner must register with us by 9am on Mon 19 July 2023 (?️‍? Click here to register.?️‍? ) so we have time to turn around a banner. We will register our collective with LCR Pride.
Individuals and non-affiliated groups
You don’t have to be Irish or of Irish extraction to march with us; friends are actively encouraged.  Individuals and non-affiliated groups (e.g., those not formally registering their organisation) are free to register their interest here -especially if there are large numbers- or you can turn up on the day. Either way, you’ll be made welcome. Our banner will celebrate our collective as Irish services supporting March with Pride. ?️‍? Click here to register.?️‍?  
What happens next?
When you register with our collective of Irish Services, we’ll produce a banner to march behind. We’ll email all registrants with details of our mustering site number, which will be provided close to the day after we have completed our group registration with LCR Pride. If you have any questions ahead of or after registering, you can contact Emma on emma@liverpoolirishfestival.com.
Details for the day
Mustering begins at 10.30am, on the plateau at St George’s Hall (Lime Street, Liverpool) and we need everyone to be present behind our banner by 11.50am to start marching at midday. We recommend dressing for fun; in bright and colourful weather appropriate ways! Bring water, sun screen and umbrellas!

Use this link to find out more about the mustering, theme and schedule.

See last year’s Liverpool Irish Festival Pride March photos and last year’s Pride promotional film below.

https://youtu.be/NM9RMIlYxds
Representation
Liverpool Irish Festival is a progressive, tolerant and inclusive organisation, standing up for the representation of all civil liberties. We have an intersectional approach to programming and to championing underrepresented voices. You can read more about our artistic practices and position in our artistic policy.

Internationally acclaimed Irish folk singer and actor Lisa Lambe brings her new project, NightVisiting, to the Liverpool Irish Festival.

Lisa is accompanied by Mike Brookfield (guitar), Tim Doyle (fiddle, pipes and concertina) and Claire Sherry (mandolin, fiddle and banjo). Attendees will experience music from some local musicians (still to be announced) ahead of Lisa’s show. This will include new material, delivered for #LIF2023.
NightVisiting: Lisa Lambe

Based on Lisa’s work with the National Folklore Collection -and her recent MA in Irish Folklore- this internationally acclaimed Irish folk singer and actor brings us her new project, NightVisiting.

Lisa collaborates with renowned traditional musicians alongside local contributors. This creates a unique performance bespoke to each venue she visits. There she celebrates the old songs, stories and tunes from around the hearth.
Musical influence
NightVisiting connects audiences to the social role night-time house visits once played in Ireland’s oral traditions and folklore and in the preservation of its songs and stories. From tender love songs to the bawdy; to songs of loss and longing; NightVisiting reflects on nostalgia and togetherness.
Musicians

Lisa Lambe: vocals
Mike Brookfield: guitar
Tim Doyle: fiddle, pipes and concertina
Claire Sherry: mandolin, fiddle and banjo.

Lisa will be supported by Úna Quinn and Neil Campbell, who will premiere a specially commissioned song at the event. uquinn.bandcamp.com
Videos celebrating NightVisiting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TmIkULHH7Q

Event partners
The Festival is very proud to be working with the Institute of Irish Studies at the University of Liverpool on this event. Major thanks go to Gerry Diver and Professor Peter Shirlow. The Institute’s financial support has assisted with ticket pricing and their institutional support helped us partner with The Tung Auditorium. For any one new to The Tung Auditorium, it is a cutting edge Liverpool venue.

The Institue of Irish Studies logo University of Liverpool logo

The Tung Auditorium logo.
Print-at-home poster
Download your own poster to print-at-home (409KB, PDF).

St Brigid is often quoted as being a patroness of refugees.

She is frequently connected with water (think of wells named in her honour). Thus, we are connecting themes and using her platform to raise awareness of Britain’s treatment of the Chinese Seamen in this ongoing quest for justice, connection and knowledge.

In 1945-6, hundreds of Liverpool’s Chinese seamen were ’rounded-up’ and forcibly deported to China, Singapore or other locations.

Official evidence was hard to locate; with documents strewn across the world; often deliberately hidden from view, making the story difficult to confirm. Prior to their forced ‘repatriation’, many of these men met and married English and Irish women; creating Chinese-English and Chinese-Irish communities; a legacy that continues today.

What of those left behind? Of the men severed from their families and homes? Where did they end up and how did it affect the communities involved?

In 2013-14, The Sound Agents undertook interviews with members of the community, affected by these acts. From verbatim accounts of lived-experiences of the trauma and aftershock, they crafted an incredible play, which has now had several outings. As MP Kim Johnson continues to press the Government’s Home Office for official recognition and an apology for this “shameful stain on our history”, we create a memorial to testimony, featuring Moira Kenny and Ozzie Yue, available globally.
Listen here

Podcast credits
The Curious Disappearance of Mr Foo is a story based on the forced deportation of Chinese seamen from Liverpool, in 1946, using verbatim Liverpool Chinatown oral histories, recorded in 2013.

Podcast commissioner: Liverpool Irish Festival

Writers, producers, recording team and editing: The Sound Agents

The Sound Agents hold all copywrite ownership. This recording has been licenced to Liverpool Irish Festival for this broadcast, but all other rights are reserved. Visit The Sound Agent website for more details of their work.
Cast
Mr Foo
Ozzy Yue

Cathleen Delaney
Moira Kenny
Extra resources
Exhibition
At the point of release, we would also note a significant exhibition about the Chinese-British story, taking place in the Hornby Library at Liverpool Central Library, 16 Jan-31 Mar 2023, held in partnership with the British Library. This exhibit has also been curated by The Sound Agents. Interestingly, Jack Yue and his son Ozzy Yue -featured in the podcast- are featured in the exhibit. To read more about the exhibit -and its partner in show in London- click here to download a PDF leaflet.
More theatre
For anyone hoping to learn more about Chinese-British experiences, we were recently made aware of another production called Gold Mountain, written by David Yip and featuring Kevin Wong. To see their production and/or to read more about an alternate Chinese-British experience, visit their project page, here.

For years now, Liverpool Irish Festival has coordinated Merseyside’s contribution to #GlobalGreening for St Patrick’s Day.

This year we have linked #GlobalGreening with the Irish Arts Foundation‘s #IrishHistoryMonth. Use these hashtags to learn more on social media: #GlobalGreening #StPatricksDay2023 and #FeilePadraig.

See the film we’ve created showing our glorious buildings:

Environmentalism
This year, we give our focus to environmentalism. As a carbon literate organisation it is important to us that we are not wasting enegery. Lighting cultural buildings green, rather than their standard colour, takes no more energy that in any other colour, but will symbolise both Ireland and the environment. Lighting anything with LEDs costs between 50-70% less that old lighting systems.Can you swap out your old lightbulbs (when they blow) for LED ones?

This year, we welcome onlookers to consider their carbon outputs and whether you could make one change to your life that would help the planet. Due to the carbon footprint of milk, our Artistic Director lowered her cow’s milk intake by seven/eighths and committed to ensuring that all of the Festival’s print -newspapers, posters, printer paper, envelopes, books, postage packaging etc- are as responsibly sourced as possible. She also has meat free days and takes all her soft plastic to the recycling drop offs at the local superstore. What can you do?
Internationalism
#GlobalGreening was originally set up by Tourism Ireland in 2010. It gained international partners, with sites in Sydney, Venice, Milan, Hong Kong and Washington DC and many more. Each celebrates Irish communities across the world. Turning emerald honours the influence, assimilation and impact Ireland has had. It reminds us of the time, effort and labour Irish perople have invested in their ‘found homes’ and the friendships made within their host communities.Following Putin’s acts of war on Ukraine in 2022 – continuing today – Tourism Ireland put #GlobalGreening on hold in 2022. However, in Liverpool there were still many partners that wanted to honour #FeilePadraig and light, in kinship, with those that turned yellow and blue (Ukraine’s national colours). Thus, Liverpool Irish Festival continued to support #GlobalGreening, sharing messages of solidarity with displaced peoples and sharing the night sky with them.
Who was involved in Merseyside?
Each year, at dusk, we set off to capture images of our participating partners, going emerald in honour of St Patrick’s Day. Involved this year are:

Steve Prescott Bridge
Liverpool Town Hall
St George’s Hall
Cunard Building and British Music Experience

Port of Liverpool Building
Radio City/St John’s Beacon
Edge Hill University
Greystone Bridge
The Atkinson, Southport

The Liverpool Everyman

World Museum
Martin Luther King Building (International Slavery Museum, NML)
Campanile
The Palm House (post-night-time event)
Woodside Ventiliation Building
Shakespeare North Playhouse
Arena and Coference Centre (ACC)
Our Lady and St Nicholas Church (Liveprool Parish).

At 00:01AM on Fri 17 Mar 2023 Cristina-Steliana Mihailovici’s St Patrick’s Day poem will go live, here.
Get involved
We welcome you to visit as many of these places as you can and add your images to social media, using our handle @LivIrishFest and hashtag #GlobalGreening. We’ll take photos of each particpating building/structure and create a short film to present soon after the night and post it here (you can see previous year’s films below or you can view the archive of images here). We’ll also post it on Facebook and Twitter, recording a +65-mile round-trip in the process!

We hope you will enjoy seeing these buildings and structures light up in honour of Ireland and its people.
2022’s film

2021’s film

 

Event schedule
Click here to open a .jpg of our event schedules. For exhibitions, please see our listings.

We’re very proud of our 2023 Festival, centred ont he theme of anniversary. It includes our usual Launch and Cultural Connectedness Day (Thurs 19 Oct), Family Day (Sat 21 Oct), a writing day (Sun 22 Oct) and a Samhain Céilí (Sun 29 Oct), as well as walking tours, talks, performances and gigs. We hope you will join us and enjoy what we have on offer.

We’re sad to say we’re not able to run boat tours this year. The Pride of Sefton has had engineering faults, meaning we couldn’t programme events with them. We sincerely hope they can return next year and wish them well with their rebuild.

Look out for #LIF2023 hashtags and follow us on @LivIrishFest on social media.
Accessing tickets
Where we stipulate that ‘booking is required’ you can access ticket sites via the Festival’s website and clicking ‘Events’, or liverpoolirishfestival.com/events.

Please note we work in numerous venues so booking links may take you to venue websites or Eventbrite booking pages. This is normal.

Search our event pages for the event you’re looking for and the booking link button will take you to the official ticket vendor. Events are listed chronologically. This is the address we refer to when stating: ‘book online’: liverpoolirishfestival.com/events.

All events are in 2023, unless otherwise stated.
Bursary tickets
The Festival is aware ticket prices can prevent people from attending. We’ve done as much as we can to keep all costs to a minimum. However, if you would be unable to attend, on the basis of cost, you can request a bursary (free) place. Your enquiry should be marked ‘Bursary request’ (or similar) and addressed to emma@liverpoolirishfestival.com Your request will be treated with absolute confidentiality. Where it’s possible for us to provide you with a free ticket (based on lead-time and availability) you’ll be notified how you can redeem it.

This is an honour system, designed to help those who need it most. We ask that people are respectful of this. Your support in ticket buying assists us to deliver a generous Festival, with reduced barriers to access.
Strands of work to look out for
The #LIF2023 programme crosses artistic disciplines, from niche to popular. Throughout the Festival we’re making links to anniversary, whether through daily rituals or centenary commemorations. We hope you’ll find something to please and surprise, entertain and challenge you; whether via music, family activities, theatre or discussion.

Categories:

Film, arts and animation

Performance, literature and poetry

Music and song

Talks and Tours

Community, family and sport

Liverpool Irish Famine Trail and An Gorta Mór

To identify work strands, use these symbols: ♀️❤️??

♀️ In:Visible Women and women’s work ♀️
❤️Family ❤️
? Nook and Cranny Spaces ?
? Irish Famine Trail, identity and heritage ?
Regional and national travel, accommodation and green agendas
We encourage anyone attending from outside the region to use the greenest methods of travel, such as rail and coach services. Tickets from all train providers can be obtained from thetrainline.com. When finding accommodation in Liverpool, please look for those that have carbon neutral policies or environmentally friendly intention statements. Having undertaken Carbon Literacy Training in 2021 -and joined Shift (Liverpool’s climate emergency response network)-the Festival has a duty to try and effect positive climate change. We welcome your support.
Public transport and venue information
Below we’ve provided travel information to each of our venues. Visit Merseytravel for local bus and train times and routes www.merseytravel.gov.uk. Bus route information is based on arriving at venues from Liverpool Lime Street Station (L1 1JD). Walking times use the estimated journey times provided by Google Maps (walking from Liverpool Lime Street).

For those who can, and are confident enough, we recommend electric vehicles to cut down carbon emissions. For details on Liverpool’s CityBike (pay as you ride) hire scheme visit: citybikeliverpool.co.uk Liverpool also has an electric scooter hire scheme. You must be 18 to ride and have a driving licence. Please check the scooter hire map to ensure they’ll work through to your chose destination as there are city parameters to consider, as well as their power range. More here: voiscooters.com/how-to-voi
What three words
What Three Words is a locational reference that simplifies GPS coordinates in to a three-word code, representing 3m2 of the earth’s surface. We have tried to provide this for the entrance to each of our venues. You can use What Three Words in conjunction with Apple Maps, Google Maps and Compass.
Traffic in Liverpool, roadworks and the green agenda
At the time of writing, Liverpool centre is awash with road improvement works, making it difficult to provide consistent road and traffic management information. A key recommendation from the Festival is to use public transport, where and whenever possible. If 10% of Festival visitors used public transport instead of cars, collectively we’ll save 3.28 tonnes in CO2 emissions from entering the world! Imagine, if 100% went for public transport we could save 32.8 tonnes in carbon emissions; the same as the weight of 18 average cars!
Real life eventing and Covid-19
At the time of writing, compulsory Covid-19 mask-wearing and social distancing has ceased. However, if we have learned anything since 2020 it is how quickly things can change. The Festival’s events will be subject to whatever government regulations are placed on venues, according to their scale and ventilation capabilities. Please ensure you are able and willing to comply to the prevailing guidance. We will do our best to proceed with events, subject to regulations. Liverpool Irish Festival works in partnership with our venues. We’ll work with them to employ what they believe to be best practice for their spaces. We hope you will appreciate the efforts made to keep you safe and help us by following on-site requests.