Over the last two centuries, the histories of Ireland and Merseyside have become inextricably linked through the port of Liverpool.
During the nineteenth century, millions of Irish emigrants passed through the port while hundreds of thousands made the city their home.
On Merseyside, Irish history has become interwoven with the histories of countries and communities across the globe who also settled in the city. In this podcast, recorded in front of a live Festival audience, Irish historian and creator of The Irish History Podcast (irishhistorypodcast.ie), Fin Dwyer, will talk to local people about their family histories, which embody these fascinating links between Liverpool, Ireland and the wider world.
The event is held in partnership with The Irish History Podcast. Look out for its broadcast later in the year.
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We are proud to state this event is linked with Black History Month and the Cuture Liverpool programme.
The Wife of Michael Cleary is the first piece of music theatre from composer and performer Maz O’Connor.
Inspired by traditional Irish music, her piece tells the true story of Bridget Cleary, who lived in Co. Tipperary over a century ago.
In 1895, at the age of 26, Bridget was burned to death by her husband and family. They claimed they had not killed Bridget, but a changeling left in her place by fairies. News of this shocking case spread through Ireland and across the sea to England, where it was used as fodder in the Home Rule debates.
This new work explores the folklore and superstitions that were rife in an Ireland on the verge of great change. It highlights how societies overlook and enable violence against women and asks ‘how much has really changed for women in the past century?’.
Join us for a stripped-back evening of music from the show, alongside the traditional music that inspired it. This is a unique chance to preview aspects of The Wife of Michael Cleary as Maz and her team develop it towards full production.
Completely informal opportunity to come a long for a tune.
Bring an instrument and a will to play along. No doubt there’ll be a few Festival friends there to help bring the gang together, whilst a fully stocked bar -in one of the most historic and quirkiest pubs in Liverpool- can ease you towards the dawn.
The play will be broadcast on YouTube (search for the Liverpool Irish Festival channel), which requires no tickets. If you would like to be part of the live Zoom transmission, and take part in the online Q&A, you will need to book. Ticket numbers are limited. Once you have booked, Eventbrite (the booking system) will send you all the necessary links to gain access to the event on the evening.
We are proud to state this event is linked with Black History Month and the Cuture Liverpool programme.
Liverpool is famous for the birds on the magnificent Liver Building (the first ever skyscraper in the UK), but there are over 100 Liver Birds in the City. Join ArtsGroupie for a lively, fun two-hour walking tour ‘safari’ around the City Centre. The walk starts at Bluecoat, talking participants on a Liver Bird-spotting mission, learning about the history of Liverpool along the way. The tour finishes near the waterfront.
Bookers are asked to wear comfortable shoes, ensuring you visited restrooms before the tour commences. You are also advised to bring an umbrella or a waterproof, if rain is forecast (sun cream in the unlikely event of glorious weather in Oct!). Binoculars are a bonus (to see the birds up close and in intricate detail)!
This tour is suitable for any one with a good enough attention span -and mobility (or mobility support) to stay on the move for 2 hours.
Liverpool is famous for the birds on the magnificent Liver Building (the first ever skyscraper in the UK), but there are over 100 Liver Birds in the City. Join ArtsGroupie for a lively, fun two-hour walking tour ‘safari’ around the City Centre. The walk starts at Bluecoat, talking participants on a Liver Bird-spotting mission, learning about the history of Liverpool along the way. The tour finishes near the waterfront.
Bookers are asked to wear comfortable shoes, ensuring you visited restrooms before the tour commences. You are also advised to bring an umbrella or a waterproof, if rain is forecast (sun cream in the unlikely event of glorious weather in Oct!). Binoculars are a bonus (to see the birds up close and in intricate detail)!
This tour is suitable for any one with a good enough attention span -and mobility (or mobility support) to stay on the move for 2 hours.
Launch follow up: Adam Oronowicz kindly recorded some of the Festival launch, which can be viewed below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPqhjq791Pg
Original listing
With opening speeches, music and a live preview of our newly adopted Festival theme song, our launch brings Festival friends together.
The Centre, our natural home, provides a convivial space in which to toast ‘Sláinte’ (health) to all those who join us, have helped us and will be with us for Festivals ahead. Book ahead to ensure you have the best seats!
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Attendance at the launch does not give you automatic attendance to The Old Time Sailors. You will need to book tickets seperately for this event.
We are proud to state this event is linked with Black History Month and the Cuture Liverpool programme.
Commuity invitation
Here at the Liverpool Irish Festival, we are very aware that representation has become a major part of our everyday work. We have had to find a voice to support our Irish communities against ignorance arising through Brexit; against general and systemic misunderstandings caused by assumptions about who the Irish in Britain are and the need to challenge the widely asserted by incorrect view that Irishness is white.
We know these things are wrong and that, often times, they echo what is happening to and in other communities.
We want to make our Festival open to Liverpool’s often overlooked communities and remind everyone that the Liverpool Irish Festival is for those with an Irish background -of any heritage- as well as those with no connection to Ireland at all! Arts and culture are for sharing; internally between those whom identify the culture as theirs and externally, so others can see why and how unique customs, creative exchanges and histories draw communities closer, drive them apart and/or help people with their identify.
This year’s Festival theme is exchange. Every event contains an exchange within it and we hope we can create exchanges with you. We welcome you -and the community you support- to our events and hope that you will share our specific invite to you widely. Parts of our programme this year involve individuals of Chinese Irish, Irish Caribbean and other Irish dual-heritages in a bid to start showing that Ireland’s people -it’s diaspora and communities abroad are a myriad of people, dreams and ambitions. We hope you will join us to celebrate some exceptional stories, art and history.
You can find everything you need to know about our events programme -and our Liverpool Irish Famine Trail project- at liverpoolirishfestival.com and you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram on @LivIrishFest. before signing off, I would encourage anyone that wanted to connect with our programme and the notifications coming out ahead of the Festival to sign up for our enewsletter – you can do that here: https://www.liverpoolirishfestival.com/sign-up/ This allows us to speak directly with you about the programme and community news updates.
In 2020 Gael Linn and An tUltach partnered with the Liverpool Irish Festival to create a one-off creative commission to celebrates Irish language and folklore.
Selected for this commission, was storyteller and artist Nuala Monaghan. The resulting work tells five key stories from Irish myth and legend, each with an artwork to help communicate the power of the story. Shown among the Calderstones, that connect Liverpool with Ireland through thousands of years of use and symbolism, this exhibit helps to reveal the connections folklore continues to have on our modern world.
This exhibition was co-commissioned with Gael Linn and An tUltach. Gael Linn is a non-profit and non-governmental organisation focused on the promotion of the Irish language and the arts. An tUltach is Ireland’s oldest Irish language literary magazine, established in 1924.
Also see The Gods of Old; a Hallowe’en Storytelling listing, Sun 31 Oct.
Irish Film London is a not-for-profit organisation that promotes and supports the work of Irish filmmakers across all genres of film and television.
The organisation runs a year-round programme of screenings and events both online and in cinemas. Events are mostly in London, but also around the UK, and now -through our online platform- Irish Film From Home, they have a global reach.
This year, Irish Film London have partnered with the Festival to include a specially curated selection of short films that reflects this year’s theme of ‘exchange’ and, particularly, the challenges faced by the LGBTQI+ community. Through comedy, drama, animation and documentary, these short films delve into romantic love, overcoming fears and prejudices, family secrets and being open to life’s surprises. We hope you enjoy this exchange of visual storytelling, from the uniquely Irish perspectives of new and experienced filmmakers.
First Kiss (With a Girl)
A startlingly inventive experimental short that has the longest, sexiest kiss by confectionery you’ve ever seen! Yes, you read that right! The film explores that special sort of 11pm, tipsy, nightclub magic of late adolescence. This is a kitschy, low-fi, bubble-gum-sweet glance at queer intimacy.
Pogonophobia
In director Thomas Ryan’s award-winning short film, Pogonophobia, he addresses a little known -but truly debilitating- phobia: the fear of beards. In this comedy drama, his protagonist, Cyril, is a sufferer who hates leaving his flat. Forced out one evening, an act of homophobic bullying and a chance encounter at Grand Canal Dock, Dublin, will change that forever.
True
Shane Collins’ short drama, True, is about a grandfather’s struggles with his identity and his grandson’s homophobia. The film reflects Shane’s pride in his Irish heritage and intention to make films with truth and honesty at their core.
Becoming Cherrie
Award-winning short documentary from artist and filmmaker, Nicky Larkin, about actor and performer, Matthew Cavan, AKA Cherrie Ontop, Belfast’s beloved drag artist, who is living with HIV in a conservative Northern Irish society.
The Full Package
Trevor Kaneswaran’s debut short film The Full Package is light-touch comedy that challenges assumptions we make about those we meet, online and in person. It is about being open to unexpected opportunities.
Hold the Sausage
Hold the Sausage is a cross-generational comedy, set at the dinner table as ‘Nanny’ tries to grapple with her daughter and her granddaughter’s’ revelations and fears about what the neighbours will think. Chloe Muldoon plays all four parts to great comic effect.
Image from First Kiss (With a Girl), Clodagh Chapman
Continuing our annual In the Window partnership, the Bluecoat Display Centre, Design and Crafts Council of Ireland (DCCI) and Liverpool Irish Festival selected emerging glass talent Sophie Longwill as the 2021featured artist.
This year’s ‘exchange’ brief provided one of the largest responses to our open call, set against the backdrop of Covid-19. What made Sophie’s work notable, was her exchange with Liverpool -via her sister- and this is embodied in the work. Below, Sophie explores the relationship between optical input and translation; materials and meaning; experience and storytelling. In her words, we travel to the heart of Sophie’s fragile work; it’s delicate, but fierce processes and the resulting representations that blend the ephemeral and untouchable with the creation of recognisable, tangible skies. In talking about the work, we visit her relationship with time and experience, central to many makers’ ability to bend materials to harness and communicate ideas.
This exhibition is run in partnership with Bluecoat Display Centre, with support from Design and Craft Council of Ireland.
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Look at the short interview Sam Rhodes (Bluecoat Display Centre) has run with artist Sophie Longwill:
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