Arts festival in the black

Galway Arts Festival is on target to break even this year if the current level of tickets sales continues, says its Artistic Director Paul Fahy.The 30th festival will close this Sunday night with a special tribute concert to musician Donal Lunny to mark his 60th birthday. That gig in the Radisson, which will include many of his musical collaborators over the years, including members of the band Moving Hearts is sold out.However, at 4pm on Sunday evening the Festival will show a special screening of Follow The Music, Nuala O’Connor’s documentary on Lunny, which was broadcast earlier this year as part of RTÉ’s Arts Lives series. Admittance to the screening, at the Town Hall is free, but tickets are required and are available from the Box Office.Some events, including dance show from the Stephen Petronio Company, are totally sold out, but there are tickets for other shows, says Fahy. “We have tickets for Particularly in the Heartland, which runs at 8pm nightly until Sunday in the Town Hall and there are also tickets for Get Your War on, in the same venue at 10.30pm. We still have a few left for Laura Veirs on Friday night in the Róisín Dubh, and for Guy Pratt in Cuba, also on Friday. Cora Smyth and Sean Horseman’s show in Druid on Saturday and Sunday is selling well, but there are some tickets available.”A new show, which will celebrate the launch of Róisín Elsafty’s CD Má Bhíonn Tú Liom Bí Liom will take place in Cuba*, Eyre Square on Saturday at 4. The Barna sean nós singer will be joined for the concert by Donal Lunny and Máirtín O’Connor among others.Free street events have been taking place throughout the festival with the main outdoor event to date being last Sunday’s Macnas Parade, The 9th Wonder of the World. Its theme was the glitz and glamour of mid 20th century Hollywood, but the company managed to incorporate the troublesome cryptosporidium parasite that caused Galway’s water crisis into the spectacle.It was one of the items, along with colourful sunflowers, New York cops, dancing chunks of birthday cake and over the top movie types, as well as a superb 'gameshow’ float entitled The Buck Stops Here, that entertained the crowds, backed by music from the era. There was much that was lovely about The 9th Wonder of the World but it suffered from being quite short and it ended abruptly.There will be further free street performances this weekend with Belgian company Cirqcumstancia presenting Cirque Diabolique from tonight, Thursday until Saturday at 10.30pm nightly. Close-Act, from Holland which last week brought dinosaurs onto Galway’s streets will return this weekend with XL Insects, a display of loud and raucous giant insects. They will be out and about on Friday and Saturday at 4pm and 9.30pm. (See more in Life magazine)