Arts Festival set to attract 180,000 people
Organisers of the Galway International Arts Festival are predicting increased audiences of around 12.5% for this year’s extravaganza of theatre, dance, music, comedy and art.
The performances at the 2015 festival, which officially opens on Monday, are expected to attract audiences of 180,000, according to Artistic Director, Paul Fahy.
Last year audiences of 160,000 attended free and paid-for shows, and Mr Fahy is expecting an increase of about 20,000 due to a bigger street performance programme, extra shows in the Big Top and quality theatre.
The worldwide success of shows such as Ballyturk and Riverrun, which attracted audiences of 72,000 in the past year in venues outside of Galway including London, Dublin Cork, Edinburgh, New York and Australia, are also helping to boost international audiences. Some 34% of audiences in 2014 were international.
Around €20 million was pumped directly into the local economy as a direct result of last year’s festival, according to independent research carried out by Fáilte Ireland and a similar boost is expected this year. Mr Fahy said, aside from the direct economic impact, the festival generates an immeasurable indirect impact on Galway as well as adding a quantitative value and artistic value.
Mr Fahy said he is extremely excited ahead of the official opening of the event, on Monday, which is traditionally the busiest day for the festival box office.
On the theatre-front, Mr Fahy advises festival-goers to check out The Match Box, a Galway Arts Festival production starring Cathy Belton and directed by Joan Sheehy – tickets sales are brisk so book early.
Luck Just Kissed You Hello, a play that explores issues of identity and father and child relationships, is a “very funny and very moving”, he said. “There is an acerbic wit; it’s very biting.”
Exhibit B is another “unmissable” show. Part performance, part installation this is a critique of historic racism and colonialism, that has a resonance with today and what is going on in terms of asylum seekers in Direct Provision in Ireland and refugees fleeing on boats in the Mediterranean.
Mr Fahy said it was “the most powerful piece” he has witnessed in the festival over the past 10 years in terms of “personal, political and social impact it has”.
Other highlights include, A Girl’s Bedroom by Enda Walsh, Maum at An Taibhdhearc and Pat McCabe’s The Dead School by the Galway Youth Theatre and Galway Community Theatre at Nuns’ Island Theatre.
The hottest band in the country right now, Kodaline, has sold out the Big Top twice, and Damien Rice is also sold out. Tickets for Sinéad O’Connor at the Big Top (Thursday, July 23) are selling well. Mr Fahy said St. Vincent at the Big Top (Tuesday, July 14) will be “one of the gigs of the year”. “I adore her, it will be great,” he said.
There is a varied musical programme this year and Mr Fahy said that they are almost a “mini classical music festival” within the festival. He said the star attraction is John Wilson, renowned conductor, and the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra’s Orchestral Masterworks at the Bailey Allen Hall in NUI Galway.
There will be 96 musicians on stage in what promises to be an “epic” performance. “There is sometimes a barrier to classical music but John Wilson makes classical music accessible and he brings the best out of musicians when he is conducting. It is going to be epic.”
The ‘big family show’ this year is Live Live Cinema Little Shop of Horrors, which goes at “break neck speed” and is “fantastic fun” for all the family.
Street spectacles are always a free highlight of the festival and this year is no exception. Transe Express from France brings The Giant Divas & Les Tambours to the streets of the city on Friday, July 17 at 10pm and Saturday July 18 at 6pm.
Three giant divas will move through the city streets singing opera and they’ll be joined by a band of tin soldier drummers.
Man on the Moon is a “great show” featuring circus skills and acrobatics by George Orange on Friday, July 17 and Saturday July 18 at Fr Burke Park and not Spanish Parade as per the programme.
The Skywhale, which is causing quite a stir from its spectacular looking picture in the programme, is having its first outing on Monday. The 100 feet long and 70 feet tall Skywhale will be tethered at various locations in the city throughout the week and people are asked to keep an eye on social media for updates of when and where it will fly.
One of the highlights of the visual arts programme is Relativity by Patricia Piccinini at the Festival Gallery at the Connacht Tribune on Market Street. Other highlights include Martin Healy’s Terrain at Galway Arts Centre, Borders by Varvara Shavrova at the Docks and Meta-Perceptual Helmets by Cleary Connolly and Neil McKenzie at University Hospital Galway.
For your chance to win a flight in the Skywhale, click HERE