Show goes on for Shorelines Festival despite devastating fire in major venue

Portumna’s fourth Shorelines Arts Festival will be officially opened next Thursday, September 22 by Michael D Higgins.

But there was pre-festival drama last week, because of a devastating fire at the Shannon Oaks Hotel, which was a venue and a major festival sponsor.

The temporary loss of the Shannon Oaks presented a challenge to the organising committee. However, swift responses from local people like Portumna Retirement village owner, Tony Williams and local PP Fr Brendan Lawless, solved some venue issues. That means that Declan O’Rourke’s Concert and an event celebrating the late Irish singer Delia Murphy can still take place.

Declan O’Rourke, whose songs have been recorded by artists like Josh Groban, Eddi Reader, Brian Kennedy and Mary Byrne will be in St Brigid’s Catholic Church for an intimate, seated concert at 8.30pm on Saturday, September 24. He will be joined by a cellist and violinist for a special, acoustic event. Tickets are available locally and online at €20.

Michael D Higgins will open the Festival at 4pm on September 22 in the refurbished VEC, home to this year’s Shorelines Art Exhibition. The building with its great windows and high ceilings is an ideal exhibition space. This event consists of work decorated by over 40 local voluntary groups over the last few months. The theme for the project is Anything under the Sun and work includes collages, knitted pictures, paintings and photographs, representing the area in all its variety. Visiting artists, including Emma Barone, Marie Connolle and Dick Gough are also taking part.

Portumna Community School is housing a studenta’ mixed media project, Unearthed and an exhibition of children’s prose and poetry is taking place at Portumna Library.

On Friday evening, September 23 the singer, Delia Murphy will be remembered by her niece Carmen Cullen, guitarist Gerry Anderson and singer /actor, Máirín O’Donovan. The event, I’ll Live Til I Die has been relocated to the Portumna Retirement Village at 8pm.

Shorelines 2011 is lucky to have access to a local Artist In Residence, Ruth Smith, who is making her many skills available this year. With her recent Masters in Traditional Music Performance from UL, coupled with her Drama & Music degree from Trinity and her acting experience, Ruth is ideal for this role.

She will host and produce The Shoreline Set in Portumna’s Church of Ireland on September 23 at 9.30pm, when she will be joined by guest singers and musicians for a celebration of folk, jazz, contemporary and jazz melodies, arranged exclusively for this event.

Ruth will also present Stages, a drama about the faces people present to the world. That’s part of an event at Portumna’s Workhouse Centre on Sunday, September 25 at 3.00pm, which also features readings from the local Pen Pushers club and music from singer/songwriters, Joe Casey and Colin Fahy, and piper/composer, Ger Fahy.

That will be followed by Portumna Castle Readings with poet, James Harpur, winner of the Michael Hartnett Award. Galway based prose writer, Alan Mc Monagle, whose work has appeared in many publications, will read from Liar, Liar, his first collection of short stories.

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.