Arts / Culture

Waterford city will mark the St. Patrick’s Day period in style this year, when a jam-packed three days of craic agus ceol, live entertainment, music and tradition will take place from March 17^th to March 19^th alongside the traditional St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

The parade showpiece, this year celebrating “The Best of Waterford”, will start at 1pm on St. Patrick’s Day, led by Grand Marshall, international boxer, Kelyn Cassidy.

Speaking ahead of the Festival, Johnny Codd, Festival Co-ordinator with Waterford City & County Council said:

“Community groups have shown great interest in participating in this year’s parade. We are pleased with the registrations that are coming in every day from various groups within the city, county, and beyond. We work closely with Waterford company EveryEvent and our organising committee, and we’re going to present a top-class musical, cultural and entertainment programme that is going to appeal to all comers.”

Foremost in the line-up of musical talent this year will be a special performance from the Music Generation Harp Orchestra who will perform on the Cultural Quarter Stage, O’Connell Street on Saturday 18^th.  Over 45 young harpers from Laois, Louth, Mayo and Waterford will gather for this special performance.  Music Generation Waterford is part of Music Generation, Ireland’s national music education programme initiated by Music Network funded by U2, The Ireland Funds and The Department of Education in partnership with Waterford and Wexford Education and Training Board, and Waterford City and County Council.

Commenting on the festival, Waterford City and County’s first citizen, Mayor John O’Leary said:

“As we celebrate Ireland’s national day, it’s important to remember the value of bringing families and communities together in celebrations like this. Our programme this year gives us the opportunity to reflect on our shared heritage, honour the best of Waterford’s traditions, and to create new traditions with our new communities. Let’s make sure that everyone, young and old, can participate in the fun and festivities that make this Waterford festival one to remember.”

On Saturday, March 18^th the music and entertainment continues, centred around the three main squares of Waterford city, as well as the Cultural Quarter in O’Connell Street.  Arundel Square will see the likes of the Wobbly Circus, orienteering and a balance bike track, while down in the Apple Market patrons can enjoy the WAMA drumming band and a showcase performance from the renowned Booley House group.

Later in the afternoon and into the evening, the Cultural Quarter stage in O’Connell Street takes prominence with the very popular Elvis inspired musicians Alan Power and the Aftershocks, who perform at 8pm.  The rockabilly band, based in Waterford city, have taken Europe by storm with Power’s luring resemblance to the King himself.  This performance is not to be missed.

To find out more details of the St. Patricks Day Parade and three-day festival in Waterford visit www.stpatricksfestivalwaterford.com or keep an eye on WaterfordStPatricksDayParade social media channels.

Waterford’s 4th Annual Global Women’s Conference

Celebrate International Women’s Day 2023 with Europe Direct Waterford, Waterford Libraries and Waterford Integration Services. The International Women’s Day 2023 campaign theme is #EmbraceEquity. A focus on gender equity needs to be part of every society’s DNA. Equity means creating a fair and equal world. Challenge gender stereotypes, call out discrimination, draw attention to bias, and seek out inclusion.

8th March / 10:30am / free event 

All Welcome but Booking Essential: https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/waterfords-4th-annual-global-womens-conference-tickets-524757974227

Speakers and Performers

Ali Comerford, Songwriter and multi-instrumentalist

Obianuju Ekedozie, Chair of Waterford Migrant Integration Forum

Dr. Ebun Joseph, Director Institute of Antiracism and Black Studies, Race relations consultant, Lecturer Black Studies and Chairperson, African Scholars Association Ireland (AFSAI)

Ojeaku Nwabuzo, Director (Policy, Advocacy, and Network Development), European Network Against Racism (ENAR)

Dr. Lorna Gold, author and climate activist in conversation with Grainne Kennedy, Waterford Council’s Climate Action Coordinator

Jen Harris, CEO of Slí The Waterford Sustainable Living Initiative

Dr. Méabh Savage, South East Technological University (SETU)

WLR Journalist Dymphna Nugent talks about Local Projects with our panel:

• Mary McInerney, Schools Education Worker Mincéirí Port Láirge
• Karen Reilly, Community Development Worker Mincéirí Port Láirge
• Nicola Tull, Renew Enterprises
• Usomine Oshiogwemoh, Local Training Initiative (LTI) Global Pathways to Employment Programme Coordinator
• Debbie O’Rourke, Community Youth Worker with Waterford & South Tipperary Community Youth Service
• Yinashe, Singer Songwriter

MC Anne Nolan, Waterford Integration Services

Good Vibrations, Celebrating Love, Life and Magic, and Standing Shoulder to Shoulder are some of the highlights of this year’s Well Festival of Arts and Wellbeing.  Taking place in Waterford Monday 13 to Saturday 18 February, the Well Festival features an inspirational line-up of fun, free, inventive and sociable arts events for all ages.

In this, its tenth year, the festival presents musicians, artists, poets, storytellers and dancers, as well as a programme of Wellies, the festival’s events for younger audiences.  The full festival programme is available from www.wellwaterford.com and can be downloaded by clicking here.

The Well Festival of Arts and Wellbeing champions and celebrates all the ways that the arts help us to feel good.  Each day, festival-goers will have the opportunity to witness colourful, beautiful, thought-provoking music, art, movement and literature, and to experience the joy of creativity through a range of workshops and interactive opportunities for all ages.

Festival 2023 Highlights
Highlights of the Well Festival of Arts and Wellbeing 2023 programme include:

• Fancy a lift?, a daily poetry postcard, curated by poet Stephen James Smith, delivered on meal trays to patients at University Hospital Waterford (UHW), through Waterford Libraries and online via www.wellwaterford.com ;
• Celebrating Love, Life and Magic, a St Valentine’s Day joyful, inclusive dance workshop led by Traces Dance Ensemble members Grace Howley and Brian McSweeney, with mentor support from Trish Murphy, Dee Grant and Rachel Ní Bhraonáin;
• Standing Shoulder to Shoulder, a special exhibition by the Waterford New Community Women’s Shed and the Déise Men’s Shed, demonstrating the wellbeing benefits of coming together to learn and share new skills in a safe, relaxed space;
• Why Arts?, the Well Festival Keynote conversation, featuring Dr Chris Fitzpatrick, poet and former Master of the Coombe Women & Infants University Hospital Dublin, and journalist and proud Waterford woman Jennifer O’Connell;
• Good Vibrations, a continuous professional development (CPD) workshop for musicians working in mental health settings, led by Jane O’Brien Moran
• Cuppa & Ceol, a sociable, music-infused tea party with well-known musician Liam Merriman;
• A range of workshops for all ages, including Wet Felting with artist Catherine Callanan; The Big Reel, a relaxing movement workshop with dancer Philippa Donnellan and musician Sadhbh O’Sullivan, and Aga’s Baby Story Massage Taster Class, a wellbeing workshop for parents and their babies;
• Healing Sounds Sessions with Waterford Healing Arts Trust’s musicians at the bedside of patients and residents in various settings;
• Embrace the arts at your library, a special Well Festival selection of books celebrating the benefits of reading, curated by Waterford Libraries staff;
• Find the Butterfly, Find the Bee, a special exhibition at University Hospital Waterford created by artist John Conway from his conversations with professional healthcare staff working in paediatric settings;
• and the much loved festival flagship event We haven’t had an earthquake lately, supported and hosted by The Book Centre Waterford, led once again by Guest MC Catherine Drea.
• For younger audiences, the Wellies programme invites children and young people to finesse their Circus Crafts and Juggling skills with Enda Moran, get lost in their imaginations with Joe Brennan’s Magical Stories and hone their drawing skills in a Children’s Illustration Workshop with Well Festival favourite Shona Shirley MacDonald
  
  Speaking at the launch of the festival programme, Claire Meaney, Director of Waterford Healing Arts Trust, said “We are thrilled to present our tenth Well Festival in Waterford in person this year.  Having re-imagined our festival over the past three years in the virtual space, we can’t wait to come together with our lovely audiences to experience, in person, the power of the arts to lift our spirits and nurture our wellbeing.”
  
  Breda O’Shea of Waterford City and County Libraries added “Winter into spring is a great time of year for our festival, with the promise of new beginnings, connection and colour.  We invite you, the people of Waterford, and our Well friends far and wide, to join us as we explore, reach out and make new connections each day.”
  
  Sile Penkert, Executive Director of Garter Lane Arts Centre, continued “The Well Festival gives us a unique opportunity to offer inspiring experiences to our community, to creatively engage with each other, and to remind ourselves of the beauty that exists all around us, even in the midst of challenging times.  We hope that, through our festival programme, our audiences will find their own route to self-expression and creative fulfilment and we look forward to welcoming everyone to our events.”
  
  The Well Festival of Arts and Wellbeing is funded by the Arts Council, the HSE and Waterford City and County Council, with generous support from Sanofi.  The festival is presented by Garter Lane Arts Centre, Waterford City and County Libraries and Waterford Healing Arts Trust.  The full festival programme is available at www.wellwaterford.com

Waterford Gallery of Art is delighted to present a talk on Sir Frederic William Burton by Dr Marie Bourke on Saturday, February 11^th.

Sir Frederic Burton (1816-1900) is the artist renowned for creating Ireland’s Favourite Painting, ‘The Meeting on the Turret Stairs’ (1864).  The watercolour based on a medieval Danish ballad about the ill-starred love between Hellelil and her bodyguard, Hildebrand, features a fleeting moment of intimacy between the two.

Dr Bourke will shed light on the career of the artist, who was born in Wicklow, although his background was in Co. Clare.  Renowned for ‘The Meeting on The Turret Stairs’ (National Gallery of Ireland), Dr Bourke will also discuss some of the women in Burton’s life, notably his fiancée, Mary Palliser from Waterford.

Burton’s painting ‘Portrait of Mary Palliser’ (1871) can be seen on display in the current WGOA exhibition, ‘Portraits: People & Place’ and is currently on loan from the Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan, Canada. It is thought that the painting was initially gifted to Palliser as an engagement gift from Burton. The couple were engaged for 10 years though never married. Mary died of pneumonia in 1879 and is buried at Comeragh Cemetery, Waterford, close to her family home.

Dr Marie Bourke is a cultural historian and former Keeper-Head of Education at the National Gallery of Ireland.  The author of ‘The Story of Irish Museums 1790-2000’(2013), she curated the National Gallery of Ireland’s recent Frederic William Burton exhibition ‘For the Love of Art.’

She is an Assessor on the Heritage Council’s Museum Standards Programme chair of the RDS Arts Committee and member of the board of the National Library of Ireland.

The talk takes place at 1.30pm on Saturday, February 11^th.  Tickets are free but limited.  To reserve your seat for this event, or to enquire about accessibility, email WaterfordGallery@waterfordcouncil.ie or call 051-849 983.

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Image:

‘Portrait of Mary Palliser’ by Sir Frederic Burton which is on display in the Waterford Gallery of Art, 31-32 O’Connell Street, Waterford.

Waterford Gallery of Art is delighted to present a talk on Sir Frederic William Burton by Dr Marie Bourke on Saturday, February 11^th.

Sir Frederic Burton (1816-1900) is the artist renowned for creating Ireland’s Favourite Painting, ‘The Meeting on the Turret Stairs’ (1864).  The watercolour based on a medieval Danish ballad about the ill-starred love between Hellelil and her bodyguard, Hildebrand, features a fleeting moment of intimacy between the two.

Dr Bourke will shed light on the career of the artist, who was born in Wicklow, although his background was in Co. Clare.  Renowned for ‘The Meeting on The Turret Stairs’ (National Gallery of Ireland), Dr Bourke will also discuss some of the women in Burton’s life, notably his fiancée, Mary Palliser from Waterford.

Burton’s painting ‘Portrait of Mary Palliser’ (1871) can be seen on display in the current WGOA exhibition, ‘Portraits: People & Place’ and is currently on loan from the Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan, Canada. It is thought that the painting was initially gifted to Palliser as an engagement gift from Burton. The couple were engaged for 10 years though never married. Mary died of pneumonia in 1879 and is buried at Comeragh Cemetery, Waterford, close to her family home.

Dr Marie Bourke is a cultural historian and former Keeper-Head of Education at the National Gallery of Ireland.  The author of ‘The Story of Irish Museums 1790-2000’(2013), she curated the National Gallery of Ireland’s recent Frederic William Burton exhibition ‘For the Love of Art.’

She is an Assessor on the Heritage Council’s Museum Standards Programme chair of the RDS Arts Committee and member of the board of the National Library of Ireland.

The talk takes place at 1.30pm on Saturday, February 11^th.  Tickets are free but limited.  To reserve your seat for this event, or to enquire about accessibility, email WaterfordGallery@waterfordcouncil.ie or call 051-849 983.

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Image:

‘Portrait of Mary Palliser’ by Sir Frederic Burton which is on display in the Waterford Gallery of Art, 31-32 O’Connell Street, Waterford.