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PAUL KEATING

Clifden Arts Week is example of why Ireland must invest in the arts

By
Paul Keating

Published Monday, October 12, 2009, 10:19 AM
Updated Monday, October 12, 2009, 10:22 AM


Cherish the Ladies in Clifden (from left) Joanie Madden. Yvonne and Liz Kane, Mary Coogan and Roisin Dillon
Cherish the Ladies in Clifden (from left) Joanie Madden. Yvonne and Liz Kane, Mary Coogan and Roisin Dillon
Photo by Bernhard Sanders

If one can find an open country pub these days in Ireland or make the one or two pints that you are allowed hold up to discuss all of Ireland’s problems at present, you could chat away from day to night. 

With NAMA, Lisbon and the recession and politics consuming the public debate, it would be a very heavy discussion all together. Throw into the mix of opinions from the Global Irish Forum in Dublin last month, and you would be looking for the bit of craic to lighten the mood a bit.

One of the more encouraging points to come out of the forum was from filmmaker Neil Jordan, who emphasized how important Irish cultural achievements were and how culture was keeping the best face on Ireland by producing quality work and financial rewards around the world.  

As the Irish get ready for another draconian budget later this year, dire consequences for arts and culture are in store if the recommended cutbacks suggested by the McCarthy review (also referred to as the Snip report) are implemented, thus eliminating many supports for the Arts Council and Gaelthacht in particular. 

The Arts Council maintains that its €75 million budget for 2009 (one euro for every household) helps produce cultural tourism and entertainment worth around €5 billion a year as an industry that shouldn’t be overlooked. Just because we refer to it as having the craic, doesn’t mean it isn’t enormously productive.

When I was in Ireland last month I saw two brilliant illustrations of that along Ireland’s west coast in Mayo and Galway.

The stark, raw beauty of Connemara doesn’t need much more incentive to lure you to its rugged seascapes, mountains and valleys, but the rich cultural heritage it fosters is a bonus. 

The multi-faceted Clifden Arts Week is a 10-day multi-faceted festival that would make a destination in itself for the North Connemara region, and it had extended its second invitation to Joanie Madden and Cherish the Ladies to perform there. 

I don’t need much of an excuse to visit that part of the world, so I along with 350 others crammed into the Station House Hotel for a 10 p.m. show. Space, not price (€20 admission), unfortunately turned more people away as the star-studded concert proved good value for money for the 2 1/2 hour show.

In January it will be 25 years since the female troupe of CTL first went on stage, showcasing the distaff side of Irish American music as discovered by Dr. Mick Moloney. Since then they have become one of foremost Irish traditional music bands to ever come out of America, even though the current lineup of Roisin Dillon (Belfast), Kathleen Boyle (Glasgow), Michelle Burke (Cork) and Mirella Murray (Galway) hail from elsewhere, leaving New Yorkers Madden and Mary Coogan as the sole surviving founders of the band. 

In Clifden they were able to call on an extraordinary group of artists to join them on stage for the show, including the Kane Sisters (Liz and Yvonne) from up the road in Letterfrack, Don Stiffe, Laoise Kelly, Ringo McDonagh, Hughie Boyle and at the end Sharon Shannon, who had just been honored the day before with a civic reception in her native Co. Clare. 

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Clifden Arts Week is example of why Ireland must invest in the arts | Entertainment in Ireland and Around the World | IrishCentral


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