Ireland’s Edge - Available Light / Solas is a unique digital event that will be streamed live on Monday, December 7 and Tuesday, December 8 at 6:30 pm IST /1:30 pm EST from Dingle in West Kerry. 

The Ireland’s Edge - Available Light / Solas live streams will be available to view for free on YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook, as well as right here on IrishCentral and the IrishCentral Facebook page.

Organizers said: “The title speaks to our need and ability to make the best of our current circumstances, to look now to ourselves, to our resourcefulness, our innate creativity, and our belief in the wisdom of the Irish adage, ‘Ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine “ - we rise and fall together. We should not be alone at this time.

“We will bring some remarkable thinkers, changemakers, inventors, advocates and artists to West Kerry, a place rich in history, folklore, culture and creativity - a place with an edge.

“Ireland’s Edge - Available Light / Solas will reflect on nine months of our collective experience of the pandemic, with an outline of the possibilities opening up before us forming the basis of this year’s conversations and performances. As always there will be music and song for the head and heart.

“While all our live streams will be free to view, we are asking for your continued support in these difficult times. We ask only for support from those who have the means to do so by buying a digital ticket here, with plenty of perks and prizes thrown in for good measure. "

Program for Ireland’s Edge - Available Light  / Solas

Monday, December 7 - 6:30 pm IST / 1:30 pm EST

  • Music From The Edge: Sorcha Richardson
  • School’s Out: Senator Lynn Ruane, Professor John O'Halloran, Billy Mag Fhloinn, Christopher Kissane (Moderator)
  • Home Thoughts From Abroad: Christopher Kissane links in with Ambassador Adrian O’Neill
  • “They": A spoken word piece by FeliSpeaks
  • My Body Is A Cage: Mark O'Connell, Bush Moukarzel, Síobhra Quinlan (Moderator)
  • Home Thoughts From Abroad: Christopher Kissane links in with Rhetta Moran
  • Banter at the Edge: Jim Carroll in conversation with Grammy award-winning artist Rhiannon Giddens
  • Music From The Edge: Rhiannon Giddens

Tuesday, December 8 - live at 6:30 pm IST / 1:30 pm EST

  • Music From The Edge: Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh + Billy Mag Fhloinn
  • Open Court: Dr. David Kenny in conversation with Chief Justice Frank Clarke
  • Home Thoughts From Abroad: Christopher Kissane links in with Donie O’Sullivan, CNN
  • 32 Words For Field: Nuala O Connor in conversation with Manchán Magan
  • The Rapping Irish Man: Rapper and Poet Shane Davis performs and speaks with Chris Kissane  
  • View From A Rock: Muireann Kelliher in conversation with one of Ireland’s leading economists Stephen Kinsella
  • Home Thoughts From Abroad: Christopher Kissane links in with Nora Hickey, Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris
  • Banter at the Edge: Jim Carroll in conversation with Aerospace Engineer + Economist Sinéad O’Sullivan
  • Music From The Edge: Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh + Billy Mag Fhloinn

This special online edition of Ireland’s Edge is presented in partnership with Intel Ireland and supported by Jones Engineering Group, The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, The Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, The Irish Times, and Kerry County Council. 

About Ireland’s Edge

Ireland's Edge is a multidisciplinary creative event series that makes up a distinct strand of Other Voices festival of music and ideas.

Organizers say: "At Ireland's Edge, we believe the best version of our future will only be realised by fruitful collaborations and collisions between the arts, technology, innovation, storytelling and human experience. We regard it as imperative that culture be given a central role as we try to plan creatively and effectively for the future. We come from an edge that is simultaneously physical, sectorial, rural and metaphorical. From the edge, you can experiment, you can play, you can innovate, you can disrupt."

You can learn more about Ireland's Edge on its website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages.