Yulefest Kilkenny announces creative collaboration with ReCreate Ireland & Cartoon Saloon

Yulefest Kilkenny is putting the spotlight on sustainability this year; working together with social enterprise ReCreate Ireland and four time Oscar® nominated Kilkenny based animation company Cartoon Saloon to transform selected shop fronts in Kilkenny into magical storyboards through the use of recycled materials. 

Using a festive theme ReCreate Ireland will guide the creation of shop window display pieces with primary schools across Kilkenny, inspired by Cartoon Saloon’s animated work. Over 25 workshops will take place during October which is reuse month and the materials used will encourage children, their families, local businesses and visitors to question their role in a throwaway society along with the implications of single use plastics. The community driven body of work will be a celebration of creativity while promoting discarded materials as a valuable resource, fostering ethical behaviour that promotes a more sustainable and creative society. 

During October reuse month, selected primary schools across Kilkenny will be given the opportunity to contribute to the story by creating items such as festive baubles from reuse materials including plastics, foil, wool and fabrics in a series of workshops. These 90-minute workshops directed by ReCreate Ireland and facilitated by local artists will prompt the opportunity to discuss sustainability and reuse in their own communities and challenge everyone to be more sustainable this Christmas. The baubles will then be featured as part of a window display in Kilkenny City where selected shop windows will be transformed to tell a story through the well loved characters that Cartoon Saloon have created. The windows will tell a story and passers-by will be encouraged to follow the journey to learn about the city and sustainability in a fun and engaging way. 

2019 will be the fourth year of the Yulefest Kilkenny festival but it is already getting the attention it deserves  having featured in Sky Scanner’s ‘Guide to the Best Christmas Markets in Ireland’ in 2018. Paula Lawler, Yulefest Kilkenny Festival Director explains the aspiration of the festival. “We have developed Yulefest Kilkenny to be an inclusive and curated festival. At the heart of our programming is inclusiveness and accessibility and this year we are further developing the sustainability aspect so we are delighted to announce our collaboration with ReCreate Ireland and Cartoon Saloon for the 2019 festival. The Yulefest Kilkenny festival shares similar ethos with both organisations; fostering creativity, social inclusion and sustainability for curious minds. A key feature of our festival is community connectivity work and the coordination of the ReCreate Ireland workshops with primary schools in Kilkenny has already begun and will be delivered over the next few weeks throughout Kilkenny to schools who have been invited to be part of this special project. We look forward to welcoming all festival goers to view the end results in our window display during the festival starting from the end of November. Also during the festival ReCreate Ireland will be delivering sensory sensitive workshops as part of our sensory friendly events. These sensory workshops are funded by Creative Ireland under the Kilkenny Culture and Creativity Strategy 2018-2022, in partnership with Kilkenny County Council. All details can be found on our website closer to the time on www.yulefestkilkenny.ie.”