Kilkenny town opens its doors to new festival next weekend!

Doors are being thrown open to all to enjoy a festival of music and dancing, drama, art and the beauty of nature.

Callan Open Doors will see a series of events taking place at venues around the town from Thursday, May 23, to Sunday, May 26.

With venues in artistic spaces and community places, all are invited to witness and participate in different creative activities.

Over the four days people can enjoy a diverse range of exhibitions, performances, workshops and talks. There will be dancing, music, willow weaving, exhibitions and a chance to play a fun game of hurling in the Abbey Meadow as well as enjoying tea in a walled garden.

The official opening of Callan Open Doors will take place at The Powerhouse, a recently renovated gallery and creative activity hub in the old bacon factory on Mill Lane, on Thursday, May 23, from 7pm.

The Powerhouse will be hosting an exhibition of works in progress by Callan-based, Dutch artist Paul Bokslag. Paul, one of the founders of the KCAT Arts Centre, will be showing what he has been working on over the winter for a major exhibition in Netherlands in September this year.
Paul, will also be showing some of his graphic design work and examples of collaborative mural commissions he has done in recent years.

The Powerhouse is also hosting youth drama workshops, which are being organised by Asylum Theatre, best known locally for their large scale community theatre productions of shows like The Big Chapel, in collaboration with local schools.

Other workshops on offer during Callan Open Doors include Everyday Dance Sharing with Kells based dancer and choreographer Cindy Cummings, presented in collaboration with Mount Carmel Supported Care Home residents, on Thursday, and drum circle sessions with percussionist and composer Fergal O’Connor in collaboration with Droichead Family Resource Centre after school club, on Friday, May 24.

Callan Library is also participating, hosting an introduction to ‘artificial intelligence art’ with artist Zoe Wong, Friday.
Interested in seeing where and how artists carry out their craft? There are a series of open studio visits planned.

On Friday, the KCAT Studio will be open to the public to visit between 1pm and 3pm. This unique studio space, which accommodates 13 artists, has been operating in Callan since 1999.

On Saturday, May 25, the public will have a chance to visit the Tony and Jane O’Malley residence where RHA residency recipient Marcel Vidal and his artist partner Ella Bertilsson are currently living and working.

Across the road, local resident Nicola Teehan will be presenting a special window installation with her sister Brigid.

On the Saturday morning, artists Siobhán de Paor and Michelle Mc Mahon will co-host a workshop in the Workhouse Union that will explore native plants and herbs (luibheanna) using the Irish language and through printmaking.

The Workhouse Union will also be open in the afternoon serving tea and chatting about their community-led approach to rural development, community co-design and creative placemaking.

The busy Saturday programme also includes the annual Westcourt Living & Growing Plant Sale, where the public can help master willow weaver Renate Wildenhof as she creates a willow sculpture play tunnel, then enjoy tea and cake on the lawn in the walled garden.

For music lovers, Fennelly’s of Callan will host Galway songster Ultan Conlon as part of The Unlikely Likeable Tour, on Saturday (tickets €15), and local troubadour Peter Barbazon will lead a session in Hourigan’s Bar after the launch on the opening night.
Literary enthusiasts will enjoy poet Sandrine Dunlop’s Open Mic session, inviting guests to come with a poem or a song, on Friday, at L’Arche Café. John Clarke will host one of the monthly NoMike Sessions as the final Callan Open Doors event in Coolagh Hall, on Sunday.

Visual artists Fintin Kelly, Brianna Hurley and Maurice Caplice will be bringing their doors out into the open, setting up a tripod of doors on Green Street on the Saturday afternoon for a large scale, community drawing and painting, inviting the public to join in and make their mark.

Swapping the paintbrush for the hurl, former Wexford inter-county hurler Diarmuid Lyng, invites anyone with a grá for pucking a sliothar, from beginner to master, to come to the Abbey Meadow at 4pm on the Saturday, where he will lead a game of wild hurling.

Callan Open Doors, which the organisers hope it will become an annual event, is a new development supported by The Arts Council through their Capacity Building Support Scheme. For programme information see Trasna Productions social media or contact callanopendoors@gmail.com.
Most of the events are free to attend, but some do require booking in advance.