LINENHALL VISIT FROM THE NEWEST ARRIVAL!
No, it’s not our glorious Chairman interviewing a prospective Linenhall employee. Orla was in recently with her gorgeous new babby son, Daire, who, as you can imagine, is a big hit with all at the Linenhall. A big congratulations to Orla, Finbarr and Conn on their latest arrival!CANCELLED CONCERT
Please note that Jane McNamee’s concert, scheduled for Thursday 9th September @ 8.00pm, has been CANCELLED.
GLASS ACT
As seen at last week’s opening of On The Edge exhibition of contemporary glass. A big crowd was in attendance as Westport poet Sue Minish eloquently and officially opened this absolutely gorgeous show. It’s on till the end of the month. Don’t miss it!Welcome Baby Daire
Our wonderful Arts Access Officer Orla has just had a new son, congratulations to herself and Finbarr, a brother for Conn and another potential audience member for the Linenhall.
GROUNDBREAKING WORK AT THE LINENHALL!
The earth has moved for us here at the Linenhall as you can see from the accompanying photo. It was a big surprise for us on Monday morning, and we’re not sure how long the works will take, but just to assure you, we are open for business as usual, and our café is still delivering the best cappuccino in town!Facebook Fever
Marie has stepped through the mirror into facebook land. And what a strange and magical place it is. the plan is to get a Linenhall Facebook page up and running but meanwhile if you are a facebook user please be her friend. She's very lonely.Mayo Campaign for the Arts
Marie is off to Galway tomorrow for a meeting about the proposed Day of Action on September 17. The plan is that every TD in the country will be visited by representatives from the arts community to make a case for increased funding. Obviously the more creative the visits the better, so all ideas welcome.
Glamour and Glitter Galore with Julie Feeney and the Models
We saw a stunning array of gorgeous frocks on Thursday last when our WALK TALL Fashion Show project reached its finale on the catwalk of the Linenhall. MC Julie Feeney was the epitome of a poised and elegant hostess for the evening and we all really appreciated her presence amongst us. Keith Heneghan took some stunning shots of the stunning models (here is one of them!), so watch the local papers. See also MayoToday.ie
Hotting up for Walk Tall Fashion Show with Julie Feeney
We're delighted that the every stylish singer and composer Julie Feeney will be Master of Ceremonies for our upcoming Walk Tall Fashion Show on Thursday June 10th at 8pm. She has fitted us into her very busy tour schedule which includes a performance at the National Concert Hall this coming Saturday (29 May). The Walk Tall Fashion Project participants have their last design and make workshops over the weekend, and the focus will move to deportment skills and show production next week. It's all getting very exciting. Admission on the night of the show is free, but seats MUST be booked in advance. We look forward to seeing you there!Fantastic Night with London Classic Theatre
We had a great turn out on Tuesday last for London Classic Theatre's The Caretaker. We were delighted to get a phone call from Mary Claire Brennan on Wednesday morning to let us know how much she and her party of three had enjoyed the show.
Fashion for Buttons
Great coverage of our Walk Tall Fashion Project in the Mayo News this week. We're delighted with the way the project is progressing, and really looking forward to a night of fun and glitz at the Walk Tall Fashion Show here in the Linenhall on Thursday June 10th. The text of the Mayo News article can be read in their online edition. There are also some lovely images in the hard copy edition.Busy Week Ahead
The Caretaker one of the classic works by Nobel Winner Harold Pinter is here on Tuesday night and then a brilliant Music Network trad night on Wednesday, followed by a chance to show off your own work on Thursday at our Open Mike session. Can't say we're not keeping you on your toes.Brightness descends on Monday night
Denis Buckley presents a live audio/visual performance with harsh words here in the Linenhall at 8.00pm. Brightness questions the role of past vision in Ireland's current self-defining and asks what tangible part could imagination play in our future consciousness. Stirrring stuff - this could make for a very interesting evening.RoolaBoola Write Up My Street
Big Congrats to Katie Rooney, whose Write Up My Street entry won a prize yesterday. Katie wrote a great piece about how our RoolaBoola Children’s Arts Festival has been central to her experience of community. We're flattered. Well done Katie.Busy Friday Night
We expect the place to be buzzing on Friday night as Marie Padden's exhibition Tombs will officially open at 7.30pm while Katie Kim, a young 'post rock' diva will be strutting her stuff in the performance space at 8.00pm. This is the first time we've tried two events on the one evening so it should be fun.Quotation Invitation
I've decided to liven up the entrance to the theatre by putting some interesting quotations on the walls. If you have a favourite quotation or one you feel might be particularly relevant please send it in to linenhall@anu.ie and we will have some fun selecting our favourites.Easter Holidays 2010
The Linenhall Arts Centre will be closed on Friday 2nd April and Monday 4th April to coincide with the Easter holidays. Watch out for Limbik Theatre Companys The Harbour on Thursday 8th April. A physical theatre treat; funny, moving and visually arresting with haunting live music.MUSIC GIG Wednesday 24th March UPDATE
Due to circumstances beyond our control Russian musician Boris Grebenshikov will not be performing on Wednesday night. However, be prepared to be enthralled by the rhythmically sophisticated and meltingly beautiful music of Brian Finnegan (flute, whistles), Ed Boyd (guitar) and John Joe Kelly (bodhran). See you there.Friends of the Linenhall
In our last mail out, we sought support through our Friends of the Linenhall scheme. We were bowled over by the response and would like to extend a huge Thank You to everyone who has made a donation so far. Lots of you included your email addresses with the return slips and will have received our first email update on March 5th last. We will be sending these updates on a regular basis so if you’d like to sign up just drop us an email to linenhall@anu.ie and include the text “Add me to the email list” in the subject field.A New Face at the Linenhall
The lovely Jackie Lyons has joined us for the next few months. She’ll be answering box-office and general queries calls, so do be nice to her. Behind the scenes she is looking after the books while Maura is on leave. Maura is perfectly fine. She’s taking personal leave and will be back in the summer.January-February Workshops a Hit!
We had a busy workshop programme for January & February at the Linenhall. Oisin Herraghty’s Stage Lighting Workshop series proved very popular and was over-subscribed with a waiting list in operation. Comments from lucky participants who got places included “It was well worth doing, thought it was fantastic”; “Brilliant, you learned so much in four weeks”; and “Excellent communicator, gave a great insight into lighting production”. Our Beauty Queen of Leenane workshops which complemented London Classic Theatre’s production of the show in our theatre a couple of weeks ago, was also hugely popular. We were delighted to hear from one participant that “for someone who never participated in theatre it makes me cry out for more!”. There are lots more workshops on offer in March and April so check them out.Arts Worker Position at the Linenhall Arts Centre
The Linenhall Arts Centre, programmes high-quality arts workshops for all the community across a range of art forms. The Linenhall is currently seeking applications for one position on a FÁS funded Community Employment Scheme which supports its Visual Art Programme for Schools.Candidates shall:
(1) be skilled in the area of visual art;
(2) have good communications skills;
(3) be prepared to work as part of a team;
Experience in workshop facilitation and/or experience working with children would be an advantage.
If you are interested and meet FÁS community employment eligibility criteria (please check with your local FAS office) send a current CV and cover letter to: Visual Art Programme for Schools, Linenhall Arts Centre, Linenhall St, Castlebar, Co Mayo. Closing Date 12 Feb 2010. Please note applicants should be available for interview on 18th and 19th February 2010.
Happy New Year from all of Us
We’re off to a flying start here at the Linenhall. Bookings for our January February programme are at a steady pace and our team is keeping warm during this very cold snap: Maura’s thermals are ensuring that her warm heart keeps her cosy (as well as keeping everyone else happy); Marie’s new shoes are keeping her feet toasty; Orla has a bun in the oven to keep her warm; Oisin is in a sweat slaving over the hot grill in our café; and Ian is in India - definitely the hottest member of the team this month! As for the rest of us we’ll keep you posted.Looking forward to seeing you all at the Linenhall in 2010.
Gift Vouchers Available
Why not give a gift voucher this Christmas. Our vouchers can be used to buy tickets for all events in our programme. In fact, check out our January/February listings and you might be tempted to buy tickets for some of our upcoming events.Loads of Lovely Art
We have had a brilliant submission for the Mayo Artists Show this year. Veronica Bolay has been very busy over the last few days making her selection and next week Malcolm Smith has the unenviable task of getting the whole lot up on the walls. But come what may it will all be ship shape for the official opening on Friday, 4 December 7.30pm.National Campaign for the Arts - Petition: Need 10,000 signatures by Friday 27 November
Time is ticking away with the Budget coming up on December 9. There are many ways you can support the National Campaign for the Arts including meeting your local politicians and joining your local arts worker group but one of the quickest and easiest things you can do is to sign the petition herePreston Reed had “a magical night” at the Linenhall
There’s a great buzz about the Linenhall this week with three performances (all with practically full houses), a film screening, two exhibitions and our Visual Art Programme for Schools on the go. We’re being kept on our toes. Preston Reed said he had “a magical night” last night, and we’re looking forward to the Lawnmowers tonight. Onwards and upwards..jpg)
Take Your Seat at the Linenhall 9-14 November
Take Your Seat is a week-long promotion of performing arts events in over 30 venues around Ireland. Check out the Take Your Seat website for more details.
An assembly of Artists and Arts Workers
A fine number of artists and arts workers turned up at the Linenhall on Saturday to show their support for Mayo Campaign for the Arts, calling on the Government to continue to support arts funding in the upcoming budget.Mayo Campaign for the Arts Update
A report on the meeting which took place at the Linenhall last Tuesday appears in this weeks Mayo News. Check it out.
Owl and Pussycat Gallery Tours
We've a fab exhibition in our gallery this month called The Owl and the Pussycat. Created with a young audience in mind, artists Cathy Hack and Gráinne O'Reilly have delved into Edward Lear's nonsense poem of the same name, to come up with some fantastic visual interpretations for this show. We're having great fun during the gallery tours and workshops which are taking place as part of our Visual Art Programme for Schools in conjunction with The Owl and the Pussycat exhibition.Mayo Campaign Update
We are now up to 123 members which is brilliant - so keep spreading the word and do register with the Mayo Arts Workers group on Facebook. The Tommy Marren interview has been rescheduled for tomorrow, just to keep Marie on her toes.Mayo Campaign for the Arts
Mayo Campaign for the Arts was established last night at a very lively meeting here in the Linenhall. If you would like to join the campaign you can contact us on email; linenhall@anu.ie or simply give us a call and we will add your name to the list and keep you informed of all that's happening.Mayo Arts Workers National Campaign for the Arts Open Meeting
National Campaign for the Arts Open Meeting, Linenhall Arts Centre, Tuesday 6th October @ 8pm. We're trying to get in touch with all the artists, arts workers and general enthusiasts to galvanise us into taking action about the proposed arts cuts. If you can't make the meeting then send on your email address to linenhall@anu.ie and we can keep in touch and let you know how things are progressing.National Campaign for the Arts
We're supporting the National Campaign for the Arts. For more information see the National Campaign for the Arts website www.ncfa.ie or listen to Colm Toibín on Morning Ireland last week.
Culture Night a huge success
Culture Night surpassed all our expectations here at the Linenhall last night (Friday 25th Sept). We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and we hope everyone who visited did too. A big thanks to everyone who sang for their supper, the local voluntary arts organisations who presented their wares, and to all our workshop facilitators who volunteered their services for the night.Culture Night Tonight
We’re polishing our suits and shining our shoes to welcome all and sundry here tonight for culture night. We have a selection of lovely treats on offer and a free glass of wine if you’ll sing us a song.
Schools Back - We’re thrilled
There’s a buzz about the Linenhall gallery these days. The primary schools are back after summer break, and our Visual Art Programme for Schools is in full swing again. We’ve two new members on the artistic team behind this programme this term. Kate McKeon and Claire de Berry join Denise Clarke and Marianne Heemskerk, and together they are designing and delivering a lively programme of gallery tours and workshops for primary schools.What’s on in Castlebar? Lots for Music Lovers!
Hot tickets at the moment are for Gerald Peregrine and Cathal Breslin’s Cello and Piano duet this Thursday, 10th September. Damien Dempsey on September 28th is now Sold Out, and Elaine Madden’s first solo vocal performance on Thursday week, 17th September, is rapidly heading that direction. Give us a buzz on 094 9023733 and our box office staff will sort you out!Catch it on our web-site first
From mid-September we’ll be posting up-coming events to our website as they are programmed. So keep an eye here, and be the first to get news of great events not to be missed. For theatre, music, dance, visual arts and arts workshops in Castlebar, the Linenhall is where it's at!Cleaning up our act!
Yesterday afternoon we put a formal strategy in place to keep all our computers in ship shape, and to keep our IT consultant, Chris, happy! It’s a stringent regime of cleaning up, backing up, and scanning… Maura’s keeping some Nurofen in her drawer in case of particularly stubborn viruses (we anticipate tamiflu won’t be necessary)!
RoolaBoola Brochure at the Printers!
Plans for this year’s RoolaBoola Children’s Arts Festival are at a very advanced stage. Orla is breathing a sigh of relief as she sent the completed version of this year’s brochure to the printers this morning. The RoolaBoola brochure will be available from early September and will go out to everyone on our mailing list with our regular September/October Events Programme.
States of Flux
After a couple of days of careful arranging and re-arranging, Betty Gannon’s exhibition is up! Betty, Ian and Malcolm Smith did a great job with the hanging and the show looks fantastic, well we think so anyway. Come see for yourself. Official opening Friday 7th August at 7.30pm, all welcome.The World Fleadh
Things are hotting up for The World Fleadh this August bank holiday weekend here at the Linenhall Arts Centre. Oisín is busy getting our theatre ready for what promise to be four great gigs over the weekend . See you there.Unfortunately, due to factors outside our control, the Con Kelleher photographic exhibition has been cancelled. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.
Summer Art Camps 2009 – A huge success
The Linenhall was a-buzz with creativity all throughout July for our annual Art Camps. Walking through our foyer area at finish up time, it was not surprising to meet a child carrying a life size alien painting, or skipping along singing a song from Roald Dahl’s Cinderella The Musical, or even explaining to mammy in full voice how they created a print with a fish! It was a fun few weeks. We’d like to extend a big thank-you to our fantastic volunteers Mary Garry, Sally Rooney and Brigitte Bark, who helped with signing people in and lunch supervision. Thanks also to all our wonderful workshop facilitators. We’re looking forward to next year already.
Self Portraits from Mayo Schools Launch
There was a great turn out for the offical opening of the Self Portraits from Mayo Schools exhibition today, Tuesday 7th July. A big congrats to all the young artists whose work features in the exhibition. The show resulted from the Linenhall's ongoing Visual Art Programme for Schools. Here's Séimí pointing to his work of art. As well as attending the launch in the Linenhall he also travelled to see the exhibition when it was on show at the Belfast Children's Festival.The World Fleadh
We are just now finalising our programme for The World Fleadh. Castlebar hosts the Fleadh this year and we anticipate a right old knees up. If you want a sneak preview of what's coming to town over the August Bank Holiday weekend check out www.theworldfleadh.com. Meanwhile we will have full details posted here in the near future.Back from Sunny Edinburgh
Orla is just back from the 20th Bank of Scotland Imaginate Children’s Festival in Edinburgh. This year’s Imaginate festival was particularly inspiring. Of the 12 shows and one work-in-progress presentation Orla saw during her three days there, she’s delighted to report that the majority of them would be welcome inclusions the RoolaBoola programme. The festival provided a great opportunity to see shows with a view to including them in RoolaBoola, as well as to meet and share ideas with theatre practitioners and Children’s Arts programmers from all over the world. Just in case it sounds like a lot of work, be assured that she did manage to fit in a couple of social drinks, some shopping and even a little lounging in the sun, in the famous Meadows area of the city.Summer Camps Are Here Again!
We are delighted to announce ARTCAMP 2009, the Linenhall Arts Centre’s Summer Programme of quality arts activities for young people. These extremely popular week-long courses will be under the guidance of experienced community artists and teachers working with the Linenhall. So get creative this summer and join in the fun!Please note that to ensure a quality experience for all participants places are strictly limited and BOOKING IS ESSENTIAL. Due to the popularity of these camps, early booking is advised. Booking and further details from the Linenhall Arts Centre, Tel: 094 9023733.
Check out ARTCAMP 2009 on our Workshops section now!
