The first online Imagine Arts Festival began at 12 noon on Friday.
The festival consists of a total of 40 events all taking place on www.imagineartsfestival.com and all freely available to the public.
Festival Manager Nora Boland says it’s a big and adventurous step:
“We are excited to take our 2020 event programme global and invite everyone to enjoy all or one of 40 wonderful events between October 16th and 25th. All of our events will be hosted free to the public and each event once it first takes place will remain online until the festival closes. This is a big step for our almost 20-year-old festival, but it is an adventure that we are excited to embark upon, perhaps this online element may even remain as part of our festival offering from here on.”
The John Dwyer Trad Weekend will also take place over the opening weekend, as a ‘Glór Na nDéise’ concert will take place on Friday, October 16th with some of Waterford’s finest trad musicians including Sarah O’Gorman (fiddle) and Claire Fennell (flute) Áine agus Tomás Ó Dálaigh (concertina and fiddle), Jimmy O’Brien Moran (uilleann pipes), Ciarán Ó Gealbháin and Edel Fox will host the event.
Waterford Writers Weekend opens on Thursday, October 22nd and runs for three days with 13 online events on offer. From workshops, masterclasses and readings to poetry events, author interviews and discussions with some of the country’s foremost writers. All online event links will be shared at imagineartsfestival.com
On the final day of the festival, Imagine will present oh, this hectic world, a tribute to the memory of Eric Sweeney. ‘Oh, This Hectic World’s the last piece Eric composed, a setting for 10 classic Japanese haiku selected by the poet Mark Roper, who had collaborated with Eric on many ventures over many years. Composer and pianist Marian Ingoldsby, a close friend and colleague of Eric’s at WIT for over 25 years, will play Eric’s music. The event will be showcased online at www.imagineartsfestival.com on October 25th.
Booze Blaas & Banter will take the festivities of 2020 to a close as the event which celebrates the City’s Quayside and maritime heritage and will also offer lots of interesting chats and craic with journalist, broadcaster author and filmmaker Catherine Foley, National Heritage Officer of An Taisce Ian Lumley, Poet Dave Lordan, Author, broadcaster and local historian Andrew Doherty, writer and historian Paul O’Brien, award-winning historian Jack Burtchill and more.
