by Cliodhna Donnellan

We have all experienced changes in our lives over the past 18 months. The entire arts sector is in a conundrum as it tentatively attempts to navigate the current climate. Those of us involved in the sector are looking for new ways to work, new ways to share our art as well as looking at alternatives to the way it has been.

Mountshannon Arts Festival has presented a rich tapestry of multi-disciplinary arts within the community for 25 years this year. Their mission is to support and sustain emerging and established, local and visiting artists, while fostering awareness, appreciation of, and community participation in, multi-disciplinary arts. The Mountshannon Trad Festival ran for ten years, supporting the traditional arts - music, song, dance, recitals, sessions, ceilis’ and workshops. Both the Mountshannon Arts Festival and the Trad Festival have/do aim to provide a means to bring individuals and groups together within the community.

Due to the complicated nature of this year, Mountshannon Arts Festival opted to organise two mini-festivals, the theme of this year’s festival being ‘regeneration’. The first weekend was held in June and the second one is scheduled for the weekend September 24 to 26, traditionally the weekend of the Mountshannon Trad Festival. Cliodhna Donnellan, artist, promoter, producer and coordinator of Mountshannon Trad Festival, has been awarded funding from Clare County Council, under the Live Outdoor Local Performance Scheme, to provide a platform for traditional artists to perform live on Sunday 26th September under the theme ‘Revisit Mountshannon Trad’. This event has been supported by Mountshannon Arts Festival.

In consideration of the current climate, the two groups have been working together with a shared mutual focus of bringing a weekend of festival celebration to the village of Mountshannon in September - two festival themes working together, in a cooperative, collaborative way to bring a weekend of brightness, live performances, fun and festive activity to the local community.

The Cambridge definition defines ‘regeneration’ as: “the act of improving a place or system, especially by making it more active or successful”.

This theme aptly describes the aspirations of this collaboration between the Arts Festival and Revisit Mountshannon Trad this year - both groups working together, holistically, acknowledging and respecting the changing landscape of 2021.

Join us from September 24 to 26, when there will be a wonderful line up of activities over the weekend. Full details will be available on the Mountshannon Arts Festival page early September.

Supported by Clare Arts Office and The Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.