Summer ‘11 FREE – PLEASE TAKE ONE Vol7 Iss 3

SPACE INSIDE LIVE NIGHT - Tues 5 April ’11 @ 8pm

Wicklow Sailing Club – Free Admission

Robert Teeling is a newcomer to Wicklow Town, arriving in Ireland just 6 months ago. He is

mainly a self-taught artist and, when living in South Africa, specialised in Wildlife and African art.

Robert paints in acrylics and oils, and his versatility enables him to paint most subjects – seascapes,

landscapes, portraits and murals. He is currently working on artworks featuring local people and

places in Ireland. A member of Kilmantin Art Gallery, Wicklow Town, his paintings of local scenes are

proving very popular. Check him out at www.robteelingart.com

Frank Gallagher Zoryanna

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Colm Nolan

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Editorial

Hi all,

After decades of watching TV and internet, it looks

like we now have a burning need to get back to the

real thing. Two new poetry/music sessions have

sprung up in County Wicklow: one in Bray and the

other in Greystones. Great to see people are still

interested in ‘live’ performances. See Twitters for a

list of these and other similar venues.

If, like me, you have always been a bit vague on what

exactly Aosdana is all about, our Feature article this

month gives some insight into its workings – a club

which arouses mixed reactions from artists.

The Wicklow Arts Festival team is working hard on

this year’s event. A brief taster of what’s on is shown

opposite, but full details of the exciting programme

are on their stunning new website.

Once again, we have been awarded a grant from

Wicklow Arts Office. However, we continue to need

your support to ensure this journal is kept in print.

We have a new page on our blog Donate Now, where

you can make a donation for as little as €3. All you

need is a credit card. We find it is better to make a

donation after the pubs close – less traffic on the net!

It seems, after seven years, there are still people in

Wicklow who don’t know we exist. Your mission,

should you accept it, is to enlighten one such person

every month, and keep the Space Inside Live.

See you at our Live Night on Tuesday 5th April for

another great evening of poetry, dance and music.

Carol Boland

This May, Wicklow Town will come alive with music, art

exhibitions, dance, crafts and family entertainment, with

over 40 events over four days. The Space Inside checks

out what’s on offer.

icklow Arts Festival takes place annually in May in the

beautiful harbour setting of Wicklow Town. Now in its

eighth year, the Festival has grown with the town to become an

important cultural fixture in the calendar, with audience figures

rising steadily each year. This year, the theme is a celebration of

International Year of Forests, which will highlight the

environmental resources that abound in the Garden of Ireland.

Batchelor’s Walk

The Festival has a wide-ranging arts

programme which contains a strong

element for kids, with a teen poetry

challenge, a colouring competition, a

storytime and various children’s

workshops.

During the weekend, the Artisan Food and

Craft market on Bachelor’s Walk by the

river, offers the stroller unusual crafts and

demonstrations of heritage skills. This is also the site for the

Festival Tent, the centre of activities over the weekend. You will

find Niall de Burca and his unique style of storytelling there,

Deadly Moons, an interactive art/science workshop, and Badger’s

Birthday Puppet Show. Close by, the popular Chalk Attack is

back, and everyone is invited to create temporary art on the

footbridge. Don’t forget to bring your camera to capture the

works of art.

WAF Stage

A new addition to this year’s festivities is

the WAF Stage. On Sunday, the stage will

be at the heart of the action on Bachelors

Walk with a great line up of acts promised.

Music to spoken word, the acts include

performances from Wicklow School of

Music and Drama’s Rock School, and Let’s

Sing, a lively Arklow-based choir. A

continuous line of performers will take the

stage through the day. During the week,

the Festival Arts Trail and Art on the Railings will again brighten

up the town. A new, impressive Festival website is now up, and

events and gig are continually been added. To keep up-to-date

with what’s happening at the Festival, subscribe to the Festival

newsletters on their website : www.wicklowartsfestival.ie

W

Jimmy Deenihan, T.D. was

appointed Minister of Arts,

Heritage and Gaeltacht Affairs

on the 9th March 2011.

Opening an art exhibition at

his Dept’s offices in Killarney,

he said, ‘ I hope this exhibition

will be the start of a great

future of promoting art in

public places and making art as

accessible as possible to the

widest audience – we have to

remember that art is not

exclusive, it is for all.’ And so

say all of us.

Derek Landy talks about

‘Mortal Coil’, the fifth

instalment of the

bestselling Skulduggery

Pleasant series, in the

Grand Hotel.

n ancient Ireland, the Aos Dána were the wise men,

and occasionally women, of the Clan who included

judges, priests, poets and historians. Today,

membership of Aosdána is purely open to artists: be

they musicians, novelists, poets, visual artists,

chorographers or architects.

Aosdána was set up in 1981 by Taoiseach Charles

Haughey, on the suggestion of the writer, Anthony

Cronin. The idea behind its formation was to honour

artists who made an outstanding contribution to the

arts in Ireland, and to financially assist members to

devote their energies full time to their art.

The Toscairí.

Funded by the State through the Arts Council, which

handles all of its administrative and financial

arrangements, Aosdána’s members are currently

limited to 250.

Membership to the club is by peer

nomination and not by application. The

nominee must have created a significant

body of work and be a native of, or resident

for at least five years in Ireland. The

committee of Aosdána is the Toscaireacht, a

group of ten members who are called

Toscairí. When new members are

proposed, the Toscairí have the task of

verifying that the nomination process has been

complied with, and also that the candidate is willing to

accept membership – something that cannot be taken

for granted.

To be or not to be

Heated debates on this organization continue. The

poet Brendan Kennelly, in an Irish Times article said,

‘On an unconscious or subconscious level I might feel

compromised (by membership).’ In the same article,

playwright Hugh Leonard stated, ‘I am not a member

by choice. And if I did ask to get in, they wouldn’t let

me in . . . the whole thing seems unforgivably political .

. . that thing of exclusivity and elitism I despise.’

For those who have been

accepted into Aosdána the

benefits are many. The poet

Pearse Hutchinson has

described his membership as ‘a

miracle and godsend’ that

allowed him to continue writing

at a time when he might have

had to give up.

And composer Roger Doyle

tells of the difference it made

to him. ‘I was elected to

Aosdána in 1986. This gave me

a small stipend from the Government each year, which

enabled me to devote all my time to composing.’

The benefits

Members of Aosdána are eligible to receive an annuity

for a term of five years. This stipend is called a Cnuas,

and is intended to allow recipients to work full time at

their art. Its value, in 2010, was €17,180 p.a. It may be

renewed for subsequent terms of five years, if the

artist shows that a work of merit has been produced

during the previous term.

Aside from these financial benefits,

members may also be awarded titles.

The Saoi – the wise one – is the

highest honour that can be bestow

upon a fellow member. The title is

awarded for ‘singular and sustained

distinction in the arts’. The President

of Ireland confers the symbol of the

office, the gold Torc, and no more

than seven living members can be so

honoured at one time.

It is Aosdána’s obligations under the Residential Redress

Act 2002 that causes some artists a problem. But,

recently, a motion was passed calling for clarification

on sections relating to censorship. Also, a motion was

passed unanimously that ‘Aosdána deplores some of

the recent tax exemptions granted to the authors of

books and calls for the introduction of new guidelines

in accordance with the spirit of the Act.’ I wonder to

whom they could possibly be referring.

I

FEATURE

Aosdána – an archaic

club for conferring honours

or a lifeline for artists.

Aosdána is a members’ only club that arouses strong opinions

among Irish artists. Carol Boland takes a look at this unique

institution and the controversy that continues to surround it.

Artist Patrick Scott with

President Mary McAleese

at Saoi ceremony in 2007

Current Toscairí

Seóirse Bodley (Music)

Anthony Cronin (Literature) Theo Dorgan (Literature)

Gerard Mannix Flynn (Literature) Dermot Healy (Literature)

Brian Maguire (Visual Arts) Hugh Maxton (Literature)

Nick Miller (Visual Arts)

Jane O'Leary (Music) Macdara Woods (Literature)

Events that caught the Space Inside’s eye What’s On Where

Where Theatre

The Moment

Tall Tales Theatre Company

Fri 8 & Sat 9 Apr

8pm

Fresh from success at the Bush

Theatre in London, Moment is a

thrilling new play by Deirdre Kinahan,

one of Ireland's most celebrated new playwrights. On a

seemingly ordinary evening an Irish family sit down to tea.

The difference tonight is that Nial is home - back from prison

having committed a dark crime many years earlier with some

news to share and a conscience to clear. Fast, witty and

frighteningly real, Moment takes you on journey through

trauma wrapped up in tablecloths and teacake.

Tickets: €18/€16 conc

Mermaid Box Office T: 01 272 4030

www.mermaidartscentre.ie

Music

12th Bray Jazz Festival

30 April – 2 May

Bray Jazz Festival is back on the May Bank

Holiday weekend.

Visual Arts

'Bye Bye Bog'

Exhibition by Willie Redmond

Tues 12 April to Sun 24 April

Signal Arts Centre, Bray

www.signalartscentre.ie

Music

Francesco Turrisi's Morisca

15 April

8.30pm

Morisca is an Irish based ensemble whose members have a

mutual interest in early classical, folk and world music. The core

members of the ensemble have all studied in the Netherlands.

Morisca is breaking the rules of classical music performance by

engaging with audiences in ways usually reserved for traditional

and contemporary artists.

Pauline Graham (Voice) Laoise O’Brien (Wind) Francesco

Turrisi (Percussion). Guest performer to be confirmed.

Tickets: €15 / €14

T; 0402 38529

www.tinahely-courthouse.ie

Music

RTÉ National

Symphony Orchestra

‘Horizons’

10 May

1.05 pm

Featured composer: Philip Hammond

The fourth of the Horizons series free lunchtime concerts

features composer Philip Hammond with a celebration of works

to celebrate his 60th birthday.

The programme includes Waterfront Fanfares, Die ersten

Blumen, Concertino for Flute and Strings as well as '…while the

sun shines' (in memoriam H.H.H.) and '...the starry dynamo in

the machinery of night...'.

MAIN AUDITORIUM

Roy Holmes piano

Gavin Maloney conductor

www.nch.ie

Brazilian bandolim virtuoso Hamilton de Holanda

teams up with fellow countryman Andre Mehmari

as one of the headliners at this year's Bray Jazz

Festival.

Programme features concerts, recitals, late night club gigs,

jazz trail shows and matinee performances.

www.brayjazz.com

Tuesday 5 April 2011

Frank Gallagher Frank Gallagher is a singer and a regular

acoustic and a slide guitarist. He has been

playing blues and jazz in Ireland and in

Europe since the 1970s.

Over the years, he has performed regularly with the likes of Don

Baker, Red Peters and Johnny Norris, to mention just a few. In the

1980s, he formed the Jitterbug Jug Band with Gerry Clarke. Since

that time he has mainly performed solo or in small groups with

Gerry Clarke.

Frank has also lectured and written about blues and jazz, both in

Ireland and abroad. He is co-founder and the chairman for many

years of The Courthouse Arts Centre in Tinahely.

The Zoryanna

The Zoryanna are a Dublin-

based Tribal and Modern

bellydance troupe.

With members from all four corners of the world, The Zoryanna

has developed their only style of Improvised Tribal Bellydance. They

also mix-and-match many other styles into their dance. The group

love to experiment and create, and every time they take to the stage

you can expect to be surprised and mesmerized.

www.thezoryanna.net

Colm Nolan

Colm runs workshops with diverse

groups, from Yoga classes to special

needs, schools and businesses. He

explores the voice and connects with the

deeper, authentic self. His unusual sessions find audiences joining in

with vocal exercises, releasing inhibitions, and tuning the voice by

singing Indian and Sanskrit words. He also offers his unique

performances at intimate gatherings and festivals around the

country. E: nolancolm@gmail.com Tel: 087 6836688

Tuesday 3 May 2011

Liz O Riordan & Pat

Connery

We welcome for the first time

to the Space Inside, a musical

duo who brings us newly-

composed, traditional Irish and classical music and song.

Pat Connery is a singer and plays uilleann pipes, concertina

and guitar. Liz O’Riordan is a composer, singer and pianist

who is inspired by language and poetry. She arranges

beautiful harmony for well-known Irish songs, and has

composed musical settings of her own and other people’s

poetry. She also plays fiddle and bodhran.

www.patconnerylizoriordan.com

Conor O’Donnell

Hailing from Wicklow Town, Conor

comes from a musical family. He’s

toured the states several times with

various acts and plays a lot of shows

now with his current band, The Big

Muddy.

He also is the visionary founder of one of Ireland’s hottest

music festivals, the Americana Roots Weekend in

Greystones, on the June bank holiday.

Conor will give us his lively version of songs by Bruce

Springsteen, Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash.

Would you like to perform at a Live Night?

Then email spaceinside@hotmail.com or phone

0851138367.

Donated raffle prizes keep Live Nights free and are

gratefully received.

Check us out at www.thespaceinside.blogspot.com

Join us around a log fire at Wicklow Sailing Club for a local

FREE night out with excellent poetry, music and dance

Doors Open 8pm

Live Night

6

Daydreams & Nightmares

Those Dancing Days

Scandi-licious Sophomores

Those Dancing Days are an indie pop

band from Stockholm. Michael Tinsley reviews their latest

album.

When Those Dancing Days first hit the blogosphere in

2007, they were fresh-faced Swedish schoolgirls pedalling

cute indie-pop. Now, with their second album Daydreams

& Nightmares, they are all grown-up.

When reviewing this album, I came across a bit of a

problem: last year they released the track Fuckaris as a

taster. It is a phenomenal pounding, two-fingers-up kind of

song, complete with a catchy chorus and squalls of

feedback. But, I haven’t found anything else to match it.

That’s not to say the rest of the album is aural dandruff.

Indeed, Cissi Efraimsson’s snare-rolls & tom-thumping are

worth the admission fee alone - see opener Reaching

Forward, if you don’t believe me. Also worth a mention

are, I’ll Be Yours, with its ebullient refrain & giggley-girl

backing vocals, and hand-clapping ‘take me I’m yours’

chorus of Keep Me In Your Pockets. The album closer, One

Day Forever, is a yearning duet featuring The Maccabees’

Orlando Weeks.

So there you go: Those Dancing Days, Great Look,

Beautiful Hair, and quite a few top fuller and thicker tunes

for good measure.

The Ice Princess

Camilla Lackberg

Early one morning, Erica Falck

responds to the cries from her

elderly neighbour and friend,

Alex, to find her dead in the

bathtub. Her wrists slashed, her body frozen in an ice

cold bath, it seems that she has taken her own life.

Erica, a writer, conceives a memoir about the beautiful

but remote Alex, one that will answer questions about

their lost friendship. But, as she delves deeper, she starts

to uncover some disturbing facts. And while her interest

grows to an obsession, local detective Patrik Hedstrom is

following his own suspicions about the case.

It is only when they start working together that the truth

begins to emerge about the small town with its deeply

disturbing past.

This is the first of four novels translated into English by

the Swedish crime thriller writer. If you mixed Stieg

Larsson and Jo Nesbo you’d get Camilla Lackberg, so if

you like Swedish crime thrillers, you’ll love this!

Hilary

€1 off from Bridge Street Books with Hilary’s review

Bridge Street Books, Bridge Street, Wicklow.

ph: + 353(0)404 62240

www.bridgestreetbooks.ie

REVIEWS

Hear Jay at Space

Inside on 5 October.

E-books – What’s it all about?

E-books are in the news, but what exactly are they?

An e-book is an electronic book where the text and

images are published in digital form and are readable

on computers. It can be an electronic version of a

conventional printed book, or can exist without any

previously printed version.

E-books are usually read on dedicated devices known

as e-Readers. Personal computers and some cell

phones can also be used to read e-books.

Apple released the iPad with an e-book application

called iBooks. Between April 2010 and October, Apple

sold 7 million iPads. Amazon.com reported that its e-

book sales outnumbered sales of hardcover books for

the first time ever during the second quarter of 2010.

One drawback of the e-book is that, while a printed

book remains readable for many years, an e-book may

need to be converted to a new carrier or file type in

the future.

This is a whole new world for publishers and

purchasers of books. We will come back to e-books

and e-publishing again in a later edition.

Twitters

7

Concert Series for April

This April, County Wicklow churches

will host a new concert series, Sacred

Spaces: Sacred Sounds. The concerts

will feature three well-known

Wicklow musicians: Eamon Sweeney,

Rachel Factor and Redmond O’Toole.

Concerts will take place on three

consecutive Sundays in Lent in Calary Church,

Roundwood, St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Bray,

and Killiskey Church, Ashford.

Music will be from the Irish & Baroque traditions,

including works by J.S. Bach, Turlough O’Carolan,

Louis Couperin and Domenico Scarlatti.

Calary

April 3rd: Eamon Sweeney

April 10th: Redmond O'Toole

April 17th: Rachel Factor

Bray

April 3rd: Rachel Factor

April 10th: Eamon Sweeney

April 17th: Redmond O'Toole

Ashford

April 3rd: Redmond O'Toole

April 10th: Rachel Factor

April 17th: Eamon Sweeney

Concerts run from 3.30 – 4.30pm

tickets are : Individual concerts €15/€10

Series ticket (three concerts) €30/€20

For more information, email info@earlyguitarireland

Creative Writing Competitions

Over The Edge New Writer of The Year

Deadline: 3rd Aug 11

Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award

Deadline: 22nd Jul 11

Bridport Prize

Deadline: 30th Jun 11

Cork Literary Review Poetry Manuscript

Deadline: 19th May 11

MAG Poetry Prize 2011

Deadline: 30th Apr 11 Source:

poetryireland.ie/resources/competitions

New Cabaret Sessions in

Wicklow

The surge in poetry/music sessions over

the last few years has been something of

note. Inspired by the growing popularity

of these cabaret-style nights, the

Hotspot Café in Greystones has

launched its own performing arts nights called the

Speakeasy Sessions.

The cabaret kicks off at 9pm and tickets are €5 euro at

the door. Check out www.thehotspot.ie for date of the

next Friday night session.

Zeitgeist is another new cabaret-style evening,

showcasing spoken word, theatre, art and music. Run in

the Harbour Bar, Bray, detailsof the next session are on

their Facebook.

Dublin, of course, is teeming with such sessions. Here are

some for your diary:

The Glor Sessions in the International Bar on Georges

Street are on every Monday night.

The Last Wednesday series in the Twisted Pepper in

Middle Abbey St is on the last Wednesday of the month,

an exclusively spoken word evening.

Also on each last Wednesday, there is the Brownbread

Mixtape night, upstairs in the Stag's Head pub (off Dame

St). This is a very lively night with a mix of poetry, music

and comedy.

On the last Tuesday of each month in the Cobblestone

Bar in Smithfield there is the Tongue Box - mainly

spoken word with some music.

The Irish Writer's Centre now has a night in its

premises in Parnell Square on a Sunday night once a

month - it's called The Floorshow and the next one is on

27 March.

Nighthawks is another monthly event held in the Cobalt

Cafe on North Great Georges St. It is held on Saturday

nights and is run along the lines of the Glor and

Brownbread Mixtape.

New Library for Gorey

Gorey has a new public library

which is set within the Civic

Centre Plaza in the town. A state of the art building, the

Gory Writers are hoping to take up the offer of a room

there, for their writing sessions. You can find out more

about their move on Gorey writers website :

www. goreywriters.blogspot.com

Rachael Factor

Redmond O'Toole

Eamon Sweeney

Boland Press and ‘Scaling the Heights’

launch at Signal Arts Centre, Bray

Businesses: Yoga Sacred Space, National Fire Museum of

Power (Wales) www.internalfire.com, Healthy Habits Café

Wicklow, Maltfield Riding School Ballykeane Redcross.

Groups: Wicklow Writers, Shed Poets.

Individuals: Iris Brown, Helen Duffy, Jane Clarke, Avril Young,

Charlie Burke, Mary Boland, The Graham Family, Socorro

Murphy, Anne Cavanagh, J and E Whittaker, Gerry and Betty

Sheridan, Edward Ryan, Martin Swords, James Boland, George &

Meta Whittaker, Jean McGovern, Janet Smith, Martin Esseen,

Liam Walsh.

Space Inside Arts Journal is published monthly by

volunteers: Editorial: Carol Boland, Anne Graham and Michael

Tinsely. Submissions to spaceinside@hotmail.com.

Live Nights are run by Carol Boland, Anne Graham, Pascal

Moran, Cait Breathnach with help from Kerry. Distribution of

magazine by Evert Beerda and Tess Doyle. Phone 085113836

The Space Inside is grateful to Wicklow Town Council,

Wicklow County Arts Office, Wicklow Rural Partnership and

Friends for making the journal and Live Nights a reality. This

project was initially assisted by Wicklow Rural Partnership Ltd

under the European Union LEADER +/National Development

Plan 2000-2006.

Become our friend, please send €35 to Space Inside,

Grove Mill, Hollyfort, Co. Wexford, or bring it along on

a Live Night. Or donate €3 (or more) online at

thespaceinside.blogspot.com

E: spaceinside@hotmail.com

W: thespaceinside.blogspot.com

Friends of The Space Inside 2010/11

POET’S CORNER

Published by Boland Press.

Printed by Conway Media

Rory O’Sullivan

I wish us more

I choose to sleep in frost.

A lonely mouth lustfully dry.

For no cherished drop can cure my thirst,

No taste of beauty from dashing eyes.

None but her, and she was just a friend of mine.

I remember heat from Paris.

And she pronounced my name like a choirs lure.

And we walked through passions glowing lights,

As it lit the rain in stormy nights.

And I wrapped her in a coat and smiled,

And wished to walk another mile.

To feel the heat upon her thighs,

But I saw no beauty in her eyes.

For none but one has my heart felt long,

And she was just a friend of mine.

A girl who smelt like strawberries.

She would pick fruit from blossoming trees.

A girl with none but berries to give,

But all she had she would share with me.

And we would walk among dandelions,

And blow rings in summer springs.

And the moon would sparkle the springs at night,

And the glow would fade into brighter light.

So we may bath in the sun.

And I’ll feel your heat against my chest.

We can share the comfort of a morning sun,

And leave our hidden wounds to rest.

But I only wish to rest with one, only one.

For she is the sky

And I am the sea.

Where we touch will be unknown.

When we met my heart was frozen tight,

And she heated my chest with her soothing light.

In that moment I melted for the first time,

But in her eyes, she was just a friend of mine.

Rory O’Sullivan

L to R : Poet, Rosy Wilson, Jo Woods, Poetry

Ireland & Carol Boland, Boland Press

Cosmic Poetry

A Wicklow Arts Festival Event

Following the success of last year’s session, the Wicklow

Writers bring their poems once again to the Cosmic Garden,

and invite you to bring along yours too. Enjoy a cuppa before

blast off, and bring a cushion. There may be some drumming,

too!

Sun, 29 May at 11:15

An Tairseach Ecology Centre

left thro’ gates of Dominican Convent