Introduction / Réamhrá

It is my great pleasure to introduce the Cashel Arts Festival 2017. As we head towards the autumn, it is important that we celebrate the richness of art, crafts, music and theatre that add light to our lives and homes.

Home forms one of the central themes of our festival this year. In keeping with this theme around our fluxive sense of identity, our programme includes many artists whose work deals with the ever-changing sense of longing and belonging. Our festival will be opened on Thursday 21st September at the Rock of Cashel. Our headline music act is Steve & Joe Wall of The Stunning and The Walls. Our headline speaker is a renowned journalist and author Robert Fisk. Our visual arts programme this year is working around the themes of home, community and belonging. These themes are also visible in Manchán Magan’s Irish language project, the work of Marie O’Driscoll and Pat Looby. Coda carries on the tradition of ballad singing, operating as a living link to Ireland’s oral traditions.

I would like to compliment our hardworking committee and our volunteers for all their creativity and vision. I would also like to thank our sponsors without whom this festival would not be possible. Their generosity ensures that Cashel remains, as it has always been, a centre for culture. Finally, I would like to thank the people of Cashel and surrounding areas who continue each year to support us.

Anne Marie O’Donnell
Chairperson