Wednesday, August 16, 2006

All that Jazz, Blues, etc. I lár na Féile

It's been a mad few days since the start of the Arts Festival. It all kicked off on Friday (officially that is anyway) in the crescent of the Design Centre where Dara O' Brien of Newstalk opened the proceedings officially. Loads of VIP's including Olive Braiden, the Chair of the Arts Council, and of course all the people who have been lifetime friends of the festival. It was a really liveley evening, with sunshine, vino and plenty good company. The good news announcement was that Mike Fitzpatrick, who heads up the visual arts end of the festival, has been selected to curate Ireland's part of the Venice Biennale, the biggest arts festival in Europe. Mike is a great fun character, full of Clare wit, but really knows his stuff too.



From there it was on to the opening of the Kilkenny Photographic Society exhibition in the Club House hotel. The society has a great website with loads of the work of its 30 plus members. Holding court on the night was old friend, Greenshill neighbour and doc Johnny Cuddihy, who was acting Chairperson for the night. One of the most interesting people I met was a young Polish man working in Callan called Petr, who has mastered the local art of answering questions with cryptic riddles fairly quickly. Get along to the Club House if you can, and here's one of Petr's pics. Nothing to do with faulty fish passes either.

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