The West of Ireland has a rich tradition of storytelling, culture and arts, with many emerging artists practising in Galway, and arts festivals taking place across the region. While the centre of Irish cultural life is generally considered to be in Dublin, Notre Dame Kylemore participates in an effort to highlight and elevate the arts in the West by showcasing and supporting local artists, and by introducing international artists to Connemara.
Music
Notre Dame student Aubrey Breen records music videos at Kylemore
Galway and Aubrey Breen were a match made in heaven when this Notre Dame music student landed for the fall 2023 intake. Aubrey Breen and her twin sister Olivia (who happened to also be studying in Galway at the time!) are a professional music duo who have long had an interest in Irish traditional music. By chance, they fell into a group of traditional musicians at the very start of their time in Galway, and before long, they were playing as part of the “trad sessions” in one of Galway’s pubs famous for music – a tradition as old as the music itself.
Read more about Aubrey's journey.
Aubrey Breen & band, The Rambling Rover
Aubrey Breen & band, The Galway Shawl
Stay tuned for more videos to be posted here soon!
Writing
ND Kylemore offers 3 residencies for Irish writers, including accessible residency
In 2023, The Irish Writers Centre and Notre Dame Kylemore announced a new partnership, part of which awards three Irish writers with a fully-catered five day residency opportunity, with one of the placements being reserved for a disabled writer. The residency opportunity will take place annually in April, in the beautifully restored Notre Dame building, and allows awarded writers access to the Kylemore Estate, Victorian Walled Gardens, Gothic Chapel and museum.
Kieran Fitzgerald, Henrietta McKervey, and Rose Ugoalah were awarded the Kylemore Residency for 2024, which took place April 15-19. Rose Ugoalah spoke of this honor saying, “I’m delighted to be awarded this unique opportunity at such a dream location. I already know this will be a special experience.” One of the awardees confirmed after the week had ended: “It's a really good retreat, the best I've ever been on.”
Read more about the residency placement opportunity.
Visual Arts
ND Kylemore hosts biodiversity performance and exhibition
As part of the inaugural Biodiversity Summer School, Notre Dame Kylemore will host an evening of arts connected with the mission of spreading awareness about the current climate events on August 31st and September 1st, 2024.
Jane Robinson, poet and biologist, will read from her poetry. Robinson is 2021 Writer-in-Residence for the Red Line Book Festival, Dublin. ‘Journey to the Sleeping Whale’ received the 2019 Shine-Strong Award for Ireland’s best début poetry collection of the year, and her poems have also won the Strokestown International Poetry Award, 2014; the Red Line Book Festival Poetry Prize, 2015; second for Patrick Kavanagh Award, 2015; and runner-up for the 2019 Gingko Ecopoetry Award. An Irish poet based in Dublin, Jane has a B.A. from Trinity College Dublin, a Ph.D in Biology from the California Institute of Technology, and worked as a Research Professor at the University of Arizona for ten years before returning home to Ireland. Her recorded readings have been broadcast on RTÉ’s Lyric FM, the Poetry Jukebox, and on the RTÉ Poetry Programme where she was interviewed by Olivia O’Leary. She was the Irish Writers Centre’s 2019 Writer in Residence in Norway as well as 2019 Poet in Residence at the Archive of the National Centre for Biological Sciences in Bangalore, India. Recent and forthcoming projects include: a poetry masterclass ‘Outdoor Acts of Rescue’ commissioned by Skylight 47; a study of Donegal poet Madge Herron; and collaboration on a poem cycle ‘For the Atoll’ set to music.
Tina Claffey, a photographer and artist, will show her work. Claffey is a nature photographer and author of the book ‘Tapestry of Light-Ireland's bogs & wetlands as never seen before’ published in October 2017. Her new book ‘Portal - Otherworldly Wonders of Ireland's Bogs, Wetlands & Eskers’ was published in May 2022. Tina’s observations and unique perspective of the flora and fauna of the unspoilt raised bogs and wet woodlands of the Irish midlands are celebrated in her work.
Tina has exhibited in the US (New York & San Fransisco), Botswana, Zambia and throughout Ireland. She has been honoured with awards from highly prestigious world competitions including International Photography Awards, Fine Art Photography Awards, BigPicture-Natural World Photography, Close Up Photographer of the Year , and IGSPOTY (International Garden Photographer of the Year).
Her photography work is part of many art collections, such as the permanent collection at Aras an Uachtarain, the home of the Irish President.
Stay tuned for photos of the event, or sign up to join for free at Eventbrite.