LAST weekend, PURE Limerick Community Arts Festival brought colour and smiles to the otherwise damp streets of Limerick city centre, as people of all ages turned out to enjoy everything this new multi-artform festival had to offer.
Festival organisers, Limerick City Partnership with the Hunt Museum could not be happier with how this festival went off.
Festival organisers particularly want to congratulate the young people of Limerick who made a significant contribution to the festival programme. From aerial dance by IACC Future Creators in the Hunt Museum Garden, youth working with The Gaff to deliver Paint Punch in Limerick’s Milk Market, to musical performances by King’s Island youth at old St Munchin’s Church, they entertained and wowed festival goers with their talent and creativity.
Organisers also want to congratulate the High Kicks (over 50s group) who collaborated with Dance Limerick to stage a dance event for older people, and St Saviours, who staged a theatre production, The Reunion, at Belltable.
The festival offered ample opportunity for the public to connect with local artists. At the Hunt Museum, ceramics artist Mary Conroy worked with early career ceramics artists from LSAD to deliver Shape the Clay workshops and to run exciting Pottery Thrown Down events.
Other highlights of the festival including circus skills workshops, delivered by Irish Aerial Creation Centre at UL Campus’ Citizen Innovation Lab (Old Dunnes Stores on Sarsfield Street) and creative arts workshops, including in print, which were accessed by all ages, and offered by Dochás Autism Midwest and Limerick Printmakers.
Indeed, artist-led workshops for youth in singing, acting and writing were also offered by LCETB Creative Youth Project at Lava Java LYS Café.
For more passive festival goes, there were also high-quality art exhibitions to enjoy, by Moyross Youth Academy and adults working with Limerick Printmakers through a recent HSE project. These were displayed at Citizen Innovation Lab (Old Dunnes Stores). At the Hunt Museum, festival goers also enjoyed the colour and texture of the Woven Together exhibition, which presented textile artworks by Headway, newly arrived communities and St Mary’s National School.
This festival also facilitated newly arrived communities to showcase their traditional art forms, including Your Arts Productions, a collective of Ukrainian artists living locally, and Muslim Sisters of Eire Limerick. Both ran highly successful events at the Hunt Museum.
Festival organisers would like to thank all festival partners and volunteers and acknowledge the generous support of its funders, the Arts Council of Ireland; SICAP, Limerick City and County Council’s Healthy Limerick programme and Local Authority Integration Unit.
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