Irish Diary

WOW! We have just had the most amazing weekend in Ireland representing Celtic Womenfest kindly funded by Coracle!!

 

 

I picked up Suzanne Hughes Owen and Danielle Lewis at midnight from Llandysul and we headed off to Fishguard to check in with Stenna Line.

The boat left at 2.45am. We were so excited and couldn't understand why everyone was finding ways to immediately bed down and sleep for the night! We went off exploring and chatting about our professional development trip for the festival. We were spolit on board having tickets to Stena Premiere ... travelling in comfort.

 

We arrived at the hotel at 7am having had no sleep we were starting to struggle a bit and I reckon the receptionist took pity on us because we weren't supposed to check in til 4pm! She very kindly moved rooms around and we headed up. Again we were spoilt! Whites Hotel is 4 stars! They had a beautiful Christmas tree up ...

 

 

Even the loo's were posh!

 

 

 

This is the view from my hotel room. We grabbed a couple of hours sleep missing breakfast and then heading off into town to start the networking

 

 

We went over to Wexford Arts Centre where we would be performing that night ...

 

as part of the Dinner Cabaret

Chrsitmas Celebrations

 

 

 

Then we went on a mission to put out our fliers around town

 

 

 

We found The Opera House ... and the Business Manager very kindly had a meeting with us

 

 

After a quick rehearsal in the hotel we popped over for our sound check at the Arts Centre. The Manager had asked for us to perform a 10 - 15 minute piece called a Child's Christmas in Wales so I wrote a piece originally for myself and The Passmores. Sadly they weren't able to come and Suzanne and Danielle who both performed at CW12, kindly stepped in literally last minute. I adjusted the set to fit their style and creative gifts ...

 

But just before we left for Ireland I had emailed Alex Caulfield asking if there would be any chance that Danielle could showcase some of her own songs as that was one of her own aims. LAst minute I pinged over 3 or 4 video clips and Mp3's that Danielle had sent me so that Alex could see what she sounded like.

 

 As luck would have it, there was a gap in the line up and because she has the voice of an angel, Alex and Helena kindly slotted her in an extra set of  her own songs. I was so chuffed to see her coming into her light up there. She is now planning to go back to teh venue with a full set of her own.

 

We all had lots of really positive feedback which was lovely, and then we enjoyed watching the local Irish acts who were outstanding!

 

 

 

There were a few performance firsts for us ...

 

Having been a written poet throughout her life, Suzanne first became a spoken word poet via the Celtic Women Project and on this trip she sang live on stage for the first time ever!

 

And even though I have played Djembe solo for my own work and recordings or in groups with other drummers, I have never accompanied a solo artist live on stage before ...

 

It was Danielle's first trip to Ireland

 

We rolled into bed late and set the alarm early for our Breakfast meeting the following morning ...

 

 

What happened next?

See the next blog!

How did you organise Celtic Womenfest in Ireland?

How did you organise Celtic Womenfest in Ireland?

 

Before the festival this Summer I had a meeting with Dominic Williams at Coracle and after the festival we booked to meet again.

 

My intention had been that our festival was inter-celtic but there was no funding available to make this so at the time, but Dom kindly offered in October funding for us to go on a professional development trip in December as long as I was able to apply for the funding and make contact with the all the people he thought would be able to help us.

 

I wrote a Business Plan, got it approved by David Hardy at The National Botanic Garden of Wales who kindly host and fund the infra structure of the festival  ... and then sent this in with the application.

 

Dom gave me a few pointers to tighten it up, which I did... and we were game on!

 

He emailed all his contacts in Ireland via Coracle and then I started ringing people and emailing to make the trip meet the aims and objectives of Coracle, the European Development Fund Ireland Wales interreg 4a Program and our Business Plan.

 

Remember that I do all of this in my own time.

 

Although the Garden kindly fund my expenses to organise the festival and provide the whole infra structure for us including my expenses, I'm not able to charge for my time as there is no external funding to cover this. Since the funding stopped for the Community Project Celtic Women, I have not been able to secure funding to organise and direct the project but  I feel so passionately about creating a platform in such an amazing setting for women singer songwriters, musicians and poets, that it feels right to give my time. Besides which, how amazing for me to have this adventure and be making a pathway for others to experience it too!

 

You might ask how I chose who to take with me to Ireland from the 58 performers who gave thier time to perfrom at CW12 but that was easy because of those who kindly gave their time to take part, there are very few who also offer to help me out in the organisation. 2 key volunteers were Sarah and Dawn Passmore and so I invited them but last minute they weren't able to make it and so I invited Suzanne Hughes Owen who has supported Celtic Women since I ran the first funded Community Project in partnership with Community Music Wales 2 years ago... and Danielle Lewis who performed at the festival and has stayed in touch with me.

 

Having been and had such an amazing time in Ireland and making incredible connections, the 3 of us were definitely meant to make the journey together ...

 

Suzanne has very kinldy offered to give accommodation to Irish performers who will be visiting us as a result of the trip to take part in our Celtic Women Concert Series and CW13 in the Summer. She is also putting on a home gig for Danielle on January 6th in Llandysul where the funds rasied from the evening will go towards a Wales:Kenya Project that is being led by Heather Summers funded by The Arts Council of Wales. Suzanne is a lead member of the management committee at The Powerhouse Pwerdi in Llandysul and is helping to raise match funding for the Wales Kenya project.

 

Celtic Women is not just about great music and poetry in a fabulous venue ... it's equally about fostering the idea that we can work together, help each other and create amazing experiences by sharing our creativity, skills and resources. 

 

If you would like to know more feel free to drop me a line cherylbeermusic@gmail.com

 

Celtic Womenfest is leaving for Ireland in 4 hours!!!

Myself, Suzanne Hughes Owen & Danielle Lewis will be setting off for the ferry in 4 hours time for our very exciting trip to Ireland this weekend kindly funded by Coracle.

WATCH THIS SPACE FOR PHOTO'S OF OUR TRIP when we get back on Monday.

New flier for Ireland Trip this week