Civic Trust House Newsletter No. 16

As part of the National Campaign for the Arts' Meet & Greet day, Civic Trust House welcomed five Cork TDs to meet with the arts community last week.

Our colleagues from Mayfield Community Arts, Grafitti Theatre Co., Cork Music Works, Frameworks Films and other leading organisations, as well as young independent artists joined us to make the case for the arts.

Fine Gael TDs Jerry Buttimer and Dara Murphy, Labour TDs Kathleen Lynch and Ciaran Lynch and Sinn Fein TD Jonathan O'Brien all attended and had some animated informal chats with those gathered.

Jerry Buttimer and Kathleen Lynch in particular both demonstrated an existing engagement with and appreciation for the arts. Jonathan O'Brien mentioned to several of us the development he has seen in his own daughters since they took up dancing, he recognised their confidence improving and is keen to get to know Graffiti Theatre Company who are in his consituency.

More reports can be found in the Cork Independent and The Cork News :
Cork Independent article
The Cork News article

To celebrate the last night of Bealtaine, the national festival of creativity in older age, a free event for all ages will take place at Civic Trust House.

“Come into the Parlour” will include music, poetry, dance and character songs, all inspired by a summer theme. The event takes place at 7.30pm on Tuesday 31st May and will be hosted by Snippets Cultural Drama Group, which was formed by a group of Cork women who studied Women in the Community at University College Cork.

“Come into the Parlour” will feature a Maypole in front of the historic Elizabethan house, and with plenty of opportunity for audience participation it will be a great chance to have a giggle, reminisce and make some new friends.

Snippets return to Civic trust House after a hugely successful Parlour Party which attracted a capacity audience during Heritage Week in 2010.

“Come into the Parlour” is a free event, and tea and coffee will be served. Guests are invited to bring a little home-baking for the table if the fancy takes them!

After many months of planning and organization, the Theatre Development Centre at Triskel finally opened its doors for the first time to arts practitioners on April 25th 2011. Theatre company Asylum Productions were the first to hold a week long residency in the space and quite fittingly the showing of their work at the end of the week was entitled “Caution: Work in Progress”.

Housed in what was formerly the auditiorium at Triskel Arts Centre on Tobin St, the TDC is a flexible space which can be booked for week long periods, predominately for the work-shopping and development of theatre work. The centre which is facilitated by Corcadorca seeks to strengthen the theatre community in Cork and provide artists with the opportunity to develop their work without the pressure of imminent production and financial burden.

Dispelling any possible unlucky associations with the date, the TDC was launched officially on Friday 13th to a great gathering of the arts community in Cork. The evening was set in motion with the reading of a new play ‘Adam and Evie’ by Carmel Winters which Corcadorca had been workshopping for a week with actors Karl Shiels and Lucianne McEvoy. Then the floor was opened up to the audience for a Q & A session where feedback could be given on the piece.

An eclectic programme of short performances followed with everything from improv games to monologues and song. Some of the contributors included Snatch Comedy, Roundhouse with a new piece by Jenny Rogers entitled ‘Magazine’ and Hammergrin working with audience members on draft scripts. The night was rounded off with music being provided by our friends at Eat My Noise who provided the tunes ensuring happiness for those dancers among us.