People don’t know what to expect when they travel to a small island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean for an Arts Festival, however they leave here after three days beaming with joy and already promising to be back for next year. Yes, we are a small island, but we sure know how to run a successful festival. It’s not just about the festival, it’s a complete island experience.
The Inishbofin Arts Festival has been an annual event on Inishbofin for over 30 years, minus a few Covid years, but we are most definitely making up for that since 2022. It may seem like a small event to some, but it is a massive event for our island. It is a fantastic weekend jam packed with incredible music from all over Ireland, an outstanding display of art, remarkable theatre performances and educational talks and demonstrations and much more. There really is something for everyone at the Inishbofin Arts Festival.
The Inishbofin Arts Festival typically runs over the May bank holiday weekend. This year, we held it in April (because someone decided to get married on the May bank holiday weekend. Not allowed people!). It was a great success with an audience of people from all over the world. The festival was opened on Friday 14th April by Paul Carey and Des Kavanagh. Our first act of the night was the wonderful folk singer-songwriter Sonny Casey from Connemara, followed by our headline gig of three master musicians Máirtín O’Connor, Cathal Hayden and Seamie O’Dowd. Máirtín absolutely lifted the roof off the place with his fast-paced playing, so much so he blew a button off his accordion.
Over the course of the festival weekend, we had an amazing Art Exhibition. This year we were delighted to have three of our local women in business in the exhibition. Bofin Weaves displayed some beautifully handwoven wall hangings. Skylark & Wren had an impressive collection of unique floristic art on show and Audrey Murray Art had some incredible hand made textile pictures. We also had a large collection of artworks from Sadhbh Fadden and fantastic oil paintings by Patricia Doyle.
During the day on Saturday and Sunday we had a range of free workshops and activities for all ages including weaving, hip-hop dancing, jewellery making, creative floral making, and a magic show for children. In the evening there was a performance of ‘The Chain’ which was specially commissioned for the Arts Festival by Vagabond Productions London.
On Saturday night we had support from the amazing singer-songwriter Gemma Cox from Dublin, followed by music from the band Keywest, which was a mix of folk, pop and rock.
On Sunday we facilitated a book launch for Joanne Elliott, followed by an afternoon gig in St. Colman’s Church with distorted folk singer Hubert Murray and multi-instrumentalist Naomi Berrill.
To finish off the festival weekend on a light-hearted note, we held a Comedy Club Night on Sunday 16th April. It was the first-time comedy has been a part of our Arts Festival, and it will be something we will continue doing. Fred Cooke, Emman Idama and Meg Reilly really got the crowd going. Everyone left on a high, with sore cheeks from laughing, and it was a lovely way to end a brilliant weekend.
Inishbofin Arts Festival 2024 will be held on May bank holiday so stay tuned for an exciting line up!
Inishbofin Arts Festival is supported by the Arts Council of Ireland.
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