Ranelagh Arts Festival 2008
Féile Raghnallach

Wednesday, 24th September – Sunday, 28th September

Welcome to the 4th annual Ranelagh Arts Festival, which promises to provide entertainment for everyone in the community.

Highlights of the festival include:

• A tribute to Mary Holland, commemorating the life and work of this much-loved writer and journalist who graced Ranelagh with her presence for so long before her untimely death. Mary’s friends, colleagues and family will take part in the event


• Martin Parr, internationally renowned Magnum photographer, will deliver an illustrated lecture on his life and times. As a great favour to the festival, Martin will adjudicate at the photographic exhibition, Ranelagh Outside.


• Keeping the Beat, a specially commissioned exhibition of photographs by Kate Horgan, will feature a series of portraits of the founders of the Irish music industry.


• Liam O’Maonlai and Áine Ni Dhuill will be joined by leading traditional and classical musicians in reworking the songs that inspired the great Seán O’Riada’s Mise Eire. This concert will be held in Scoil Bhride and will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of Scoil Eanna in Cullenswood House.


• The Cullenswood Singers will perform Palestrina’s Missa Brevis and a selection from The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace by Karl Jenkins, in Sandford Parish Church.


• Other events for music lovers include:


• A traditional session by Ciarán Tourish and Dermot McLaughlin
• A blues sessions
• A night of Polish music
• An old-style Sunday morning Dublin ballad session, hosted by the legendary Jimmy Behan
• The annual Mark Cabena Battle of the Bands for teenagers


• Comedy will be at the heart of this year’s festival, with stand-up and improvised sessions taking place in local pubs.


• The Cinemobile will offer an exciting choice of films for movie lovers of all ages. The 2008 festival will see the return of the Minicinefest.


• The Open Day and Parade in Ranelagh Gardens will involve children from the local national schools, promising once again to be the most popular event of the festival.


• Other festival events include:


• Poetry Speakeasy
• Historical walks and talks
• Helen Dillon’s gorgeous garden
• The Hornsby Ackroyd engine, chugging away on The Triangle
• Kids photo exhibition
• A talk on the art of boxing
• Writers on Horse Racing
• The Ranelagh Players
• Talking Heads