Become a Patron of Storytelling Southeast 2012

Are you passionate about supporting the arts and supporting this exciting venture? Talk to us about becoming a patron or friend of the festival.

Our patrons will enjoy a 20% discount on festival tickets, be invited to a unique post-festival celebration and enter the draw for a free crossing to France with Brittany Ferries.

Patrons and friends of the festival will be acknowledged online, on a poster at the key venues and in the regional press.

• Business Patrons: €200
• Individual Patrons: €100
• Friends of the Festival: €50

Storytelling Southeast continues to develop and is becoming a key event on the annual cultural calendar.

This event needs the support of the local business community, of all people who are passionate about the arts and the cultural sector and all who want to promote the Southeast.

Pledge your support by contacting us at info@storytellingsoutheast.com or call into the information office at Bridge House (Mon-Fri: 10 am - 1 pm and 3 pm - 6 pm / Sat: 1 pm - 5 pm)

We expect the 2nd edition to be even more successful than the inaugural event and have started planning for subsequent editions with the view to deliver to the highest artistic and production quality standards.

Radio Interview about Storytelling Southeast's Art Space - Bridge House

Listen: Interview About Our New Art Space (7 mins)

Bo Mandeville - Festival Director of Storytelling Southeast speaks to Ian Noctor of WLRfm about the development of Bridge House as an Arts Space for 10 resident artists. Bo also outlines some of the plans for the 2012 festival.

Message From The Canadian Ambassador To Storytelling Southeast

Storytelling Southeast will include a focus onnew writing from Canada and especially Newfoundland, a region with very close connections with the Southeast. International guests will read poetry and give talks. They include: Mary Dalton, Randall Maggs and Armand Garnet Ruffo.

Critically acclaimed Irish poet John Ennis has been instrumental in making this focus happen. His in-depth knowledge of new writing of Canada and his long standing partnerships with colleges and friendships with writers have made this even more special.

This focus will also be the starting point of an exchange programme to encourage young writing talent and give an opportunity to explore the connections between Newfoundland and County Waterford. Canadian Eva Crocker will be the first writer to avail of this. She has published short stories in "Paragon" - St. John's Memorial University's journal of creative writing - and is considered an emerging talent.

Key events:

• Wednesday 26 September; John Ennis in Bridge House at 5 pm
• Thursday 27 September; Armand G Ruffo on "Norval Morrisseau" in the Old Market House at 7 pm
• Friday 28 September; Mary Dalton in the Old Market House at 7 pm
• Saturday 29 September; Randall Maggs in Bridge House at 5 pm
• Sunday 30 September; samples of new Canadian writing in the Tannery Cookery School at 5 pm (including Irish Tapas and Wine sampling)

The festival's ambition is to continue and further develop the exchanges and the partnerships over the next few years.

Canadian Ambassador Loyola Hearn has expressed his support:

"Wishing you every success with the Storytelling Southeast Festival.  As we know, there are many great stories that exist between the South East of Ireland and the South East of Newfoundland and it would be a great pleasure to hear them presented."

Launch Of Storytelling Southeast's New Home

Artist Manuela Madeira In The Bridge House Arts Space

On Thursday August 2nd - Storytelling Southeast opened the doors of its brand new Arts Space in 'Bridge House' in Dungarvan in County Waterford.

Bridge House will become the home of the Storytelling Festival, which takes place in the county from September 26 to 30, 2012.

The historic house is also a collection of studios where ten artists have taken residence. It offers them a collection of spaces including a gallery and events room. Events will be curated and managed by the director of Storytelling Southeast, Bo Mandeville.

The ten artists are diverse in their work and include Irish artists Eveleen Power, Rayleen Clancy, Eilis O'Toole, Eileen Singleton, Eamon Gray, Anthony Hayes, Sinéad Violet, Manuela Madeira, Helen-Rose Hayes and Anne-Marie Le Flohic. Commenting at the launch Festival Director Bo Mandeville said, "Storytelling Southeast is eager to establish permanence in the region and this is a logical next step but also very key to the growth of the festival. It allows us to invite artists, organise exchanges, produce events all year around and promote the festival and the destination. We are welcoming other cultural organisations and communities to partner with us or to simply use the infrastructure. In the near future all of this will - hopefully - culminate in a vibrant arts community, a place where artists and audiences can explore creativity and where everybody feels encouraged to participate."

Officially opening the Bridge House Arts Space Mayor of Dungarvan Micheál Cosgrove commented, "I am delighted to officially open this new arts space in Dungarvan, it is wonderful to see this beautiful architecturally designed building coming to life and housing not only 10 art studios but also becoming the home of the fantastic Storytelling Southeast festival which I am very much looking forward to enjoying next month. I would like to wish all of the artists well and the festival the very best of luck for their future growth and progress."

Bridge House will open as the Storytelling Southeast box office from August 24 and before the festival it will host workshops, a teen book club and ongoing performances and installations. During the festival the space will be open for festivalgoers to visit the Art space and enjoy some festival events.

Photo By David Clynch

Letter to Principals and Teachers

Mindful of the importance of storytelling as an educational tool, the festival has tailored a programme and wide range of performances for pupils in both primary and secondary schools. Stay tuned for a full list.

SNEAK PREVIEW

Performances for primary schools
Niall de Búrca, Wobbly Circus, Alan Murphy
and many more ...

Film screenings for secondary schools
Inside I’m Dancing, Cinema Paradiso
and much more ...

Meet the writers
Judi Curtin, Annabel Pitcher
and many more ...

Coming to a theatre near you
or straight into your class rooms
and much more ...

Booking instructions, contact details and e-mail address will be included in the follow-up form we will send to schools the last week of August. Bookings will be on a first come first serve basis. Capacity and age group for each event will be indicated. These events are strictly for schools only and cannot be booked by the general public. The events will be non-ticketed. Some of the artists, writers, performers will take part in other events during the festival. Full details will be available mid August.

Storytelling Southeast remains committed to bringing the festival experience to young audiences in the wider community. Over the last weekend of September there will be an abundance of activities and events. Many of those free of charge.

But now it’s time for a summer break. So this is merely a sneak preview. Expect more info and a booking form in the post late August.

Meanwhile enjoy your well deserved break.

Download our sneak preview in Adobe pdf format

Review Of Ann Scott Concert In Dungarvan Town Hall Theatre

Sunday night it was back down the road to 'Storytelling Southeast' in Fungarvan. Before Ann Scott took to the stage I had a chat with Bo Mandeville (a handle that would have to gain him entry into a Jacklie Collins Novel of his choice ;-) I'm just jealous!) the director of the festival. He is confident that after all that happened in this the first year of the event, this is a festival that will definitely run again next year. They had over 1,200 kids involved in the schools programme, over 3,000 attendees all told, 45 events with many artists wishing to return next year, positive audience feedback, seems like a happy ever after all round! It is evident from the programme, that the festival set out to expand the traditional notion of story telling by the fireside (although this was included too) and include stories that are told through other means such as music and the visual arts. The approach and atmospehere is relaxed and inclusive; being offered complimentary glasses of wine after early arrival helps this along. I have wanted to catch Ann Scott for a while now and the Town Hall Theatre in Dungarvan on a Sunday night, in an intimate setting and with a receptive crowd, was the place to do it.

Ann is something of a slow burner in terms of exposure, critically acclaimed (twice nominated for Best Female at the Meteors) but not quite cutting through to the mainstream, which is not such a bad thing. On Sunday night, she laid out the stories beautifully and the subtle, considered use of electronic-do-hickery complimented her delicate guitar and sweet sweet voice perfectly. I can't remember exactly where I read it, but there's a tribe somewhere in Afghanistan (let's hope they're still there) that believe that the thing that makes us fall in love and find a spiritual connection, is to be found not in pheromones or appearance, but in the voice. If there's truth in this, Ann Scott is leaving a string of broken hearts in her wake in the same way the parish bus leaves empty beer cans after it on the way to a Munster Final in Thurles (properly disposed of, of course, but crumpled, sacrificed willingly and in large quantities none the less ;-) ). Ann described, early in her career, hoping that one of her songs, 'Hot Day', would bring her fame and fortune, as every time the sun would shine, DJ's all over the country would be reaching for it. She soon realised that you are more likely to aqua-plain your way to a gig down the M9, than experience fame and fortune through penning solar powered serenades. I'm just glad she has good tyres and a steady hand on the tiller.

Originally published on: www.ayearoffestivalsinireland.com

Ard Scoil Na nDeise Reaction To Our Festival

Storytelling South East Festival: Cinema Visit
On Thursday and Friday of last week the senior classes had a great treat! They attended the local cinema to view two films, Inside I’m Dancing and Ballroom of Romance. Luckily the sixth year students will be using one of these movies in their exams next June, and they were delighted to hear the analysis Bo Mandeville gave in his introduction. The fifth years enjoyed the insights about the Good Old Days in Ballroom of Romance, but would not swap the modern movie club scene for “old-fashioned romance”.

Storytelling South East: Visit from Concept Designer Dermot Power
Friday the 30th of September, concept artist Dermot Power came to our school to talk to all the 4th year students and the 5th and 6th year art students, in conjunction with the Storytelling South East Festival.

Dermot explained to us that a concept artist draws up ideas for the film director before any of the cast is even chosen, so that they can have an idea how much the movie will cost! The drawings can be on the environment of the movie, props, the cast and costumes.

All of the drawings are digitally made on the computer and nothing is drawn or painted on paper! Dermot himself has worked on huge productions such as Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He also worked on three of the Harry Potter movies, on Star Wars  Episode II and many many more famous movies. Overall this was a very interesting talk. You can view his work on www.dermotpower.com.

Originally published on: www.ardscoildungarvan.com
Davina Muntjewerff
Sinead Bannett

Big Names For Storytelling Festival

Storytelling Southeast which starts on Wednesday September 28th has attracted some top names, including Anthony Summers, who co wrote 'The 11th Day'.

Others to appear at the festival include Christine Tobin on Sunday, 2nd Oct. at 8.30pm in the  Town Hall Theatre. '24 Karat Voice' / BBC Jazz vocalist of the year. Christine is romantic and radical, a musical free spirit. She is renowned for her inspired settings of poems to music and will perform her musical interpretation of  Yeats 'Sailing to Byzantium' on the night.

The Cork Circus will also perform on Sunday October 2nd, Cork Circus actors will entertain our younger audiences and families with their contemporary take on a classic story with street theatre.

Anthony Summers will be  Old Market House at 7pm on Oct 2nd. The Bestselling biographer and journalist will do a reading of his book 'The 11th Day'; excellently written, it tracks the precise of events of 9/11; writing with access to recently released official documents.

Originally published on: www.theview.ie

Interview with Ian Noctor

Festival Director Bo Mandeville was recently interviewed by Ian Noctor of Waterford Local Radio (WLRFM) in relation to the upcoming festival 2011. The full interview may be downloaded in mp3 format. Our thanks to Ian Noctor and WLRFM for their time.