Tipperary arts festival announces summer school in honour of Clonmel native Vincent Hanley

A highlight of Clonmel Junction Arts Festival programme for 2025 will be the Vincent Hanley Summer School, a symposium and vital opportunity to celebrate one of Ireland’s significant celebrities and cultural figures who was also from Tipperary, Vincent Hanley, a Clonmel native.

Vincent’s partner in Green Apple Productions and MT USA producer Conor McAnally, says: "Vincent Hanley was a pioneer of Irish broadcasting, a trailblazer in the first wave of popular broadcasting on national radio. His unbridled enthusiasm and embracing voice made him a household favourite. Those skills combined with an encyclopaedic knowledge of music and popular culture took him past radio to TV and beyond. Vincent always looked beyond the horizon and was determined to get
there."

As a young gay man, Vincent was emblematic of a newly emboldened generation of LGBTQ+ people that left an indelible mark on a society grappling with change and modernity.

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Tonie Walsh, civil rights activist and curator of the Irish Queer Archive, says: “Ireland's first celebrity AIDS death, Vincent Hanley deserves to be defined by more than just the manner of his passing, as culturally significant as it was. His life and
times, especially the 1980s, prompt us to explore the AIDS pandemic and its casualties with all the necessary candour, empathy and critical thinking that the catastrophe demands.”

Since his death in 1987 and despite his iconic status, Vincent has not been given the critical attention he deserves beyond a couple of TV and film documentaries. The Vincent Hanley Summer School seeks to right this imbalance, exploring Vincent’s
legacy while also endeavouring to make sense of the extraordinary change in Irish society in the intervening years.

Rebecca Lenehan, Clonmel Junction Arts Festival’s Artistic Director, says: “The Vincent Hanley Summer School promises to be an important platform to recognise and explore Vincent Hanley’s legacy, resonating with audiences both locally and
nationally. The fantastic line-up of presenters, speakers and bands such as Zrazy, Garage Inc and The Waheys will offer an opportunity to celebrate 1980s music culture, as well as looking to the future, discussing Vincent’s legacy as a
broadcasting trailblazer and what future generations can learn from him.”

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The Vincent Hanley Summer School will run over three days from July 4-6 with a
fantastic line-up of presenters, speakers and bands:

8pm on Friday, July 4:

• A discussion of the music legacy of Vincent Hanley with Conor McAnally and guest
  speakers
• Presenter: Conor McAnally (Irish television writer, producer and director)
• Speaker: Billy McGrath (Filmmaker and Irish TV veteran)
• Speaker: Jim Carroll (music journalist and editor of RTÉ’s Brainstorm)
• Music from The Waheys

8pm on Saturday, July 5:

• A discussion of Vincent Hanley and LGBTQ+ rights with Tonie Walsh and guest
  speakers
• Presenter: Tonie Walsh (civil rights activist and curator of the Irish Queer Archive)
• Speaker: Dr Páraic Kerrigan (Professor in Media Studies at UCD and author
  of Reeling in The Queers)
• Speaker: Anna Nolan, current chair of the National LGBT Federation and former Big
  Brother contestant
• Music from Garage Inc

6pm on Sunday, July 6:

• Conor McAnally and Tonie Walsh in conversation with Helen Carroll (Irish TV
  presenter and journalist)
• Music from Zrazy

The Vincent Hanley Summer School is kindly sponsored by Camida.