Arts Council gives green light to a celebration of what Kickham Barracks meant to Clonmel

The Arts Council has given support to a Clonmel Junction Arts Festival project that will celebrate what Kickham Barracks meant to the town and people of Clonmel.

The Clonmel Junction Festval was one of the big w inners when the Arts Council announced founding for projects aruond the country on Monday.
The Kickham Barracks project will tells the story of the Irish state through the lens of the barracks.
On Monday the Arts Council and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media announced the launch of Art:2023, a major programme of events throughout 2023 to mark the final phase of the Decade of Centenaries.
Clonmel Junction Arts Festival are delighted to have been selected as one of the leading projects of the programme.

SIGNIFICANT AWARD
Artistic Director Cliona Maher says that they are really thrilled to have succeeded in winning a significant award for Clonmel.
“We put a lot of work into the application, especially into our presentation to the international jury last December. We had a lot of support from people like Marie McMahon and Jayne Sutcliffe at the Tipperary Museum of Hidden History which helped so much. We’re very happy that it has paid off, and we’re really looking forward to getting started,” she said.

The programme Art: 2023 is an opportunity for artists and arts organisations to create new and exciting work of ambition and scale while reflecting on the themes of the Decade of Centenaries Programme 2012-2023.
Speaking at the launch, Minister Martin said: “This partnership highlights the important role that artists and cultural organisations have played – and continue to play – in the Decade of Centenaries Programme. For many members of the public, this will be how they will choose to engage with the complex themes presented by the Decade of Centenaries Programme. ART:2023 provides a unique opportunity for artists and creators and will signify how much they are valued as we continue to discuss and debate the formation of our State. I am delighted that my Department is supporting the Arts Council to help these artists to deliver these collaborative, and ground-breaking projects.”

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COLLECTIVE PAST
The Chair of the Arts Council, Professor Kevin Rafter, said: “I am personally thrilled to announce the launch of ART:2023, which, in addition to everything else, represents the final stage of our collaboration with the Decade of Centenaries. Artists have played a crucial role in Irish life since the foundation of the State. The diverse range of arts organisations and artists involved in ART:2023 will allow for further challenge and interpretation of our collective past and shared futures.”
Maureen Kennelly, Director of the Arts Council, welcomed the announcement saying:

“As we move into the third decade of the new millennium, it is incumbent upon us to think about the future. In line with our 10-year strategy, Making Great Art Work, the goal of ART:2023 is to support the creation of ambitious artworks that integrate our history into a compelling vision of contemporary Ireland; we’re excited to give a voice to those artists and organisations who are contributing to a new outlook on our society, giving us a glimpse of what our shared future could and should look like.”

KICKHAM BARRACKS
Clonmel Junction Arts Festival’s project celebrates Kickham Barracks in Clonmel, and tells the story of the Irish state through the lens of the barracks.

Director Jack Reardon explains. “We’ve done a number of projects in and around the barracks in the last few years. After our outdoor production of ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’ in 2021, we wanted to do something of a similar scale, but more personalised to Clonmel”.

LOCAL STORY
The ART:2023 show – titled ‘From Out The Land’ – will bring together a citizen ensemble and a group of professional actors and musicians to create a story that goes from 1912 to the present day, and takes key moments of the Decade of Centenaries to tell a uniquely local story of our national history.

TOWN HALL
The main show will be produced over two weekends in early September, but Clonmel Junction Festival will be holding a number of town hall gatherings, talks and events from April to September, to allow military personnel, army veterans and family members, and local historians, to take part in telling the story.