Tipperary period residence set to host unique festival of art and music this weekend

A UNIQUE festival of art and music will be taking place next week in a beautiful period residence in North Tipperary.
Milford House and its 17 acres is located between Borrisokane and Carrigahorig and is an ideal location for an event that will bring colour and alternative thinking to this wonderful and peaceful part of Tipperary.
Convergence: A Borderless Romance is the title of this special event, whose organisers, Live Art Ireland, say they are “passionate” about art and culture and they want to celebrate art and culture over the three days in Milford House.
The organisers also say they are passionate about creative voices and especially creative voices which rise above geographical, stylistic or conceptual boundaries. Restrictions and inhibiting rules are anathema to this festival which embraces the idea that art, like love, knows no borders.
A good deal of the festival revolves around what they call “Live Art”, an exciting concept which is attracting the contributions of a number of local artists, and is also receiving the support of the Arts Council of Ireland and Tipperary County Council.
In recent years Milford House has become something of a mecca for artists near and far. Some of these are artists in residence who typically stay for three to six weeks at a time, participating in performance art workshops. International visitors use Milford as a base from which to explore Ireland.
Deej Fabyc of Live Art Ireland told the Tribune that Milford is one of only two artist-in-residency centres in the world “that are dedicated to this kind of live art practice (the other is in the United States).”
Live Art Ireland was founded in 2020 by Deej and her late husband Mark Newell, and has been based, from its inception, in 17th Century Milford. She's hopeful that next week's festival will further enhance the renown of her Milford base and help introduce more local audiences to performance art.
“Bringing music and performance art together is so important because the audience will be attracted to someone like Liam Ó Maonlaí coming to play,” she remarked, “and through that attraction will hopefully become interested and engaged with a new art form. That is the idea - to introduce people to an art form they may not have come across before but in the context of giving them something that we hope they will enjoy.” (Liam Ó Maonlaí will be performing around 10pm on Saturday evening August 9th).
“In the local area there are more artists that are becoming familiar with the practice, there are more artists emerging who are working with the practice. We're creating an ecology of artists in the area that connects in with those more national networks in Dublin, Belfast, Limerick, Cork, etc. We're creating connections both for Irish artists and also for them to make connections internationally with their peers.”
Among the Tipperary artists who have engaged with Milford House are Layla Tobin, Annie Hogg, Lucy Lamb, Julie Lockett and Sheila Goggin, along with Teresa Burke from nearby Portumna.
There were also two Ukrainian refugees - Volodymyr Topiy and Maria Frymier - who lived at Milford House for six months. Both artists have since gone on to set up in Limerick.
Live Art Ireland networks with the wider community as much as possible. A recent example was last year’s performance The Portach Promenade, which involved a well-attended walk at Redwood Bog. As well as local stories, music, history and information about the ecology of the bog, it featured presentations of performance art based around grief over loved ones who have passed on, and over the destruction of our climate.
For Deej personally, the upcoming Convergence festival will conjure memories of her husband Mark, who tragically died in a road accident in 2023. “His memory is still here,” she said. She often shows visitors to Milford House a sculpture - which Mark called ‘Untitled Folly’ - in the grounds, which he made only a short while before his death.
Mark and Deej moved to Milford from London after they purchased the house in 2020. They carried out extensive renovations, some of which had to be redone this year when the house was damaged by Storm Éoywn, which also brought down several old trees in the grounds.
Mentioning that she would like to rename the house by its original name, ‘Lisheenboy’ - Deej pointed out that her home is a National Monument and people are welcome to go and have a look, though she would like them to make an appointment first. Members of the Irish Georgian Society are the most frequent visitors.
Convergence takes place from Friday to Sunday August 8th-10th. It's the 3rd Convergence Festival since 2022 and it takes place biennially. A team of 16 volunteers are involved in organising this year’s event.
The festival will be a space where creative intimacy flourishes, where Irish traditional music might dance with experimental performance art, where international voices blend with local stories, and where the audience becomes part of the romantic embrace between art forms.
In this immersive environment, traditional boundaries between art forms will dissolve. Attendees will experience a carefully curated line-up that will showcase the very best in contemporary performance art, sound art, and experimental music.
One of the festival highlights to look out for will be Laura Leuzzi, who will deliver a keynote presentation on Friday evening at 6pm.
The line-up also includes internationally renowned performance artists Annie Sprinkle & Beth Stephens, acclaimed Irish artist Sandra Johnston, alongside innovative practitioners Denys Blacker, Maja Zeco, Katharine Meynell, Monstera Deliciosa, Fergus Byrne, Paul Regan, Shirani Bolle, Marianne Araujo Marcote, Juliette Murphy, Marie-Chantal Hamrock, and Renn Miano.
Local and national musicians will present original works and collaborative performances, creating unique sonic experiences that will complement the visual arts programming. Musical highlights include performances by Liam Ó Maonlaí, Ian Whitty & the Exchange, Cait Ní Riain, Mc an tSaoi, Nightwood, Mary and the Pigeons, VaticanJail, and Andy Spearpoint.
There will be a special film screening featuring work by Annie Sprinkle & Beth Stephens.
There will also be a Workshop Programme where a handful of the artists will offer workshops to the festival attendees.
Camping: On-site camping available.
Tickets: Available through the booking platform Live Art Ireland website
For more information about Convergence: A Borderless Romance 2025 and to purchase tickets, visit www.live-art.ie .

READ NEXT: 

https://www.offalyexpress.ie/news/edenderry/819157/hothouse-flowers-front-man-to-star-in-fundraising-concert-for-offaly-school.html