Westival is Westport’s Music and Arts Festival
Following on from the sweet success of 2018’s festival, Westival (Westport Music & Arts Festival) returns for six days of merriment from Wednesday 23rd to Public Holiday Monday 28th October. An electrifying mix of entertainment and art for all tastes are on the bill, with 62 events on this year’s schedule including art installations and exhibitions, music, theatre and other live performances and audience participation events taking place in many venues and streets of the award-winning town of Westport.
From the inimitable Paul Noonan (Bell X1) (pictured) performing with Mayo native and Other Voices star Maria Kelly, to the magnetic Le Boom, this show is one of their final gigs before taking a sabbatical, to the highly acclaimed Hypnotic Brass Ensemble from Chicago who stole the show at Electric Picnic a few years ago, closer to home a 10 piece band featuring The Whileaways and Pauline Scanlon (Lumiere) are reimagining Leonard Cohen’s songbook in their show Bird On The Wire | The Songs Of Leonard Cohen; Westival offers an exciting multitude of music acts to entertain all tastes!
Other highlights this year include the mesmerizing How To Square A Circle aerial show by Ronan Brady and Aisling Ni Cheallaigh, Ronan is known for his tantalising performance in RIOT the Dublin fringe-festival show that went on to sell-out around the world. Dracula Live, a special screening featuring a bone-tingling score filled with haunting vocals live for one ghoulish night only and Behind the Scenes at the Harry Potter Movies presented by Neil Paul who worked in lighting and special effects on several of the Harry Potter films. Potterheads can discover how the magic is made and what the stars were really like!
“Our Visual Arts element of the festival is hugely exciting, we are exhibiting a retrospective of Camille Souter’s work, this will be the first time there will be an exhibition of her work in her home county since 1999. We are thrilled to also announce that we will have TATE artist Norman Ackroyd‘s Connacht Coast exhibition, which include dramatic etchings of our western coastline.
The response to the artist call-out for our theme Brittle/Fragile was incredible, we are so impressed by the caliber of artists involved this year, they are a testament to the creative heritage in Westport and in Ireland. Many of the artists moved away to cultivate their careers and are excited to return to Co Mayo to be part of a festival that honors their art the way we do at Westival” – Conor Wilson, Westival Director
Art-lovers, music-fans, theatre-buffs, dance-devotees and Halloween-huns from across the country and around the world, should come to Westport for Westival over the October Bank Holiday Weekend, a boutique festival at the heart of one of Ireland’s best loved towns.
2019 PROGRAMME HIGHLIGHTS
Music
³ Paul Noonan (Bell X1) and Maria Kelly
³ Hypnotic Brass Ensemble
³ Le Boom
³ Sing Along Social
³ ‘Shock and Awe’ Halloween Ball
³ The Mary Wallopers
³ Clew Bay Folk Club Westival Special
³ Crooked Trad
³ Matt Rowley
Arts, Literature and Photography
³ How to Square a Circle
³ Dracula Live
³ Dirty Circus
³ Camille Souter Retrospective
³ Norman Ackroyd
³ Brittle / Fragile
³ Diarmuid Delargy
³ Shooting the Mafia
Workshops
³ Drag and Draw
³ Stinging Fly Seminar
³ Art Attack Paint Dance
³ En Plein Air
Free Family Fun
³ Behind the Scenes at the Harry Potter Movies
³ SPIT, one-woman circus street show
³ The Travelling Bladunk
³ The Carnival of Adolescent Antics
³ Faerie Tailor’s Faerie Trail
³ Morbid & Sons
³ Westival Arts in Education Programme
