
At the Courthouse Yard
The Courthouse Yard is our new outdoor creative hub for Birr Vintage Week and Arts Festival 2022!
Drop in anytime to join the visiting collage artists and add to the Art Wall, see the exhibitions and take the weight off your feet while the children are kept amused with the art packs. Or book in for one of the workshops or shows.
Expect some additional pop-up events to be added!
All week
2pm-5pm
Drop-in arts activities & exhibitions
DRUMMING CIRCLE
Saturday 30 July
2pm & 3pm
Come join Dave from Jabba Jabba Jembe for a high-energy interactive drumming circle.
Suitable for the whole family!
Free | No booking required

MOON & SIXPENCE PUPPETS
Saturday 30 July
5pm SOLD OUT
7pm SOLD OUT
Ireland’s travelling marionette (string puppet) theatre, Moon & Sixpence, presents a cheeky version of Red Riding Hood. Performed live with music and sound effects and draws plenty of audience participation. This production includes a moral in the tale, showing the importance of helping others.
€5 | 1 adult & 2 kids €10) | 1 adult & 3 kids €15
Vintage Luminaries
Saturday 30 July | 10pm
Soundscapes of Nature. Commissioned by Birr Festival of Music for Birr Young Voices in 2022. Immersive audio- visual animation by Finn Nichol
Pre-Luminaries Music | 9pm
By Darragh Molloy
Monday 1 August | 10pm
Portals by Tina Claffey
This is now happening at Birr Theatre & Arts
Centre due to the poor weather!


Art Wall Workshop
Monday & Tuesday | 11am-1pm
Thursday | 2pm-4pm
Join our visiting collage artists and be part of the creation of the Art Wall. All materials are supplied but bring your own images to include! Suitable for all ages.
€5 (per workshop)
Lunchtime Music
Monday, Wednesday & Friday
1pm-2pm
FREE
Monday 1 August | Mark Lyndon
Wednesday 3 August | Pete Kennedy
Friday 5 August | Fanfare Piston

Migration Collage Workshop
Monday 1 & Wednesday 3 August
2pm-4pm
To tie in with the theme of the Migration for the International Collage Exhibition, Marta Janik and Anthony D. Kelly will lead you in the creation of your own responses. All materials supplied but you’re welcome to bring your own images.
€10 (per workshop)
TURF BY ROWAN TOLLEY COMPANY
Monday 1 August
8.30PM
THIS PERFORMANCE IS NOW TAKING PLACE AT
BIRR THEATRE & ARTS CENTRE DUE TO THE WEATHER!
TURF takes you on a journey, punctuated with provocative, fiercely athletic and detailed movement. Combining physical performance and live sound, it searches for the truth hidden in a fractured landscape and explores not how to hold the TURF but how the TURF takes a hold of you.


DJ WORKSHOP
Tuesday 2 August
11am-1pm
Intensive one-day workshop that will give participants the skills needed to take to the decks and mix like a pro! Followed by a showcase on Friday. Limited places.
To register email av.timeline@gmail.com
or call (089) 453 9258
DJ Showcase
Friday 5 August | 6pm
Participants of the DJ workshop show off their skills. Free.
EXHIBITIONS
MIGRATION
Curated by Marta Yanik (Poland)
The history of the world is the history of migration; and this is a phenomenon which increasingly affects each of us, in almost every corner of the Earth. People migrate for many reasons, some in search of peace and security, and others to earn more money and live better lives.
Twin exhibitions in both Ireland and Poland have brought together collage artists from different countries and cultures, asking them to approach the topic of “migration” and reflect on it through their artistic practice.
Lou Beach USA | Una Gildea Ireland
Silvio Severino Brazil | Steve Tierney Australia
Maryna Siliakova Ukraine | Maria Filek Poland
Tanja Ulbrich Canada/Spain | Yulia Farenyuk Ukraine
| Denis Kollasch Germany | Domenico Goi Italy | Jerome Bertrand Canada | Maria Filek Poland |
Sherry Parker USA/Mexico | Anthony D Kelly Ireland | Marta Janik Poland


THE ART WALL
Yuliia Farenyuk aka xлоя is a young Ukrainian artist and is part of the Kyiv Collage Collective and will be working alongside other visiting collage artists to help create the interactive Art Wall that will grow throughout the week. Pop in and add your voice through workshops and drop-in sessions facilitated by Yuliia and the other visiting artists. Since the war started in Ukraine, she found shelter in Ireland where she is currently based with her family.
COMMUNITY FLAG PROJECT
A series of colourful flags based on elements taken from the Macregol Gospels combined with images representing different aspects of the town identified by the people of Birr and translated by Naomi McArdle.


PLANT-TASTIC: INSPIRED BY NATURE
London-based, Italian artist Cristina Ottonello in collaboration with young people on the Ashbrooke, Chesterfield Close and McAuley estates in Birr have created an art installation through crafting processes, and includes reusable and repurposed materials, that explores and highlights local plants and their usefulness and how these plants have and can inspire innovation and creativity, such as the Sundew Drosera rotundifolia and Bladderwort Utricularia vulgaris.
The resulting installation will not be botanical replicas of the original plants but an interpretation of how to frame the ordinary into the extraordinary.
This is a Birr Theatre & Arts Centre project supported by the Creative Ireland Programme in partnership with Offaly Local Development Company, curated by Ann Lawlor.
J.J. Kinahan - World-Record Breaking Cycling Legend
A Cruinniú na nÓg project by Clareen National School with Yvonne Claffey celebrating the World Record Breaking cyclist J.J. Kinahan. Download the Artivive app to see the artworks come to life.
