With a record 150,000 visitors to last year's Festival, this year's event takes place on the quays both north and south of the Liffey with attractions for all ages. The river will be a buzz of activity and Ireland's tall ship The Jeanie Johnston will form part of the festival and will be open to the public, giving people the chance to experience first hand what life on the ocean waves is like. Along with the stunning tall ships, there will be plenty of entertainment for all the family including a breathtaking array of street theatre, musical entertainment and amusements all creating a fun carnival atmosphere.

 

A new weekender/mini-festival called “The Beatyard” which runs from Wednesday June 2nd until Sunday June th between The Bernard Shaw & The Twisted Pepper venues. The aim of The Beatyard is to bring together enthusiasts of music, media & culture for the weekend in a space where they can meet like minded people and discover something new and different.

 

Life Festival Music, Arts and Culture is an annual, three-day gathering of like-minded music lovers, held at Belvedere House in Mullingar, Co. Westmeath. In 2009 almost 5,000 people participated during the weekend form over 10 different countries. The festival features leading musicians, artists, and performers from around the world for a world-class concert series, inspiring experiences and workshops. Life Festival has been nominated for the "Best Small Festival of Europe" where organisers said "it's an event unlike any other weekend in Ireland's dance scene." World's worst website, no schedule available, otherwise we'd have listed all the acts and their times and whatnot.

 

A newly commissioned solo exhibition that explores the complex and historical world of spectatorship. Adopting the early special effects technique of matte painting, Sander uses and quotes the visual intricacies associated with illusion, while critically examining the personal motivation of consumers who participate in spectator industries. Tourism, audiences, the traveller and the curious are all characters who take time out of everyday life and pay to see things. The gallery will be transformed into a single, circular screen, providing a constantly changing and looping landscape. Sander contrasts the simplicity of matte painting with the complexity of the current economic unknowns that form the background to many of our lives.

 

 

 

 

This Galway-based band plays a style of music know as gypsy jazz, which was started by French gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt, who formed the Quintet of the Hot Club of France with violinist Stephane Grappelli in 1934. Today, this hot café jazz from Paris is popular among both gypsy and non-gypsy musicians. The Gypsy Jazz Quartet mixes some Latin flavoured pieces, as well as some newer compositions, in with the more traditional jazzy sounds. The quartet is presented by Frank Kilkelly, who lived and played in Co. Mayo for many years before moving to London in 1986. There he toured extensively with a string of well-respected acoustic groups, ranging very broadly in styles through folk and jazz. Since his return to Ireland in 1998, he has worked with the top names in the acoustic music world, including Sharon Shannon, Mairtín O'Connor, Alan Kelly, and Cafè Orchestra.

 

This Galway-based band plays a style of music know as gypsy jazz, which was started by French gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt, who formed the Quintet of the Hot Club of France with violinist Stephane Grappelli in 1934. Today, this hot café jazz from Paris is popular among both gypsy and non-gypsy musicians. The Gypsy Jazz Quartet mixes some Latin flavoured pieces, as well as some newer compositions, in with the more traditional jazzy sounds. The quartet is presented by Frank Kilkelly, who lived and played in Co. Mayo for many years before moving to London in 1986. There he toured extensively with a string of well-respected acoustic groups, ranging very broadly in styles through folk and jazz. Since his return to Ireland in 1998, he has worked with the top names in the acoustic music world, including Sharon Shannon, Mairtín O'Connor, Alan Kelly, and Cafè Orchestra.

 

 

Ladlane formed in 2004 in Dublin. The band features Eugene Quinn from Templeogue, Dublin on guitar/banjo/vocals, Ray Dempsey from Ballyduff, Co. Waterford on accordion and Colm Keane from somewhere in north county Dublin on fiddle/vocals.

 

 

 

 

Tango Ireland will perform four Tango shows a day on the South Quays. Accompanied by a Tango guitarist and singer, a professionally trained couple under the direction of Monina Paz, will demonstrate how this distinctive and sophisticated dance from Argentina, with its African and European influences, should be performed.

 

 

 

 

 

Torann is a Waterford-based, six piece percussion group who play hard, fast drum beats in an energetic and entertaining way. They have been playing together since 2002 with the aim of making any and every crowd move to their beat.

 

Croi8 is a dynamic new Art Collective of eight visual artists from the border counties of Louth, Cavan and Monaghan who have come together to share ideas, experiment with new concepts and exhibit together in Ireland and internationally. The artists include Kate Beagan, in whose landscapes and beach scenes, the shape pattern and colour play a large part in her choice of subject; Petra Berntsson's landscapes have been described as uniquely Scandanavian - blissfully naive and haunting while Roisin Duffy uses colour, humour and balance as the basis for her art with which she strives to lift the spirits of the viewer. Meanwhile Adrienne M Finnerty's art is energised with conceptual direction, emotionally inspired and attuned to her moods and responses to life . Avril Gould paints in vibrant colours to depict the beauty in nature that surrounds her. Elaine Hoey's work for 2010 explores some of the complexities of human nature and emotional responses through the dynamic fusion of images, text, colour and light. Bernie Mc Adam's paintings reflect her fascination with the subtle life force which emanates from seemingly inanimate objects and its effects. In Carmel O' Callaghan's work, she explores her chosen subjects deeply and displays a quiet sense of expectancy, using a variety of media and supports.

 

 

 

 

Que Pezon! is a Dublin based band. The group is best described as a international musical community who believe in "organic, free-range music".They have been performing tirelessly for the past 7 years. For a true experience of International conFusion check out Que Pezon! in The Mezz, Temple Bar, Dublin 2, every Sunday from 10 pm.