Next week see the launch of the eight Dublin Electronic Arts Festival (22 - 31st October, 2009).
DEAF's focus is on the experimental, and the intersection between music, art, film and the public. It attempts to promote a genuine inclusiveness in its approach to showcasing the electronic arts to new audiences in Ireland.
The festival will be running films, workshops, gallery showings, talks and of course live gigs.
Create 'n' Innovate '09 is a conference going on in Belfast from 11-12 November 2009 that will include presentations, panels and workshops highlighting and exploring ideas and good practice in creativity and innovation, and its importance for our future.
Speakers and panellists from across the UK - keynote from Feargal Sharkey, CEO of UK Music, and panel discussions with creative practitioners, representatives from the business sector, educators, researchers and policy makers.
An amazing array of 12 workshop and presentation sessions where you will be stimulated and challenged – led by people such as Baba Israel, New York hip hop emcee, poet and beatboxer who now runs Contact Theatre in Manchester; Cathy Hunt from Australia who will present the development of Australian indigenous art; Stephen Feber who will be creative about the amazing new Heartlands development project in Cornwall; Marek Banczyk who has worked on a development strategy for Poznan, a "second city" in Poland; Jan Runge, one of the authors of the recent "Creativity in Europe" report; Venu Dhupa who will challenge us on our understanding of what these words mean; Sharon Taylor who will look at the relationships between creative professionals in schools; Raj Isar who will take examine some of the assumptions sometimes made about the successes and failures in this area; and Pia Alebrad from TILLT in Sweden which works on projects where artists are based in everyday workplaces.
The Festival of World Cultures is going on this weekend (the 29-30 August) in Dún Laoghaire, Dublin.
Immersed in folk, traditional, eclectic, tribal, digital and the experimental, the dlr Festival of World Cultures presents a kaleidoscopic programme of concerts & club nights, fairs & markets, performances, street events, workshops and so much more. Ireland's first Global Carnival!
The Festival is committed to presenting a series of world music concerts that can be experienced by all in a unique and intimate local setting while also offering a 'passport to the world' programme of events, many of which are free to all.
Yesterday the Temple Bar Cultural Trust (TBCT) and Lord Mayor Cllr Emer Costello officially launched the programme of events for this year's Culture Night, which will take place on Friday 25th September across the 11 participating towns, cities and counties in Ireland.
Grainne Millar, Head of Cultural Development at TBCT said "Culture Night 2009 is a unique platform that presents the wealth and variety of Irish cultural treasures on a scale that is accessible for everyone. We are delighted to be in a position, in our fourth year, to bring together cultural communities across Ireland to capture the imagination of an estimated 500,000 people as they go out and explore culture on their own doorstep. Culture Night began in 2006 with an attendance of 40,000. The year on year growth and the participation of 11 towns, cities and counties this year is a reflection of the enormous positive contribution culture can make to our society"
"In these times, it is more important than ever for Culture Night to connect with families and strengthen the relationship between culture and the public against the backdrop of current economic difficulty so that we can imagine a different future where culture is recognized as an intrinsic dimension to our development and growth as a society"
A brand new Culture Night logo 'See All Sorts', designed by Maeve Keane from DIT, Mountjoy Square, illustrates the diverse mix of culture that visitors can expect to experience on the night. From live animals in the Dead Zoo in Dublin to a Lord Mayor's Tea Dance in Cork; Theatrical Entertainment in Galway to An Cosán Glas sculpture trail in Letterkenny; a tour of a thousand years of art and antiquities in the Hunt Museum in Limerick to an Altered Images exhibition in Ballina, Mayo; a tour of Artists Studios in Boyle and Roscommon to a bag of culture on the culture trail in Sligo; Dancing In The Green in Tralee to culture in Waterford and An Céilí Mor in Dun Mhuire Theatre, Wexford.
In Dublin a record 124 cultural venues will open their doors for Culture Night including St Stephen's Green Park, the National Museum of Ireland, the Science Gallery Trinity College, The Revenue Museum, Guinness Storehouse, RTÉ Performing Groups, Dublin Castle State Apartments, Gallery Zozimus and a Francis Street Treasure Hunt, The Ark Cultural Centre for Children and much more.
The Stage reports that the Arts Council is proposing to merge three Irish Opera companies - Wexford Festival Opera, Dublin-based Opera Ireland and the Opera Theatre Company (OTC) - into a single national company from 2011.
It's suggested that the merged opera companies will be based from the Wexford Opera House.
Opera Ireland, which confirmed it is considering the reform plan, acknowledged the need to find "an agreed way forward for the art form through the difficult financial climate in which we all find ourselves." But according to sources close to the discussions, there are members in all three companies who are less than happy with what is being proposed.
Under the shake-up plan, the functions of the three existing companies would be incorporated into the new national one, though staff would not automatically transfer. This, in turn, could lead to contracts having to be bought out and to redundancy payments, all of which could prove costly for the cash-strapped Arts Council.
Despite the potential difficulties, the council is optimistic the reform plan will get the go-ahead. It hopes to be able to reduce the level of grants to the three companies next year as they wind down and the new national company, with a name that "reflects its all-Ireland role and remit", gets ready to open for business.
The James Joyce Centre has once again organised a slew of events from 13-16 June in Dublin to celebrate this year's Bloomsday.
There will be the traditional Bloomsday Breakfasts, readings and songs in Meeting House Square, two film screenings, talks by Barry McGovern, John McCourt, and Sam Slote, and of course, walking tours.
Bill Jones, writing on the Copyright and Technology Blog, has a useful summary of the recent decision by the EU parliament to extend the copyright term for music recordings from 50 years to 70 years.
To ensure that performers benefit fully from the additional royalties thanks to the copyright extension, MEPs amended the original text to prevent the use of previous contractual agreements to deduct money from the additional royalties.
Also included in the legislation is a dedicated fund for session musicians. This fund will be financed by contributions from producers, who will be obliged to set aside at least 20% of the revenues gained from the proposed extension of copyright term. The fund will reward session musicians who gave up their rights when signing the contract for their performance. Collecting societies, which represent performers' and producers' interests, will retain the right to administer the annual supplementary remuneration.
Member States will have two years to incorporate the new legislation in their respective countries.
The Parliament also asked the Commission to launch an impact assessment of the situation in the European audiovisual sector by January 2010, with a view to deciding whether a similar copyright extension would benefit the audiovisual world.
