Féile Ealaíon Chathair na Mart - Westport Arts Festival September 2016
Táim in Éirinn faoi láthair don tríú huaire leis an bhféile iontach seo - it's a year of thirds it seems this year, having just finished my third tour for the fantastic Highlands festival, Blas, back in Westport for the third year since 2013 and heading straight back into our 3rd Paisley Halloween Parade, creating bilingual Gaelic Street Theatre & Spectacle.
Ach an tseachtain seo - Cláirseacha! It's all about Irish Gaelic work making harps this week for the Westport Arts Festival parade, animating an folkloric tale describing how the first harp was made from the ribcage of a beached whale and highlighting the Achill Harp Festival as well. Coming from a very financially challenged background in my highschool years, where I experienced first-hand the income barriers facing working-class children and young people seeking to explore music due to the costs involved in purchasing instruments to play and practise on, it was a moving experience to work with children creating the quintessential Celtic and Irish musical instrument - the harp - for them to take home and keep. The joy, particularly sports-mad boys exhibited with their harps was particularly touching, and though the life of a freelance artist can be so brutally challenging that working under the name of Independent State of Happiness can sometimes seem like an extremely bad idea, the joy on these kids faces, and of those of others I've had the privilege and pleasure of working with this year, makes me think sometimes it's the most apt name ever.
