Cork Festivals of Art 2012
Program of Festival Events, Community Arts Programs, Exhibitions.

Arts Festivals in 2012

Cork has long been established as a Festival City, which was particularly noticeable when 700,000 flocked to see the prestigious Tall Ships Race, which the city hosted in 1991. The 1996 Naval Review and Maritime Festival were also very successful, while the 1998 Tour de France attracted thousands of visitors during its journey through the city. And in 2005, Cork was in the spotlight for a full 12 months during its period as European Capital of Culture. The city offers a wide range of venues and events to suit most tastes including story telling weekends, choir competitions, an annual city marathon, art exhibitions and top classical musical events.

Among its biggest annual festivals are the Cork Jazz Festival, the St Patrick’s Day Festival, the Midsummer Arts Festival and the Kinsale Art Week.

ART IN IRELAND
For details of exhibitions & shows
in galleries across Ireland, see:
Irish Art Exhibitions.

Cork Jazz Festival 2012 (October 26 - 29 October)

The annual Guinness Cork Jazz Festival was founded in 1977 and has become one of the biggest and most popular Jazz Festivals in Europe. It attracts 40,000 visitors and over 1,000 performing artists every year. It takes place over the October bank holiday weekend. Over the years the Festival has attracted some prestigious international jazz artists including Ella Fitzgerald, Chick Corea, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Oscar Peterson, Buddy Rich and Sonny Rollins. 2011 line ups included Bobby Watson Allstars, Linley Hamilton Quartet, Palooka, Randy Brecker and Bill Evans’ Soulgrass. Other popular acts included Kyle Eastwood Quintet, Trygve Seim-Frode Haltli, The Jazz Crimes, Stanley Jordan, and The Wowos New York Sextet. The Cork Jazz Festival takes place in multiple venues across the city, including the Metropole Hotel, Cork Opera House, Everyman Palace Theatre and the Savoy Theatre. Details of the 2012 line up will be available from early September onwards. Website: guinnessjazzfestival.com.

St Patrick’s Day Festival 2012 (16 March - 19 March)

The Cork St. Patrick’s Festival 2012 will take place from the 16th to 19th March. The Parade itself takes place on March 17th and involves hundreds of volunteers in a colourful fancy-dress street parade. The parade starts at the top of the South Mall and ends on Merchants Quay. The theme for the 2011's parade was Happiness. It included festival favourites Spraoi Cork Circus and Dowtcha Puppets as well as voluntary groups and schools from all over the county. 2012's theme has yet to be announced, but will include the usual set of jugglers, gospel singers, Irish dancers, clowns and brass bands. There are also fringe events including street performers, traditional music and food markets. For details, see website: corkstpatricksfestival.ie

CORK COUNTY GALLERIES
For reviews of the county's top
art galleries, see the following:
Sirius Arts Centre
Cobh
Catherine Hammond Gallery
Glengarriff
Doswell Gallery
Rosscarbery
Kinsale Art Gallery
Pier Head, Kinsale
Kinsale Pottery School
Gallery, Ceramic Courses and more!
Mill Cove Gallery
Castletownbere
West Cork Arts Centre
Skibbereen.

ARTS FESTIVALS
For the latest news,
see: Art News Headlines.

CORK PAINTERS & SCULPTORS
Atkinson, George Mounsey (1806-1884)
Marine Artist
Ballagh, Robert (b.1943)
Pop-Art pictures
Barry, James (1741-1806)
Neo-Classical History Painter
Barry, William Gerard (1864-1941)
Portraitist, Landscape painter
Beechey, Richard (1808–1895)
Marine Painter
Carver, Robert (c.1730–1791)
Landscape Painter
Cross, Dorothy (b.1956)
Contemporary Sculptor
Crozier, William (b.1930)
Abstract Landscapes
Fagan, Robert (c.1761–1816)
Portraiture

Midsummer Arts Festival 2012 (June 21 - 1 July)

The 2012 Cork Midsummer Festival will take place in the last 2 weeks of June this year, when the city will explode into colourful music, theatre, dance and mayhem. The program is not yet available, but if the 2011 festival is anything to go by, it should be electric. Initiated in 1997 the Midsummers Festival offer full scale theatre productions, off site performances, contemporary and popular music, mass free events, circus, dance and conceptual art. Many events take place in the specially constructed Spiegeltent. The full programme will be available from May, with selected highlight events available online from the Cork Midsummer Festival website at the end of April. Many performances are free, and tickets for paying events will be available for booking through the official website. For details, see website: corkmidsummer.com

Grogan, Nathaniel (1740–1807)
Illustrator, Oil Painter
Hennessy, Patrick (1915-1980)
Still Life, Landscape
Hussey, Philip (c.1713-83)
Portrait Artist, Genre Painter
Lane, Hugh Percy (1875-1915)
Art dealer/philanthropist
MacDonald, Daniel (1821-1853)
Sketches, Portraits
Maclise, Daniel (1806–1870)
Portraitist, History Painter
Mahoney, James (1810-1879)
Watercolours, Illustrations
Murphy, Seamus (1907-75)
Eminent stone sculptor
Thaddeus, Henry Jones (1859–1929)
Realist and Portrait Painter

Kinsale Art Week 2012 (7 July - 15 July)

This year marks the 8th birthday of the Kinsale Arts Week Festival. Kinsale bursts into life during Art Week with a full program of events that includes the visual arts, theatre, music, film, concerts (at the Charles Fort), dance, literature, architecture and family entertainment. A grand fireworks display and concert marks the opening night after which the whole community becomes one big performance space – shops display paintings by local artists in their windows and churches, harbours and boats become set pieces in public performances. An image gallery of the 2011 Festival is currently available on the Festival's official site. Full programme details for 2012 are announced in May. For details, see website: kinsaleartsweek.com

CORK ART GROUPS
Backwater Artists Group
Artist collective
Cork Printmakers
Print collective
Maclise Art Society
City's leading art group
National Sculpture Factory
Ireland's leading 3-D institution.
West Cork Craft Design Guild
Co Cork's leading craft group.

Music

Cork has a long tradition of association with music, which is particularly apparent at The Cork School of Music (CSM), which has gained an international reputation for producing many award winning bands, choirs, opera groups and chamber music ensembles. Many senior pupils undertake national and international tours and have made commercial recordings.

In addition to the Cork Jazz Festival, there are a number of important music festivals that take place annually in the city, which are:

International Choral Festival 2012 (2 May – 6 May)

The 58th Cork International Choral Festival takes place annually, and has done so since 1954. It has gained a reputation as one of the world’s top choral festivals and is noted for both its amateur national and international choirs. It attracts up to 5,000 participants. Choirs travel from all over the world to compete in gala concerts for the coveted Fleischmann International Trophy. Additionally the festival features up to 100 local adult, youth and school choirs who compete for national titles. Tickets for the concerts can be purchased through the Cork Opera House. More information on the exact schedules will be available closer to the time. For details, see website: corkchoral.ie

Bandon Music Festival 2012 (June 1 - June 3)

This is the 16th year of the Bandon Musical Festival, now considered one of the premier summer musical events in the area. The Festival takes place on the June bank holiday weekend and includes a variety of traditional and contemporary music. Most of the events are free and take place in the local pubs or on the street. Details of the 2012 event will be available nearer the time on the official website. See: bandonmusicfestival.com

West Cork Chamber Musical Festival 2012 (29 June - 7 July)

This is the 18th year of the Festival, and this year there will be 45 events to choose from. The 2012 line-up includes Vivaldi concertos, Sciarrino played by violinist Tanja Becker-Bender, music from the Apollon Musagète Quartet, Catherine Leonard (violin), Ji Hye Jung (marimba), the Signum Quartet, the RTE Vanbrugh Quartet and the Young European Strings Chamber Orchestra. General booking opens in March. For details, see website: westcorkmusic.ie

Live at the Marquee 2012 (7 June - July)

At the Docklands, Cork. International and Irish acts perform comedy, music and theatre. 2012's line up includes Imelda May, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Christy Moore, Jedward, Justice and Dara O Briain.

Folk Festival 2012 (October 4 - October 7)

The Cork Folk Festival is another annual popular event and takes place the end of September or the first weekend of October. Running since 1979, it includes live folk music with special emphasis on songs and dance from the Cork/Kerry region. Events take place all over the city including the Metropole Hotel, St Finbarr’s Cathedral and Crane Lane Theatre. There are also master classes in set dancing, flute and fiddle playing. The Festival has also become known as the 'Friendly Festival'. Information on booking will be available on the official website later in the year. See: corkfolkfestival.com

Theatre

The Cork Opera House on Emmett Place is the largest venue for performing arts in the region with a 1,000 seating capacity. It hosts a wide range of events including operas, ballets, musical acts, comedies and plays. Additionally, the Opera House has acquired a beautiful collection of art from Cork’s eminent and emerging artists and this collection can be seen hanging on the walls of the house.

There are a number of other smaller theatres in Cork, including: The Everyman Palace Theatre (Mac Curtain Street), which is also a training venue, The Half Moon Theatre (rear of the Cork Opera House), The Granary Theatre (Mardyke), The Cork Arts Theatre Club (Carroll's Quay), The Savoy Theatre (Patrick Street) and The Triskel Arts Centre (South Main Street). The Comedy Club (Mac Curtain Street) is also popular and has attracted well-known local and international comedians.

Film

Like any city, Cork has many cinemas including the Gate Multiplex, Cork Ominplex and The Reel Picture. Or if you are interested in foreign or Arthouse movies, The Kino on Washington Street is the place to go.

Major 2012 film events in Cork include:

Cork International Film Festival 2012 (November 4 - 11)

Once a year, the Cork International Film Festival takes place featuring films, documentaries, short films, animations and experimental work from local and international directors. The programme covers an eclectic mix of big budget pictures, world cinema and innovative independent films. Established in 1956, the festival has enjoyed a steady growth in numbers of admissions and media coverage over the years. Venues include the Cork Opera House, The Kino Cinema, Triskel Arts Centre and the Gate Multiplex. Tickets available on the official website: corkfilmfest.org

Cork French Film Festival 2012 (6 March - 13 March)

The Cork French Film Festival was established in 1989 and takes place the second week in March this year. The Festival presents a variety of European co-productions films in French but also in English, Spanish, Flemish, Russian and Arabic. It includes the best in 35mm feature films, educational screenings as well as innovative live audio-visual events, master classes and workshops. Booking enquiries handled through their website: corkfrenchfilmfestival.com

Cork Calendar of Arts Events 2012

For details of the program of artistic and cultural events planned for 2011 in Cork, including fine art exhibitions, theatre, opera, music and community festivals, see: Cork Art News.

More Information

• Visual Arts in Munster
Brief history of art in the Munster region
• Cork Art
History of art in the city
• Cork Galleries
Art Venues in the city and county
• Cork Artists
Biographies of Lee-side painters and sculptors

• For more information about painting and sculpture in Munster, see: Art Encyclopedia.

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