Tuam is about to salute local creativity with a festival celebrating artists living within its community, writes Siobhán Holliman
A stone building where large bales of wool were regularly stored and sorted has become a new venue for theatre and music in Tuam, Co Galway.
The Woolstore behind the famous Browne's pub in the centre of town has begun a new life and though there are a few remaining white tufts clinging to floorboards in the loft, the presence of packed and rolled, pungent smelling sheeps' winter warmth is long gone.
"It's a great little venue. The old stone building has nice acoustics, the space is intimate and it's got great character," says Midie Corcoran, one of the organisers of the Tuam Arts Festival which begins today.
The woolstore was built in 1830 and even has a drinks licence. "I think it's probably one of the oldest licensed premises in the country," according to proprietor Eoghan Browne. The venue can hold 100 people and the yard and narrow laneway have also been incorporated into the staging of events.
Highlighting and developing what's available locally is the core of this new festival for Tuam.
"Our mission was to have an outlet for local creative talent and the programme really covers that whether it's painting, photographs, physical theatre or music. We're using what's here," says Corcoran.
"Little John Nee, Rod Goodall, Tommy Tiernan and the Saw Doctors are all living nearby and it's good to be able to bring them under the one umbrella," explains Corcoran who is determined that the festival is very much a community event. "Accessibility is key. Over 50 per cent of the events are free and tickets are cheap. You can still put on quality shows at affordable prices."
Tuam is just over 20 miles from Galway, host to what is probably the biggest Arts Festival in Ireland, but Corcoran feels there shouldn't be any comparisons - he played significant roles with spectacular Macnas productions at that festival in the past and now has extended his career to include initiatives under the umbrella of Earwig Community Arts.
"The Galway festival has gone away from being a community event. It's really a commercial venture now because it's so expensive to put on. We're trying to make the arts accessible to people living here," says Corcoran who is affectionately known about town as "the bread man", as he stars in the latest TV advert for Brennan's bread.
The festival also provided an opportunity to honour the town's lost talent. There's an exhibition of memorabilia from the 1960s showband era in the west and a special tribute show to the late Paul Cunniffe, well-known in Tuam as singer-songwriter with the 1980s band Blaze X along with Davy Carton, now of the Saw Doctors.
The young father of three died in August, 2001, in an accident in England. One of the band's greatest achievements was playing support to U2 in Leisureland in the 1980s. "I only met him once but he was always an influence on my music career. I can relate to his material, his lyrics are simple and honest," says organiser Dan Trayers. He says there's been a great reaction to the show and he hopes Davy Carton will be able to join the line-up.
Already the 1,500 tickets to the second West's Awake concert in Tuam stadium on August 29th are nearly sold out. It's 11 years since the Saw Doctors filled a marquee with thousands of people who arrived in the town for a balmy weekend of music and craic. Since then many of their fans go on pilgrimage to Tuam.
A two minute walk from the stadium brings you to The Rustic Vaults pub, a Saw Doctors tourist attraction where Leo Moran's Dad Jimmy - he appeared on the Saw Doctors If This is Rock and Roll, I want my old job back album cover - is still a regular.
"We get a lot of Americans and English fans coming into the pub. They just want to look around, take pictures and have their pictures taken. We're looking forward to the concert and no doubt we'll get a few fans dropping in along the way," says Conal Murphy, owner of the Rustic Vaults.
Tuam Arts Festival runs until Sunday, August 29th. For more information see www.earwigarts.com. For tickets contact Tuam Tourist Office or Music City, Tuam.
