Arts Festival takes centre stage

The Arts Festival with “a big heart and a lot of ambition†officially commences today with a programme packed with entertainment for anyone with an interest in the arts. The 2017 line up of the Cootehill Arts Festival included music, visual arts, street spectacle, performance, workshops and much more.
The festival runs from August 22 to 27 and is presented thanks to the work of a dedicated group of volunteers. The famous Footsbarn Travelling Theatre Group have pitched their 400 seater tent at St Aidan's Comprehensive for the week and the festival. The group will perform four shows in the venue.
Another highlight will be the Special Rescue 116 Memorial Concert on Friday [August 25] with Triona Marshall, Martin Tourish, The Clew Bay Pipe Band, Roscommon Solstice Choir and many other artists performing for free. The net proceeds of the concert will be donated to the RNLI.
Last week the appetite for the Festival was wetted with a retrospective of the works of the late David Gallagher and a Photographic Exhibition by Clones Photography Group in the Enterprise Centre on Station Road.
Other features of the programme are the Tyrone Guthrie Centre Art Exhibition (in Library) and readings by Shane Connaughton, Brian Leyden and Pat McCabe. The Scarecrow Festival, the children's poetry competition and the drama workshops led by Paddy Hayter, are also seen as vital components in making the 2017 festival as appealing as possible to a wide audience.
There will street artist and on Sunday August 27 the 'Festival Miscellany' will feature six or seven short stories or poems read by their authors, plus five or six musical pieces. It takes place in the White Star Centre and it is anticipated that the programme may be broadcast, either live or retrospective.
One of the highpoint has to be the return of Footsbarn who first came to the town in the early 90s as a result of their friendship with Dermot Healy, one of the founding fathers of the celebration of arts. This is the fourth visit to Cooethill and their third time with the tent.
When the festival was launched earlier this month Minister for Culture, Heather Humphreys, stressed the importance of the festival to the people of Cootehill: “The festival reflects the spirit of the town. It is a true celebration of the arts.â€
The first Cootehill Arts Festival was held in 1988 when David Gallagher (Chairperson), Vera Greenan (Secretary) and Fergus Mulligan (Treasurer) spearheaded the initiative. The late Dermot Healy provided invaluable assistance both with his numerous contacts and advice on how Arts Festivals operated.
Around this time, the Arts Council had instituted a policy of supporting the Arts throughout the country and not just in Dublin. The Cootehill Arts Festival committee was fortunate to receive funding over the following years.
In 1989, David stepped down as Chairperson, but stayed on the Committee and Una Smith (Dermot's sister) took over as Chair. The Festival ran very successfully until 2002. In its time the Festival brought many world-class artists to perform in Cootehill. This years event is expected to attract arts lovers from right across the region into Cootehill.