Vital Signs from Festival in a Van
Festival in a Van are on the road again with their new tour, Vital Signs.
The non-profit cultural organisation is running the event until Tuesday, August 22 in association with Poetry Ireland.
It will visit seven counties with 21 gigs over 16 days, providing a cultural link for those whose access to the arts may be limited.
“It’s a seven day tour, largely touring to care homes and healthcare settings but arriving in public squares in parks as well,” says director of the organisation Elizabeth Mohen.
The idea behind the tour is based on Martin Dyar's Vital Signs anthology, which focuses on wellness and healing.
Festival in a Van aims to make that happen with the live performances.
“It intends to provide some respite for people who either are themselves or have a loved one going through or experiencing illness or loss. What this tour does is it brings that off the page with live music and poetry sort of inspired by that anthology to all these different settings."
Gemma Tipton founded Festival in a Van in 2020, turning a box van into a mobile stage, as a way of keeping live performance going during Covid. Travelling in a bubble, and armed with oceans of hand sanitiser, the team were able to visit care homes, schools, residential centres and direct provision centres bringing with them music, theatre and poetry.
“It was a response to Covid, so basically when we were in hardcore lockdown and nobody was leaving their houses, Gemma looked around and thought we needed music and poetry more than ever before and so she was brainstorming ways to make that happen,” explained Elizabeth.
“What she came up with was basically to buy a van and kit it out with a stage, lights, sound equipment and a crew so basically, in the worst of lockdown, the van was able to tour all around Ireland - mostly to places where people were living in worse isolation than the rest of us such as care homes.”
As the levels of lockdown decreased, the organisation began to adapt and offer alternative events.
“The van... still very much has a need now more than ever. There’s plenty of people who wouldn’t make their way to a traditional venue for a number of reasons and so what the van does is it goes to wherever people are gathered and it brings the arts to people directly,” she outlined.
Three private Vital Signs events are set to take place in Cavan next Tuesday, August 22. They van will travel to Clogher House Day Activation Unit, Rathcorrick; Virginia Day Activation Unit; and the Irish Wheelchair Association, Cavan.
Festival in a Van is supported by Creative Ireland, the Arts Council of Ireland and Ireland’s Local Authority Network.