Gorey set to enjoy first feminist cultural festival
‘CONSTELLATIONS’, a series of small cultural events is taking place in Gorey across the weekend from January 31 to February 2 in line with the International Herstory Light festival in association with the Mary Fitzgerald Award.
All events are free of charge, and will include an exhibition, a concert and a panel discussion on education.
Organisers aim to raise awareness of artistic cultural production in North Wexford and have teamed up with the Herstory Light Festival, which is an annual global event celebrating women and equality.
The event takes place over the weekend of Brigid’s Day in honour of Ireland’s triple goddess and matron Saint.
Organiser David Monaghan said that he sees the festival as a conversation starter, and the event will be a feminist one that broadens peoples’ minds.
‘We are still trying to get the message out there but this is a completely free festival, and at the end of the weekend we are hoping that people will have enjoyed the event, having focused their minds on music, art, and enjoyed an interesting panel discussion.
‘Now is a great time to have it as we get out of the January blues, and tie in with new beginnings in spring. It’s the first event of this kind here, and I hope it will broaden peoples’ minds’.
It all begins on Friday at 7 p.m. at Gorey’s Market House with ‘I crossed a bridge of Dreams and made them real’ group exhibition, which features artists and performers from across the island.
It seeks to investigate contemporary femininity, the body as identity and role of access to physical space.
The audience will also enjoy NCAD lecturer Denis Kehoe showcasing a new performance, which will be a fictional dramatic telling the story of political activist Mary Fitzgerald.
Wexford native, Mary Fitzgerald fought for workers’ rights in South Africa and although she is better known overseas as Pickhandle Mary, very little is known her Irish origin and just how the Wexford woman first got involved in the Labour movement and votes for women in the early 20th century.
Gorey based band The Mistakes will take to the stage at Katie Daly’s on Saturday, February 1, from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. and the event is a fundraiser for the Mary Fitzgerald Award, an access to education bursary, which aims to provide one young person with €1,000 of funding towards further education later this year.
Focusing on education, the final event is a panel discussion on ‘Building an Educational System for All’ and speakers will include Micheal Finn Principal of Gorey Community School Michael Finn alongside NCAD lecturer Aoife Keogh among others.
This takes place at Gorey’s Market House from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. and all are welcome to attend.
To find out more about the festival and the bursary itself, search ‘Mary Fitzgerald Award’ on Facebook.