With only 24 hoursto go until the opening weekend of the 40th Kilkenny Arts Festival there are some really impressive acts taking place from this Friday August 9th. Take a look here and book your tickets today online or by phone on 056 77 521 75 or in person at the box office on 76 John Street, Kilkenny.

Castlecomer will be celebrating its mining heritage this weekend, with a number of events planned for the town.  The official opening will take place on Friday at 7.30pm with former miner Jim O’Neill and his daughter Mary. Saturday will feature guided tours of the old pit head, with a ceílí mór in the evening, while Sunday will see the unveiling of a plaque in memory of all the men and boys who lost there life in the mines.

You can read the full programme here: 

IDEATE is a multi-disciplinary mini-festival about making. It explores and celebrates craft, design and creativity through experimentation and collaboration and aims to build a
community of practice actively engaged with innovation, technology and design. The festival has been devised and produced by the Crafts Council of Ireland and the National
Craft Gallery to mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Kilkenny Design Workshops. It is part of the Gathering Kilkenny 2013 programme, Kilkenny and funded via
the INNOCRAFTS programme as part of INTERREG IV. It is sponsored by Allied Irish Bank and the Pembroke Hotel.
At the centre of IDEATE are two seminars mapping current terrain; Making Things explores how user-focused design and shifts in technology are transforming relationships between object, maker and user in the 21st Century; and Making Worlds explores the active roles that craft, design and creativity are playing in the civic space, looking at planning, sustainability, and inclusive methodologies.
The INNOCRAFTS strand offers information and access to design processes and digital technology through talks, discussions and hands-on practice. It includes a packaging design
workshop with industrial designer, Jordan Ralph; a simple, low-cost route into the world of digital fabrication with The Civic Works; practical workshopsin Solidworks and Haptic
Modelling with designCORE; and Design Intelligence, a trio of talks exploring different models of excellence in practice.
The Exhibitions strand includes Making Things Better at the National Craft Gallery, in which emerging talents Designgoat and Derek Wilson respond to objects from the National
Museum of Ireland to create new prototypes which will be shown at the London Design Festival in September 2013; The Secret of Kells, an exhibition of prints by the Oscar nominated and multi-award winning Kilkenny-based animation studio, Cartoon Saloon; and Pallet to Product, a nationwide design challenge to innovate sustainably.
At the heart of all of this, is Kilkenny city – once home to the Kilkenny Design Workshops, now home of the Crafts Council of Ireland, the National Craft Gallery, Cartoon Saloon, and
the many creative practitioners both from and based here, a selection of whom are participating in Creative City – a series of inspirational talks by significant figures such as
AnnaO’Sullivan, curator of the Irish Pavilion atthe 2013 Venice Biennale; Ross Stewart, the artistic vision behind two Oscar-nominated animated feature films; Mel O’Rourke, Director
of themulti-award winning design agency, Creative Inc; and Naoise Nunn, Artistic Director of the Sky Cat Laughs Comedy Festival and Programme Director of the Kilkenomics festival of
economics, both based in Kilkenny city. There is also a Creative City film night featuring more incredible Kilkenny talent, including David O’Reilly, recently awarded the World
Culture Council Leonardo da Vinci Award for his services to animation.

The packed two-day programme also includes a variety of drop-in creative activities, films on  design and craft, live music, street food, craft beer and an exciting live-art Draw-Off between the Cartoon Saloon team versus Kilkenny-born craft-punk artist Mick Minogue. Make sure to like our the IDEATE festival facebook page to keep up-to-date on the programme and events – https://www.facebook.com/ideatefestival
For further info –
e: ideate@ccoi.ie
http://www.ideatefestival.com

Kilkenny Rugby Football Club are hosting the Marble City Sevens Rugby Festival which will take place on the 28th, 29th, 30th June 2013.

This fun filled weekend will see teams from all over Europe and Ireland compete for the coveted title of Marble City 7’s Rugby Champion.

Included in the festivities is a Ladies 7’s competition and a Golden Oldies competition. It is also hoped to host a representative game on the final day against a Kilkenny selection.

We’re delighted to present the world premiere of series two of  Sky 1 HD’s award-winning comedy, Moone Boy, in the company of its co-writers Chris O’Dowd and Kilkenny native Nick Vincent Murphy as well as some of its stars including David Rawle who plays Martin Moone. Scottish prodigy Kevin Bridges will perform some of his only live shows this year at the festival and for the first time there’s a programme for kids and families in the atmospheric Rothe House. Comedy mastermind Dylan Moran returns to Kilkenny for the first time in eight years; we have the European debut of 30 Rock star Judah Friedlander; a one-off performance by Irish comedy pioneer, Kevin McAleer, entirely in the Irish language; and the
Masters series sees living legends Jimmy Cricket and Sil Fox show the young guns how it’s done. Festival veteran Dom Irrera interviews fellow comedians in Uncle Dom’s Fireside Chats in
the medieval Hole in the Wall tavern, which will also play host to the Wildcats emerging talent showcase and Simon Munnery’s satire on modern gastronomy: La Concepta.
There are familiar favourites, prodigal returns and completely new experiences all to be soaked up at The Sky Cat Laughs 2013 in wonderful Kilkenny City.
Drink deep, eat well and laugh out loud responsibly.

http://www.thecatlaughs.com/

Since 1998, The Kilkenny Rhythm and Roots Festival has attracted some of the finest names in the Americana canon; acts like Calexico, Giant Sand, Ryan Adams,Alejandro Escovedo, Mark Eitzel, Guy Clark, Chuck Prophet, Ray LaMontagne,Richmond Fontaine, Rodney Crowell… The list is very long, and these are but a small few names who have been drawn to the magnet of the Marble City Mardi Gras in the past. Country, folk, blues, bluegrass, rockabilly, cajun etc…

All forms of what we like to call Americana are well represented over the four days. From midday to midnight audiences wind their way through the medieval streets sampling the huge range of music in the 30 plus venues, hosting over 30 acts from Ireland, USA, Canada, UK and Sweden, with over 80 ticketed and free shows.

There’s a mixture of old and new acts on the free pub gig trail and all styles will be catered for, from swing to bluegrass, rockabilly to cajun, folk and the blues.

This years festival takes place from 3rd-6th of may and features John Grant, Chuck Prophet & The Mission Express, The Deep Dark Woods and many more

The full line up, and ticketing information  is available here