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

If you want to participate, download the application form here
and return the completed version to fergus.horgan@cklp.ie

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

This weekend will see the Inistioge Gathering Weekend taking place. The event features live music in the village on Saturday and Sunday, with Trail Runs through Woodstock Gardens on Saturday  All funds raised from the €5 entry fee will go towards developing G.A.A. and athletics facilities in the parish.

Sunday night will also see Kilkenny Musical Societys 40th annual show, Pirates of Penzance, starting it’s run in the Watergate theatre.

Tickets are now on sale from the Watergate box office 056-7761674 and available on line at www.watergatetheatre.com. Prices are €12 for Sunday, €15 for Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday, and €18 for Thursday, Friday & Saturday. The Society is also offering Group discounts for 10 or more at €15 per ticket.

You can play a part by organising your own gathering event. A gathering can be as small or as large as you want, all you need is one person form overseas. You can upload your event to www.thegatheringireland.com and use it as a central hub to help plan your event.

In addition to our large scale flagship events, we are hoping that the people of Kilkenny will plan and host as many smaller community events as possible.

You can take inspiration from some of the events others have planned, or perhaps you have your own unique idea. Either way, you should make use of A gathering can be as small or as large as you like.  Whether you are an individual, a business or a community or sporting organisation, you can help to make 2013 the year of the Gathering.You can take inspiration from some of the events others have planned, or perhaps you have your own unique idea. Either way, to get started, create an account at www.thegatheringireland.com and upload the details of your event. If you need any help, the local steering group is available to provide assistance, and can be contacted through the links here.

Whatever type of event you are organising, there are a few key things you can do to help your gathering succeed.

1.  Work with your community

You don’t have to work alone. Why not get everyone involved at the planning stage and work together? Pooling all your resources and experience will make your gathering more successful and give the whole community a sense of ownership.

2.  Identify who you want to target

Seek out your connections around the world such as family, friends, school and work colleagues and start communicating with them now. You don’t need to have your event confirmed to start the conversation.

3.  Seek out sponsorship

Local funding through individual or commercial sponsorship can make a big difference to your event. Talk to businesses in your area today.

4.  Work with your local tourism providers

Let local tourism providers like hotels, B&Bs, activity organisers and visitor attractions know about your event in advance. They may be able to support it in some way, either by offering packages or promoting it on their websites.

5.  Keep the local press informed

Stay in touch with your local press. Get to know your local journalists and editors, their deadlines and their particular news interests. Make their jobs easier by providing them with good quality press releases, pictures and captions. Announce events in the community diary.

6. Use www.thegatheringireland.com

There’s lots of resources available on www.thegatheringireland.com, including posters, invites and ‘How to’ guides to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube. Social media is a powerful and completely free marketing resource. Choose one or two social media tools and use them well.

Street Performers, Kilkenny 400 Celebrations 2009

Kilkenny is a medieval city of 24,000 people acclaimed internationally as a centre for craft and design. Technology, Tourism, Craft & Design and food processing are the main industries in the county. Each year Kilkenny hosts a number of international festivals and the city is a very popular tourist destination.

This medieval city is characterised by many beautifully restored buildings and winding slipways – it is small and compact enough to explore on foot, yet full of fascinating historical buildings and contemporary shops, design galleries and restaurants.