Mother of Pearl

Mother of Pearl Cafe is run by Mona, a beautiful creative soul who welcomed us with open arms and love in her heart.

I had asked that all of us in the team came together, even Dom before he whizzed off to (try to) catch an early ferry home for work) for a final sharing at 4.00pm.

As the festival goers started their journey home, some of them stayed with us for another 2 hours of poems, dancing and song.

For me, I was very privileged to be able to sing the song I had written with Ger & Ciaran the night before on their comfy sofa, right there in the cafe. 

Ciaran had been adamant he wouldn't perform, but I gave Ron the eye and he worked his magic. 

Afterwards, Ciaran said that the time had just felt right. 

It was very generous of Ciaran to let us have his spot in Mother of Pearl where he regularly plays on a Sunday afternoon, and a very fine guitarist he is, too.


Mark, our actor, danced, Mab, our poet, sang, Laura, our dancer, read her first ever poetry ... interspersed with Ron's poignant lyrics, Paul's captivating melodies and Anne's layered stories. Sam & Laura danced to Mab's poems, and all the while, we supped Mona's coffee and ate her scrumptious cakes.

At 6pm we meandered down to the front to meet Sean and his team, where Sam and I danced tango with the public.

I don't remember having ever gone to bed with such a big smile on my face and with so much love in my heart.

Thank you Sean, Mary, Kieth, Trisha, The Team, Tramore Tourism, the 'Adopt an Artist' homes, the hotels, the pubs & B&B's, the cafes who hosted us. The lovely folk of Tramore who embraced us. Thanks to my Artist team for being inspirational.

See you soon my friends.

Wishing Poems

One of the joys of bringing a team of artists is that we get to collaborate and try our ideas that might never have occurred to us otherwise.

Poet, Dominic Williams and myself went up to the cannon overlooking Tramore and sat on it sharing poems with passers by.

We also did an experiment in 'poet presence'. 

We stood opposite each other at the cannon and he read a line of his poem interspersed with a line from me, reading Ger's words that I had made into a poem about the very area where we were sat.

A passer by filmed for us and took photographs.

It was a very moving experience.

As we came back down from the cannon to town, I felt I had a better understanding of Dom.

Having completed my piece somaKanta on the Saturday, I spent the rest of Sunday writing wishing poems with people on the street and playing ukulele.

What was lovely is that folk came to look for me, like this little lad with his lovely Mum who had been at the Launch on Friday, taken part in my somakAnta promenade on Saturday and now sat to write a poem on Sunday.

I met all sorts of people but it was more of a family day out with large groups of young people, all ready to join in the fun.

I met this group (above) as I was trying a new songwriting technique.

I walked along the Promenade and the street strumming my ukulele, and watched. 

If someone/a gathering of folk, smiled or jigged from side to side, I started singing a song about them, then and there on the spot with the ukulele, by asking their name.

For instance, a little girl was wearing a peppa pig t-shirt. She was with her mum eating ice cream. Her name was Beth.

Beth likes walking by the sea

Eating ice cream with mum-my

At The Promenade on the coast

Beth likes Peppa Pig the most

And then I carried on walking, leaving the groups of people smiling, laughing and wondering what had just happened!

When groups of young people responded really well, joining in and having fun, I stopped and worked with them, sitting on my shawl writing wishing poems sitting on the street.

It was great trying a new way of working but the funniest thing I think was working with the Karate team on the Promenade.

I asked the leader if he minded me playing ukulele as I thought it might put them off, but he said that they were entering an International Contest next week and that they were practicing here on the Promenade specifically to work on focus and not to be taken from that focus by the festival. 

So, I set about playing music that was a complete off beat counter rhythm to what the karate routine was following. I can honestly say I have never done that before! I couldn't help chuckle to myself.

And so the final day of the festival was coming to a close. Time to head on up to Mother of Pearl Cafe where I had asked all 11 of the Welsh Artist Team to come together at 4.00pm and share a final hour of the festival led by Ron, Paul & Anne, before meeting with Sean and his team.

Sunday Morning

We were up early Sunday morning and down to Tramore Radio station where I was set the task of interviewing all 11 Welsh Artists at once. 

I have had a bit of experience on the radio. Some of you may remember my stint as a presenter on the Late Night Love Show for Bridge FM & Galaxy (which I always giggle at as something of an irony!)

But I have not interviewed folk on the radio more than in multiples of 1! 

It is not an easy task to interview 11 people at once so I asked the team to think of it as a team meeting, that I would go to them one by one to ask the highlight of their yesterday and what was in store for today. I had spoken to them all individually about what they had been up to so I could cue them if needed. It would be a wonderful opportunity for us to listen to each others' work and to tell the festival what was to come.

I also asked the team to only speak as a group if invited to.

What I did not know was that we were actually going out live over the internet and is was being streamed onto the whole Promenade, throughout teh festival.

All day, people came up to congratulate me on a great radio show. What a completely unexpected gift from Tramore. I came out of the studio thinking ... crumbs, I didn't know I could do that! ... and I felt so incredibly proud of the magnificent work that my Welsh Artist team were doing.

somakAnta in Tramore

After walking sand circles on the beach, I set out

to perform my collection of 13 mantra based on the life cycle of a woman from birth to be re-birth.

I had imagined that this would be a journey around the town into 13 different spaces but I soon realised that the festival is not about places, it is about people and SomakAnta became a sharing of 13 mantra with 13 different people/groups of people.

I met some beautiful and wonderful people on the journey. 

For each connection, I lit for them a tealight candle and placed a shell with a heart shaped piece of slate from the quarry here in West Wales, and rose quartz. 

I left them with the shell as a memory aid. I had chosen 13 shells specifically for this sharing from my beach in New Quay to bring for the people of Tramore.

These connections happened on the street, outside cafes, in the Tourist centre, wherever I felt drawn to a person or collection of people.

Each mantra worked on it's own as a piece as well as a collection. Such a wonderful inter-exchange of loving energy. 

Now I will decide what to do with somaKanta here, in Wales, but the lessons learnt from it in Tramore, will shape my thoughts as an artist, for a lifetime.

Diolch/Thank You Promenade

  

Wales Graffiti Artist Lloyd Roberts with the Community during The Promenade Festival.

WOW, what lovely comments my fellow artists and friends have left on facebook about their time at The Promenade Festival, Tramore, Ireland, this weekend. Thank you and bless you. I am deeply touched.

Truthfully, there is nothing quite like the buzz that artists get when they have the space and time to 'be' together and I am fascinated at how that then becomes almost tangible for our 'audiences'. 

How many times do the public get to be so up close and present with Artists of different genres? 

This is why I LOVE working with Artistic Director Sean Corcoran​ because to my mind the man is nothing short of visionary. 

Let artists of varying genres 'be' resident in a Festival so that they can respond, collaborate and engage, expressing themselves in the ways that they feel comfortable. 

Off course, some of the festival is programmed in the traditional way, it needs to be, it's a HUGE event now and growing even bigger, but The Wales Artists Team have the absolute joy of artistic freedom, in much the same way as an Arts residency, which offers up the opportunity for diversity, collaboration, development, thus shading the festival with colour & texture. 

And in response to this trust, so these hand picked flowers, blossom into  a glorious bouquet who work their absolute artistic fingers to the bone, sometimes beyond their capabilities, because they are awakened, happy, they are fulfilled, they are inspired, and, quite frankly, they are changing the world. 

Yes, I am passionate; passionate about human beings and the ways in which they respond to the idea of 'presence' within the arts. 

I have played likely close to a 1000 festivals in my long career, performing in the traditional way, programmed from a stage, awesome gigs, but for me, The Promenade Festival gives us the chance to authentically connect with the people in a much more personal way.

We become part of the magical and experimental visionary world of Artistic Director, Sean Corcoran, pushing the boundaries, making it so & being part of his immense team. 

And trust me, seemingly impossible things happen when you work with Sean. I remember coming to possibly the very first whole team meeting about the festival, when all this was just an idea in Sean's head. In the meeting he turned and said to me, 'and you could bring a team  of Artists from Wales, couldn't you Cheryl!'

This weekend, for what is now the second year running, indeed, I have put together a team, this time we created artistic opportunities for engagement ranging from regular Songwriting Circle spots, to Sunrise Cherokee Dance with Poems thrown to the wind, from Tibetan Singing Bowl Mantra to Pirate  Sea Shanti's, from Graffiti Art to Sand Circles, from Spoken Word to live music, performance on the cannon, in the sea, on the sand, on the street, in the pubs & cafe's, live & radio ... the list goes on and on ... but most importantly, performance that etches life memory into the hearts of the people of Tramore.

I can not thank enough:  Sean, his team, Tramore Tourism, Bus Eireann, the Artist host families, the hotels, the B&B's the Caravan Park for welcoming us as your celtic cousins. 

Many Thanks to all the people who gave us lifts back and for to the Bus Station. 

Heartfelt thanks to The Wales Arts Team: Mab Jones, Dominic Williams, Bob Edwards, Ron Savory, Paul Edwards, Anne Lister, Laura Jane Jenkins, Sam Collins, Mark Montinaro, Lloyd Roberts and myself for giving our complete presence to the festival.

I  would also like to offer special thanks to Amanda Rackstraw because without her generosity of spirit we none of us would have been getting on the bus (literally, a story for another time) 

Our love & thoughts are with our Dancer, Fiona Winter, as well as Festival Treasurer, Trisha Lyons. We send you & your families much love during this time. 

And most importantly, thank you to the Emergency Services who provide the town with a strong arm of safety, putting the lives of others before their own. 

If you want to find out more about the Promenade Festival here's the link:

www.facebook.com/ThePromenadeFestival

In my next blog, which I will write after the ol' sea sick legs have stabilised, I'll give a more personal insight into the shannigans that I got up to during the festival.

And we're off!

Well, tonight is the night that my team of 

12 Wales Artists 

all different genres, representing an 

inter-generational spread of our vibrant, 

gifted and much loved Arts Community 

gather together to head off across the Irish Sea.

The list of people to thank is 

ABSOLUTELY HUGE

So here is a short summary ...

We would like to thank the Superman that is Sean Corcoran,  Artistic Director & the whole of his magnificent team for working so hard. 

We really appreciate you.

We would like to thank 

Tramore Tourism 

(in particular Mary Daniels)

www.tramore.ie

Bus Eirrean and Eurolines

For making our travel possible 

(Trisha Lyons the treasurer of the Festival for sorting the tickets in Waterford)

We also would like to thank all the wonderful Irish people in Tramore who have given accommodation/rooms in their homes for our stay.

I would like to personally thank the Wales Artist Team, most of whom have become very dear friends over the years,  for very generously giving their time & creativity to come and join the Craic.

Thank you in advance to the many thousands of people who we will meet over the weekend. (31,000 people came to the first Promenade Festival last year!!!)

Oh, and I think I'll thank myself because against all the odds, I somehow seem to be able to continue to create magnificent collaborative opportunities to share with fellow Artists. 

It gives me great joy in my heart to hold spaces where we all have the opportunity 

to 'be' who we are.

My Nan always said to me,

'Where there's a will

There's a way.'

It is sound advice that has stood me in good stead.

All we need now is for the coach to turn up and we'll be on our way :) 

Faces to Names for The Promenade Festival, Tramore, Ireland 2015

As the Artist Coordinator (Wales) for The Promenade Festival, Tramore, Ireland, I am very excited to show you whose coming in July. 

I blogged last month the names of the Artist Team ... now here's the faces. 

Fiona Winter

Sam Collins

Cheryl Beer (Me!)

Lloyd Roberts

Paul Edwards

Ron Savory

Mark Montinaro

Mab Jones

Amanda Rackstraw

Anne Lister

Dominic Williams

Bob Edwards