The Artist is Present on The Promenade

Sometimes, I have this nightmare:-

I am queuing up for Heaven. There will be 2 queues, one for Artists and one for Organisers. 

I will get to the pearly gate and the Angel will say 'Sorry, you can't come in with the Artists, you're an Event organiser, go join the other queue.'

I never meant to be an Event Organiser. It just sort of happened because if I am ever offered an opportunity to do something amazing, my first thought is always, 'How can I extend this amazing opportunity so that my fellow artists can also share this experience?' 

The trouble is, I turned out to be quite good at making amazing events happen for others to embrace and over time I almost became marginalised as an Artist at my own empowering events for others. Ironic really. 

This is something I have worked very hard to reverse. If I organise now, it must be on the personal agreement with myself that I still retain the head and heart space to 'be' who I am.

So, in this blog post, I am going to describe the wonderous and life changing artistic work that I did whilst at The Promenade Festival (and hope that the Angel at the gate is taking note)

My first 'performance' was on the Friday night.

Sean Corcoran, the festival Artistic Director, commissioned me to write a mantra for the 4 servicemen who had died during a sea rescue in Tramore. Indeed, the core aim of the festival is a celebration of their of lives' and a thank you to the emergency services.

This photograph above shows the Sculpture installation on the Promenade that serves as a monument to the men who died. It was was taken on the launch of this year's festival on the Friday night and I am sat on a little platform in the middle of all these people.

Here I am with Donal, who is leading the proceedings. Donal asked me to set up on the stage which I did, but the first speaker had not yet arrived. Donal whispered to me 'please can you fill in' while we waited. 

I have performed as a singer songwriter & presenter all my life, but I am not sat on the platform as a singer/ songwriter/ presenter. 

I am there to share a mantra to celebrate the life of 4 men. 

So, in that moment, I decided to put into practice all that I have learnt about 'being present' during my MA Drama and everything I have learnt about Sound as a healing practitioner, inviting the audience into my space instead of projecting myself into theirs'.

I took myself to my most inner place. It was not a performance, it was a sharing of my own inner peace as an artist, as a human being. I imagined the reiki light of love entering me and cascading out towards the audience. This gave me a sense of inner peace I have never experienced on stage before.

When I opened my eyes, children were sat in front of me, the crowd now gazing in silent intrigue at the middle aged woman on the little platform, sat in a trance, playing Tibetan singing bowls and singing Sanskrit mantra. 

I lost all sense of time and place, almost as if I were floating but when I looked up, I saw Sean in the crowd, who indicated with his facial expression and talking eyes that we still were not ready to bring on the speakers. He mouthed 'You OK?' I nodded, he smiled.

It was here that I fell upon the skills of engagement that have been my life. I invited children to join me and the audience sang a mantra to the Sun so that we would have a wonderfully sunny weekend. Which, off course, we did. 

Aside: (I can not take full credit for a weekend of sunshine in Tramore. Sam Collins did a 5.00 am Cherokee Sunrise Dance on the beach the next morning and doubtless the Promenade Festival Team had been praying for sun for months! I expect Mother Nature had something of a hand in it too!)

Eventually, Donal came up onto the platform and introduced the speakers from the 

Emergency Services. 

I stayed seated at their feet, and now prepared myself to sing the mantra 'We Salute You'

And then Sean came up onto the stage and introduced me and my mantra. As it finished 4 flares were released into the sky above the sea to represent the Servicemen killed and then the mood lifted with Irish dancers before we all rushed up to the Majestic Hotel for the Summer Ball, where I switched heads to help Sean put together the running order for the evening.

It was genuinely the greatest privilege, actually, it was an honour to be part of the Launch Ceremony in what transpired to be a very healing way. To be present with so many in such an intense way was life changing for me as an Artist. Let me explain why.

Knowing that I can make this level of 'present connection' to so many through my combined pratice as an Artist and Sound Healer, has helped me to find a path towards my place in the world. 

For this, I thank you Tramore, for your love, your compassion and your open arms.

The beautiful photographs in this blog post are kindly taken by Ciaran Conneely and also taken from 

the Promenade Festival Facebook Page.

Falling in love ...

 

Yes, I am falling in love. It is a beautiful feeling. I wake up excited and go to sleep smiling.

The person I am falling in love with is someone I have known all my life but she got lost amongst all the things she thought the world wanted from her. She had lost sight of her inner self, disconnected with her soul. Off course, she had not realised this. So long things had been the way they were, that she genuinely thought she was living the truth. Having said that, she must have felt something was missing as she embarked on a journey in search of presence, in search of her authentic self.

Stripped, naked, bare finally her journey led her to me and I really like her.

She is loving and caring, funny, clever, she has the ability to reach people, to bring them on a journey together, to help them believe in themselves & make change to the world. 

She is ... Me!

I am falling in love with me. I have started smiling at me in the mirror. This has resulted in me smiling back at myself and honestly, that creates a shine inside me. And to think I spent all those years frowning at myself in the mirror?

Small things make a huge impact.  On the way to work, I had no time for breakfast. This happens a lot. But this week, I thought to myself, I am going to stop and have breakfast on the way to work today because I deserve to have breakfast. 

If I was someone else that I cared about, I would have said, STOP the car and go and get breakfast. 

Do you know, I actually cried at the thought of being kind enough to myself to allow myself to be 10 minutes late for work to get some food.

I did stop, I had porridge and a coffee. It was delicious. I felt nurtured, loved and ready. I didn't feel like crying anymore, instead I had that feeling you get when someone loves you.

And guess what, I wasn't late for work either. I was on time instead of being my usual 10 minutes early and I was set up for the whole day.

I tell you this friends, to inspire you to learn to fall in love with your self. It is not an easy journey and indeed I am only in the early stages of learning how, but it really is a wonderful feeling and well worth embracing.

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 :)