Art is a powerful form of expression that brings people together in a language that is beyond words. The 30th annual Boyle Arts Festival was perhaps the most memorable and successful to date and the Boyle Arts Festival Committee would like to extend heartfelt thanks to everybody who helped make it possible.
BAF 2019 featured ten separate art exhibitions, ten workshops and 59 performance events, many of which were sold-out in advance! Its eleven months of planning was a serious undertaking for a voluntary core committee of seven and our five voluntary sub-committee members.
However, would like to pay tribute to those who continue to support us in so many ways, year after year and without whom; we would undoubtedly have no Boyle Arts Festival. Once again, we received tremendous support from the people of Boyle – in terms of sponsorship, attendance of events, provision of venues, premises, voluntary help and of course that wonderful hospitality that welcomed the considerable numbers of visitors to the town.
In addition to our local sponsors, who we encourage everybody to support, we must also acknowledge the support of the The Arts Council, Fáilte Ireland and Roscommon County Council, Roscommon Leader Partnership and the Creative Ireland programme.
Publicity is vital to any Festival and we would like to thank all the local websites, regional and national newspapers and radio stations for the publicity and good will afforded to us, both before and during the Festival.
We are deeply indebted to all of our local volunteers and helpers, who gave so freely of their time by helping at the ‘door’ during events, collecting and hanging artwork, assisting in the ticket office, distributing posters and programmes, assisting at the exhibitions and events, directing traffic, making vacant premises available for exhibition space and indeed helping out in any way.
We must also extend a special word of thanks to Benny Morgan for volunteering to photograph every one of our events and allowing us to use his photos. Thanks also to Tony Murphy for sponsoring the printing of photographs for our ‘Boyle – Through a Child’s Eyes’ exhibition.
A special thank you also to those in King House, the Church of Ireland, Boyle Abbey, St. Joseph’s Hall, St. Joseph’s Church, Abbey Community College, Boyle Parochial School, Boyle Family Resource Centre, Galilee Spirituality Centre, The Spool Factory, Daly’s Storehouse, Clarke’s Bar, The Open Table, The Stairs, Mattimoe’s, Dodd’s and the Patrick’s Well for allowing us to use their venues. We must also extend thanks to Perpetua McGee of ‘Marians’ for providing her premises as our Festival office, to Thomas Gallagher and Mick O’Dowd for providing storage facilities and to the Office of Public Works for their assistance.
Thanks also to Boyle Musical Society for assisting with additional lighting and to Kevin Hickey of Trojan IT and St. Joseph’s BNS for projection facilities. We are also grateful to Bank of Ireland Boyle and Boyle GAA, for making their car parks available to us during events and to An Garda Síochána for their assistance with parking.
We must extend sincere gratitude to all those who travelled from near and far, to attend all of the events, exhibitions and workshops at Boyle Arts Festival 2019. Once again, we have been overwhelmed at the support we received, especially from the people of Boyle who turned out in greater numbers than ever. Almost every event had capacity audiences and several were even sold out in advance! We are truly grateful to the local and wider community, for all their support.
And finally, we would also like to thank all the visual artists, performers and contributors who took part in BAF 2019 and especially all the local artists, who once again made this year’s Festival so special. Without them, Boyle Arts Festival would be incomplete and it is heart-warming to think that there is so much great talent on our doorstep!
Plans are already underway for next year’s Boyle Arts Festival, which will run from July 16th to 25th 2020 and we are constantly working to build on previous years, as it is our mission to offer a Festival that is constantly evolving. We are hoping to make it another fantastic and memorable experience – so why not put those dates in your diary now!
For more information please go to www.boylearts.com or follow us of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
The Boyle Arts Festival Committee.
