…limited tickets still available for LEITRIM ARTS AWARDS this Friday at The Dock…

The Leitrim Arts Awards will be topped off with a wonderful concert featuring Eleanor Shanley joined by John McCartin on guitar, Padraig McGovern on pipes and Sabina McGovern on harp. The awards will take place at a gala event in The Dock, Carrick on Shannon on Friday  the 3^rd May at 8.00pm.

The quantity and calibre of the nominations received was a clear endorsement of the widely held view that County Leitrim is home to numerous individuals and organisations that have attained great achievement locally, nationally and internationally across the whole spectrum of the arts. Five awards in total were made with one award dedicated to achievement in the arts by a young person, and one for lifetime achievement. The recipients are -

· Jackie McKenna, a native of north Leitrim, is known throughout Ireland for her many public sculpture commissions. At home she is also recognised for her work with numerous groups and in particular for her pioneering work over a long number of years towards establishing the Leitrim Sculpture Centre as a nationally important facility for artists to make work.

· A native of Dublin, architect and tutor Dominic Stevens chose Leitrim as the place in which he wanted to live and continue his professional practice. He has won numerous awards for his architectural work and his publications on design and sustainable living, particularly in a rural context, have been equally groundbreaking and recognised internationally.

· One of Ireland’s foremost traditional singers, Eleanor Shanley is renowned for her unique interpretation of Irish songs.  She has recorded with everyone from De Danann and Sharon Shannon, to The Dubliners and Tommy Fleming. She has recorded many solo albums and has featured on numerous others. Over the years, Eleanor has been a constant support to musicians and music projects in her home county.

· David Rawle has been attending drama classes from 4 years old and a member of the Leitrim Youth Theatre Company Carrigallen since 2011. He shot to fame in “Moone Boy” alongside Chris O’Dowd which will begin shooting its 3^rd series later this year. In a very short amount of time, David has proven himself to be an actor of considerable talent with delightfully natural comic timing.

· The Lifetime achievement award goes to Angus Dunne for a lifetime of commitment to local and national amateur drama. Angus has been the driving force behind the Breffini Players for many years. A talented director, Aengus has contributed greatly the quality and reputation of the Breffni Players, encouraging members in all roles, the results of which were abundantly apparent this year when they won the All-Ireland One Act Drama Finals in Ballyduff, Co. Waterford.

Leitrim County Council initiated the Awards to acknowledge the vibrant and growing arts scene in the county and to acknowledge the importance of the arts to County Leitrim.  The event itself is a great platform to celebrate what Leitrim artists have achieved over the years on a local, national and international level.

The recipients will receive their awards as part of full night of entertainment at the Dock. The evening commences with a reception before author and broadcaster Vincent Woods, as compère, introduces the first of the awards with film introductions produced by Johnny Gogan and Screen Northwest. Among the performances during the evening, author Brian Leyden will read alongside Jo Holmwood, whose new book Under the one roof, which she wrote during her Spark residency at The Bush Hotel, was published last week. Also on the night singer Gavin Sweeney and Leitrim Village’s Mick Blake will be there. After the final award, Eleanor Shanley will be joined John McCartin, Padraig McGovern and Sabina McGovern to raise the tempo and finish the night on a typically perfectly pitched high note.

Limited tickets are available at €10 and can be obtained through The Dock, Carrick on Shannon on 071 9650828 or online at www.thedock

Fun Night ahead of us! Your D B

3pm might be too early for some of you, but some of you will be able to make it on Tuesday afternoon for the launch of the Northwest Pride Exhibition “Taking Liberties”.  This is the 4^th multimedia arts exhibition of NW Pride, and we are delighted to have The Dock as the venue for it this year for the very first time. I am only back from my travels, but I got a quick glance of the work already and I was able to grab a minute with curator Brendan Dean, “there is nothing like now” he said when I asked for a minute of his time at some convenient hour for him, well he had me at that for sure! Besides some shared personal stories he filled me in on NW Pride being the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) support organisation for the Northwest of Ireland, and that work for the exhibition has been submitted from all four corners of the country, the Northwest, Wexford, Cork and Dublin to name a few. Especially interesting for me that there is a good handful of emerging Arts students taking part in the exhibition, and I will have to come back with a bit more time and my little camera for seeing more of the work, I couldn’t have kept hovering over Brendan anyway while he was hanging the last few drawings, not that he was fazed by that, but my teenage daughter needed me to get home for some sort of teenage emergency and my looking at the work was somewhat cut short by that.

There is a whole brochure/ programme out there for NW Pride 2012, August the 7^th till the 12^th, with events all over Leitrim, Sligo and Donegal, some remaining few are still at The Dock to be had, and the launch for the exhibition is in a way the launch of the whole festival. So if you can make Tuesday 7^th of August 3pm at The Dock, we are looking forward seeing you there!

Your Dock Blogger...

...and there is more for Wednesday, Izzy the woman running the forum asked us to put some information up here...  Once I know times and somewhat more details I'll fill you in, but keep the Wednesday at the back of your mind!

Full Spectrum, a forum hosted by Northwest LGBT Pride (a community festival for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered people, our families, friends and allies.) The forum will explore practical steps that could and should be taken by all community organisations to become more inclusive. This “Full Spectrum” forum will feature speakers from minorities within the LGBT community,

including disabled, transgendered, asylum -seeking and minority ethnic people. It is open to LGBT organisations, disability organisations and any other community groups that would like to improve their accessibility and inclusivity. Full Spectrum is supported by the Leitrim Development Company.