Something In The Water, Headford’s community arts festival, is returning for its fourth consecutive year, running from Wednesday, September 30th, to Sunday, October 4th. The five-day programme will bring music, theatre, literature, film, dance and visual art to venues in the North Galway town, including utilising vacant premises that will be reinvigorated for the festival.
Hundreds of artists and entertainers will perform across the festival next week, with thousands expected to turn out to participate in and experience the workshops, shows, exhibitions and demonstrations. Among the hands-on creative events are an ‘Everybody Has A Story’ workshop with storyteller and comedian Amy Walsh; a ‘Message In A Bottle’ children’s craft workshop; and a songwriting workshop with accomplished folk singer and musician Dave Clancy.
Inclusivity has always been an important factor for the organisers, and in the run-up to this year’s festival, they approached Tuam-based artists Midie Corcoran and Jojo Hynes of Sparkcatchers, as well as Ability West Headford Hub. With the objective of supporting locals to engage with their own creativity, Sparkcatchers took the lead from the participants, with input and guidance from Ability West staff. Together, they established the ‘Big Dreams’ of each participant and then realised them in a fun and creative way. The programme included creating costumes, photographs, poetry, songwriting, and visual art.
This year’s programme includes a Beethoven bicentenary concert from the newly formed Kantos Quartet; the first-ever live performance of composer Jamie Toomey’s work with ConTempo Quartet; and a screening of short films from IFTA winner Eamon Little.
There’s also an evening with Rooney Prize-winning novelist Elizabeth Reapy and fellow authors Alan McMonagle and Patrick Doherty, the latter travelling home from Spain for the event; and a visual arts programme curated entirely around the work of five female artists. Catering to all age groups and interests, there’s a full weekend of Irish-language events being run by Gaeilgeoirí Áth Cinn, as well as some gorgeous workshops for children and families, and so much more.
Local artist Kate Kelly will also undertake a fascinating audio visual project in association with the festival. Her aim is to capture the mood of contemporary female voices in Ireland, allowing female participants to co-create an important socially engaged new work. Across four days of the festival, she will invite women of all ages to explore and record responses to the question: ‘Are female voices heard, and are female voices valued, in contemporary Irish society?’
The inaugural Something In The Water in 2023 was born out of Reimagine Headford, a 2021-2022 community project, exploring creative solutions to the demise of small towns, building disuse and dereliction. Local research found residents saw the arts as central to the town’s sense of place, and Something In The Water has spent four years successfully responding.
This has been achieved through a temporary redesign of the town square and by turning empty buildings into pop-up festival venues, where possible. This year, at the Arts Council’s suggestion, organisers also ran their first formal campaign to bring more vacant premises into use.
The festival is organised entirely by a volunteer committee of fewer than 10 people, and is funded by the Arts Council and Galway County Council. It also distributes €4,000 in artist bursaries each year. Full programme details and bookings are available at tickettailor.com/events/somethinginthewater
