This page includes the following sections:

• Library Services
• Arts
• Heritage

 

LIBRARY SERVICES

2008 was yet another successful year for Kilkenny County Council Library Service.

• Through its 8 service points and 1 mobile library service, it issued over 330,000 items, an increase of 4% on 2007.
• The strong ICT focus has meant that almost 25,000 internet sessions were availed of in 2008.
• The request service was also heavily used and over 7,400 public requests were satisified in 2008.

 

Children's Services

Children's services are recognized as an integral part of Kilkenny County Library's remit. To this end the stock continued to be updated throughout the county branch network.
A reading race challenge in July and August turned out to be very popular with this age group and over 2,100 books were read as part of this campaign.
Kilkenny Library Service participated in events to celebrate National Children's Bookweek and events ranged from archaeological digs, mask making workshops and author visits.
The Schools Library Service visited over 10,000 primary school pupils and their teachers around the county. In addition staff provided assistance and advisory services to schools with a well used Teachers collection on the school van.
27,911 items were borrowed from this service in 2008.

Stock Development

Kilkenny Library Service is continuously developing and updating its collections. 2008 saw the development of many reader development initiatives and these include:-

• Childcare collections in City, Urlingford and Callan Libraries.
• Reference Art Collection in City Library.
• Quick Reads for emergent readers across the branch network.
• Bilingual books for children across the branch network.

 

Information Communication Technology (ICT)

ICT is acknowledged as having a key role to play in learning through access to computer aided learning and as a way of finding information resources to support people's studies be these informal, formal, ICT based or conventional.
The introduction of an online internet booking system for the public has allowed for a more efficient internet service for the public.
Free access to the following sites is also provided:-

• Britannica online

 

Library Development Plan

As part of the creation of a 5 year development plan which will inform future service and delivery, a broad consultation process was completed with a range of stakeholders. These include:-

• Elected members
• Public
• Staff
• Focus groups including teenagers, long-term unemployed, disability groups and travellers.
• Non-Users

The results of these consultations has been collated and will form the basis of the Development Plan.

 

A Space For All

Kilkenny County Library Service continues to address areas of service provision, removing barriers to service uptake and creating welcoming and accessible environments supported by appropriate services and formats.
Supported by the Disability Strategy Funding much has been achieved across the Library network to ensure that our services and buildings are accessible to all.
These include:-

• A ramp for the City Library.
• Accessible furniture and shelving - City, Callan, Graiguenamanagh and Thomastown.
• New flooring  - Thomastown and Graiguenamanagh
• Literacy software now available across the branch network - Wordstar, Starspell, Read It!.
• Investment in a range hardware to facilitate access to library services - touch screen monitors, large mice and keyboards.

The Library Service is committed to the development of working partnerships with local representative organizations or other state agencies.

To this end many initiatives were undertaken to encourage access to services. Stock collections for the hard of hearing, visually impaired and literacy students have been developed.

Networking and outreach to these organizations such as Kilkenny Employment for Youth, Word Aid, NCBI, TASK and group visits to library branches were also very successful in encouraging use of library services.

 

Local Studies

The relocation of Local Studies to the new premises in John's Green House has resulted in a substantially larger research room and improved accessibility due to the ground floor location.
This has allowed for more accessible collections and these include:-

• Stock of Kilkenny Library Society
• Acts of the Irish and United Parliaments
• Journals of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland.

 

Phase 2 of Kilkenny:Irish Life and Lore oral history recordings was launched by author Alice Taylor. The theme was on the contributions of Kilkenny women to society in general.
Other outreach activities included:-

• The development and mounting of an exhibition in co-operation with St John's parish of historic parish-themed photographs.
• In-House presentations on local studies sources to teachers and adult education/third level course students.

Lake School Pupils, St. John's Parish

Heritage Week events included "Home is where the heart is"- photographic essays from local schools in Castlecomer Library and talks on archaeology for children in Loughboy and Graiguenamanagh Libraries.
A selection of Kilkenny Local interest titles were digitized through An Chomhairle Leabharlanna in co-operation with the Library Service and will be available through www.askaboutireland.ie

 

Cultural and Development Programmes

Kilkenny Public Library Service consistently promotes access to themed activities in tandem with partners such as Arts Officer, AONTAS, the Heritage Council, Children's Books Ireland. A range of services are developed to respond to the needs of adult literacy students, representatives of ethnic communities, book clubs members, senior citizens etc.

2008 Highlights

• Author visits by Nell McCafferty - Loughboy Library.
• Author Visit by Mary Kennedy - 20th Birthday of Graiguenamanagh Library.
• Bealtaine Festival - Loughboy Library.
• Postive Ageing week - "computers for the terrified" in partnership with the VEC to provide a basic introduction to computers.
• Lunchtime Literary Readings in partnership with the Arts Office featuring national and local poets and novelists - City Library.
• Reader and Writer Literary Festival events in Graiguenamanagh and Castlecomer Libraries.
• Children's Activities celebrating National Children's Book Festival, the Summer Reading Scheme, Library Ireland Week and Christmas were available across the Library Network.

 

The graph below demonstrates the range of events/services that Kilkenny County Council Library Network provides across the county.

 

 

ARTS

Kilkenny City and County has an extensive, illustrious and spirited tradition within the Arts. It is somewhat of a Mecca for artists, makers and those interested in culture and creativity. The Arts continue to be a significant ingredient in Kilkenny largely contributing to the progression of the social, cultural, creative, economic, and political future of Kilkenny.

The Arts Office programme reflects this in its support for the arts across all disciplines and for all aspects of the community both practitioners and audiences, also in its provision of professional development services for practitioners.

 

Exhibitions

The Arts Office continues its commitment to the visual arts and currently organises a busy programme of exhibitions, in the Upstairs Gallery, Watergate Theatre and no. 72, John Street.  These venues offer artists platforms to expose their work not only to the 'gallery visitor' but they also catch the chance interaction of those who would not normally visit a gallery space.  Shows range from groups and individual artists both established and early career artists.

The Arts Office hosted 13 exhibitions across five venues in 2008.  Exhibitions include group shows and individual artists both established and those early in their careers.  Artists included - Marianne Cullen, Isabelle Gaborit, Laura Brennan, Siobhan Doran, ten artist's works from the Kilkenny Life Drawing Groups including that of Patrick O'Connor, Caroline Schofield and Steven Aylin, and our end of year exhibition was by KCAT artists Jason Turner and Glen Kehoe.  Over the duration of the Kilkenny Arts Festival the Arts Office hosted exhibitions by recent participants of the 5 to 6 Women's Art Project in the Watergate entitled 'Strands of Colour'. Also, VERGE, a partnership between Kilkenny County Council Arts Office and Kilkenny Arts Festival, saw emerging Kilkenny practitioners Ross Stewart, Robert Dunne and Tracy Sweeney exhibit their work.

'New World Symphonies: Journey's End' by Neil Butler, took place at no. 72 John Street during the Kilkenny Arts Festival. Ten large painted Perspex panels, 1.5 by 2 meters, were installed and they covered the gallery walls; essentially they enclosed the viewer within the gallery space.

 

This work depicted an epic narrative set in a constructed Empire. Each Panel presented a scene or micro-narrative from the fall of this empire.

 

'New World Symphonies: Journey's End' by Neil Butler

 

Finally 'Illustrating Illustration' offered a unique opportunity to see eleven of worlds' best Illustrators from Ireland, Britain, Germany, Spain and America.  The artists that took part in 'Illustrating Illustration' were Saturio Alonso (IRL), Steven Aylin (IRL), Melinda Beck (USA), BrenB (IRL), Ina Fiebig (GER), Jordin Isip (USA), Ana Juan (SPA), KEKO (SPA), Alé Mercado (IRL), Paula Sanz Caballero (SPA), Chris Sickels (USA). Pushing the boundaries of an art exhibition, this little known and often misinterpreted art form blossomed under the spotlight of the Kilkenny County Council Arts Office focus. The show delved into what is now becoming one of the trendiest art forms yet so often taken for granted through our day to day interaction with printed and online materials. 'Illustrating Illustration' offered the audience a tour of the process from concept creation to the final reproduction of the image. It opened discussion around two principles. Namely that there is no one original in illustration and that illustration cannot exist by itself i.e. the text, object, concept etc is what is being illustrated. This exhibition toured to Seville, Spain in October / November 2008.

 

Residencies

Three visual artists' residencies focusing on painting and installation with artists Liselott Olfosson, Marie Connole and Lesley Frew were undertaken at no. 72 in 2008.  Renovation of the space late in the year allowed the Arts Office to expand upon its residency programme to include a dance residency with Aisling Keating.

Liselott Olofsson created a calm, reflective environment with an indoor garden involving elements of Japanese gardens, peat, sand and stones. She also worked on themes of communication and the traditions of tea ceremonies, spiritual connection, landscape and sacred spaces. She created a series of tea bowls, drawings and paintings and invited members of the public to join her in tea bowl making thus also involving the local community.

Marie Connole's work weaved together oddities, fears and beliefs formed from observations of growths and the human body to create installation pieces of varying materials and dimensions.

One of Marie Connole pieces of work

 

Lesley Frew created her work from recycled plastic bags giving the materials a second life by transforming and reusing them - taking a discarded material, giving it new value and showing it can be beautiful.

As a multidisciplinary artist Aisling Keating over for the last number of years has been developing a synthesis between Dance/Movement and Art Performance.  Inspiration is harvested from her continuing investigation into what she terms 'the symbolic language'. Her aspirations were to create a coherent piece of work that provided a greater understanding of the chosen subject matter; to engage people from different backgrounds and to discover new ways of working.

Artist's residencies are extremely important as they tend to have a lasting impact on the artists ranging from substantial shifts in their work and or in the direction of their practice. Overall they also offer artists that much needed period of contemplation and reassessment. Also, residencies give insights into how and why artists create their work, to build relationships and further promote the Arts, to provide an awareness and further appreciation of the Arts and to cultivate and develop new audiences. Therefore the Arts Offices introduction of its first resident artist focusing on movement and dance was very important.

 

Literature

Notable literature events have once again taken place through the Arts Office in 2008. The Kilkenny Poetry Broadsheet involving professional editors in selecting poems from writers within the city and county is as popular a publication as ever. 2008 saw issue eight appear on the shelves. The poetry Broadsheet provides the opportunity for writers to engage in an open selection process in order to get their work published. This publication is extremely popular, gratifying and encouraging for many local writers and readers alike.

The fourth edition of Rhyme Rag, a poetry publication specifically for young people aged between 12 and 21 years, was published thus year in November. 144 poems were submitted by 53 writers making the editor Catherine Phil MacCarthy's decision a good read but a difficult choice. Taking the form of a comic book, once again illustrator Ale Mercado successfully balanced literal interpretation of words and the intervention of the illustrator.  Rhyme Rag continues to grow annually in popularity with young people and adults alike and is, like the broadsheet, extremely gratifying and encouraging for young talent within the County.

Kilkenny County Council Arts Office was also delighted to announce the expansion of its rich literature programming with an exciting new literary event, a six week series of readings featuring a broad range of national and local poets and novelists entitled Kilkenny Literary Readings. This venture provided the people of Kilkenny with an exciting opportunity to hear their favourite authors in the intimate setting of City venues. Writers who participated included Mark Roper, Pat Boran, Iggy McGovern, Kerry Hardie, John W. Sexton, Eileen Sheehan, Susan Conley, Roisin Meaney and Kevin Barry.

Poetry Ireland's thirtieth anniversary was marked nationwide with All-Ireland Poetry Day taking place on Thursday 2nd October. With the generous assistance of the Arts Council of Ireland, Poetry Ireland supported a reading in every county in Ireland. In Kilkenny we presented a lunchtime reading with Galway poet Rita Ann Higgins in Kilkenny City Library followed by an evening reading with Kilkenny poets Michael Massey, Frances Cotter and Rita Ann Higgins.

 

Music

The Arts Office supported a number of concerts over the year around the County. These include classical and traditional concerts at the 13th century Duiske Abbey, the 2008 Duiske concerts series and support was also provided to Music in Kilkenny staging events in Castalia Hall in Ballytobin, Callan.

3epkano are a Dublin based seven piece band/ensemble that specialise in producing original and innovative soundtracks for films from the silent movie era. In November they presented an insightful afternoon to their music and film that included a lecture on 'Film Music', a workshop and discussion around the scoring of music for film. The audience were then treated to a live music accompaniment to the 1929 film 'Pandora's Box'.

 

Community Childcare Residency

Kilkenny County Council Arts Office believes that access and engagement in the arts both as participants and consumers is hugely beneficial to adults and children alike. The experience of participating in high quality professionally run workshops should be part of all children's education. Therefore in 2008 the Arts Office ran a Community Childcare Residency in partnership with Playtrain UK, an organisation that shares the same values as the Arts Office in promoting children's creativity. Approximately fifty women from fourteen city and county childcare groups completed a week of training in Visual Art, Drama and Storytelling, Yoga and Movement, Dance, and Music. These workshops provided training, a platform for discussion, an opportunity to address the needs of crèches as well as the opportunity to meet and network with other childcare providers. Overall the training has been mutually beneficial to the artists, the workers, the children and the Arts Office and it has further enhanced relationships between all involved.

 

FACT

Another partnership, Kilkenny County Council Arts Office, the Butler Gallery, Kilkenny, and the Crafts Council of Ireland developed FACT - a program for designer makers and fine artists working in post primary level schools. Working with three schools and sixty students this project facilitated the sharing of skills between visual artists and designer, encouraging a cross-pollination of skills between practitioners, while also serving to align fine art and craft practices and promotes the visual arts, craft and design as a realistic career option to students. Finally it improves visual literacy in schools and is mutually beneficial for the artists, students, teachers and all partners. An exhibition of work made as part of the FACT project was displayed at no. 72.

 

Grants, Awards & Busaries

Various groups and projects secured funding through the Arts Office in 2008. These include the Facilitation Award, Drama League of Ireland Bursary, Tyrone Guthrie Bursary and Dingle Writing Bursary.  Under the Arts Act Grant alone 39 individuals and groups received funding.

 

Artlinks

2008 marked a significant year of development for Artlinks, in which a range of exciting initiatives were provided to support the professional development needs of artists. In addition, ArtLinks was among those shortlisted for Ireland's eGovernment Awards 2009 in the Local Government category.  The mission of Artlinks is to provide professional development services to all creative practitioners, resident in Co. Carlow, Kilkenny, Waterford, Wicklow and Wexford, who are aged 18 and over. Also to cultivate a culture of self-sufficiency, independence and ultimately collaboration amongst creative practitioners in the region.

We aim to provide accessible opportunities for all creative practitioners to gain skills, knowledge and understanding to develop their creative work practices and careers. We aim to enable a networking forum for ArtLinks members and partners to share skills, experiences and engage in peer learning. Essentially ArtLinks is guided by the following core values:

• To provide an accessible and responsive service to all creative practitioners.
• To deliver a range of flexible and high quality services across a range of art forms.
• To compliment and enhance existing services within the five county region.
• To work in partnership with relevant local, regional, national and international organisations.

Key 2008 achievements include: roll out of fourteen courses, offering a broad range of topics to cover both the business and practice of being a creative practitioner; introduction of a Mentoring Scheme which benefited 25 visual artists from the South East; distribution of the annual €40,000 Bursary Award Scheme and the development of the impressive Artlinks website - www.artlinks.ie acting as an effective information resource for the arts in the five county region. Artlinks now has over 1,100 registered members with this figure growing daily.

 

Ferrybank Arts Project

Kilkenny County Council Arts Office and Waterford City Council work in partnership on an ongoing basis on the Ferrybank Community Arts Projectin collaboration with Waterford Area Partnership. The 2007 / 2008 aspect of this project this project focussed on further enhancing artistic skills for young people in the Ferrybank area. They created a dvd incorporating all aspects of music production i.e.; they engaged in instrumental learning, rhythm skills, sound recording, production and technology. Alongside this a documentary of the entire process was produced. This enabled another set of participants to acquire film making skills. These included camera operation, interview techniques and documentary practice.

 

LIGHTS OUT!

LIGHTS OUT!, was a brand new National Film Festival for Young People part of which took place in Kilkenny from 22nd - 25th July 2008. An initiative of the IFI, and in partnership with, amongst other arts offices around the country, Kilkenny County Council Arts Office and Young Irish Film Makers, all involved wished to promote film culture. LIGHTS OUT! aimed to provide young audiences with access to the best films from Ireland and around the world with a diverse programme of animation, live action, documentary and short films. As well as screening an eclectic range of interesting films that you might not expect to see in your local multiplex, LIGHTS OUT! also screened a short film inspired by some of the themes and images from the Lights Out! programme, created by talented young Kilkenny amateurs who participated in a LIGHTS OUT! / Young Irish Film Makers Workshop.

                  

 

National Drawing Day - 24^th May 2008.

An event incorporating an inclusive celebration and redefinition of drawing, took place outdoors in the Castle Park. National Drawing Day is an initiative launched by the National Gallery of Ireland in 2007. The initiative encourages cultural organisations and groups to programme drawing activities to take place on this one day. National Drawing Day engages families and communities in a fun day of creativity. In Kilkenny more than 300 people participated in some of the activities included drawing areas, tree wrapping, drawing with twigs, chalk on bark and public sculpture in the park covered with paper for everyone to draw on.  This event in Kilkenny was supported by the OPW, Butler Gallery and Kilkenny County Council.

 

 

HERITAGE

County Kilkenny Heritage Office

The role of the Kilkenny County Council Heritage Office is to provide advice and information on heritage issues and to develop policies and priorities for the identification, protection, conservation and enhancement of Kilkenny's heritage. A key objective is to work with the Kilkenny Heritage Forum in the preparation and implementation of a County Heritage Plan. In addition, the office promotes heritage awareness & education throughout the county.

Below is an overview of some of the works undertaken by the Heritage Office in 2008:

Heritage Plan & Heritage Forum

Implemented the following projects from the Kilkenny Heritage Plan (Draft), with financial support from the Heritage Council:

• Co-ordinated the preparation of the Draft Kilkenny Biodiversity Plan 2009 - 2014.
• Developed a Heritage Communications Strategy for County Kilkenny.
• Developed a Heritage Resource Directory for the Conservation of Built and Natural Heritage, in conjunction with the Conservation Officer.
• In conjunction with the Conservation Officer, organised a seminar and workshops on the use of lime in traditional and new build projects.
• Co-ordinated Kilkenny Heritage Forum meetings.

 

Raising Awareness about Heritage

• Co-ordinated and promoted National Heritage Week activities throughout the county, including production of a county guide to events, local adverts on KCLR and print media and editorial on KCLR and print media.
• Ran a series of heritage awareness adverts on local radio on the following heritage topics: hedgerows, render, waterways, heritage grants.
• Full page colour feature "Heritage Matters", on heritage projects, in the local newspaper The Kilkenny People.

 

Field Monument Advisor

• Providing advice and information to landowners regarding the care and management of archaeological monuments, with financial assistance from the Heritage Council.
• Ran a stand at the Ploughing Championships to provide advice to landowners, farmers etc.
• Ran a series of archaeological workshops for children, in conjunction with Library Services, as part of Kilkenny Heritage Week.
• Features and articles in Kilkenny People Newspaper.
• Appeared on framing programme on KCLR.

 

Heritage Training

• Co-ordinated "Historic Graveyard Management Training Seminar" for community groups, graveyard committees, local authorities and statutory agencies.

 

Collection of Heritage Data

• Commissioned and launched the Life & Lore Series: Kilkenny Oral History Project II, in partnership with Kilkenny County Council Libraries.

 

Heritage Policy

• Input on heritage aspects of Local Area Plans (Callan, Castlecomer, Thomastown, Graiguenamanagh, Bennettsbridge, Ferrybank).
• Reported to Strategic Policy Committee 5 (Arts, Culture, Heritage, Tourism and Education) regarding heritage projects and programme.

 

Physical Heritage Management Projects

• Undertook conservation and repair works to Kilkenny City Walls (Talbots Tower, City Wall at Abbey Street) in partnership with the Engineering section of Kilkenny Borough Council, and with financial support from the Irish Walled Towns Network.
• Chaired the garden restoration steering committee that oversaw the restoration of the Rothe House 17th Century Garden.
• Co-ordinated the Kilkenny County Council Historic Graveyard Grants Scheme, in partnership with Environment Section.

 

Promoting Best Practise in Heritage Management

• On-going implementation of "St. Mary's Church and Graveyard Conservation Plan", in partnership with the Church of Ireland and the Heritage Council.
• On-going implementation of "Kilkenny City Walls Conservation Plan".
• On-going implementation of Rothe House Conservation Plan.