Local acts at Electric Picnic
Big Tipp influence at this weekend’s festival
North Tipperary artists and animators are front and centre in the Global Green, the sustainability area of the Electric Picnic run by Cloughjordan-based NGO Cultivate.
This includes singer-songwriters Jack Keeshan of Roscrea, and Cloughjordan’s Nicantsaoi, rapper Bubba Shakespere, poet Mel White, as well as DJs Conor Fahy, Oliver Moore, Aaron Oscar and Anacalypsis. A live graffiti wall by Nathan Nolan will be ongoing for the entire festival.
Dozens of people come to the Electric Picnic to work and volunteer in the different parts of Global Green - many from and around north Tipperary and closeby. Cloughjordan Community Farm and the Little Green Disco both bring significant numbers of local festival-goers.
The Global Green is made up of a talks tent (Voices Rising), a music area (Village Hall) and then ongoing areas such as the Permaculture Community Garden, the NGO zone (Activate), the food zone (called Global Green Local Food Project) and the wide collection of art, instillations and makers.
Music highlights in Village Hall include rising stars Caoi De Barra, Shakalak, Sive and JaYne - the latter, from Limerick, releases the second single from her forthcoming album this week.
Voices Rising sees a range of interesting and important topics covered. Novel, honest approaches from art and activism help people get to grips with big picture topics - climate, biodiversity, capitalism; specifics - farming, food, liveable cities and rural realities; and wellbeing - what do we need for our communities to thrive?
You can hear Dr Laura Kehoe tell us why she’s quitting her job as a scientist - and what she’s doing now instead; Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin on resisting the loss of cultural spaces; Davie Phillip on the emerging wellbeing economy; Oonagh Duggan and Michelle Carey on birds and biodiversity; Ray Ó Foghlú on the practical work he does on native woodland regeneration in Clare; Sarah Clancy on grassroots democracy in the face of crises. From the fight for liveability in a cost-of-living crises, to the call of the curlew in the Shannon Callows, to resisting fossil fuel infrastructure, this is a place to figure things out and work with others.
The Global Green Local Food Project Features My Goodness - raw vegan, fermenting food experts, who are regulars at many events, and the English Market, Cork, Happy Valley Coffee, and West Coast Toast.
The Community Permaculture Garden is a comfy spot for plants and people. Here an amazing garden space will be created, with plenty of plants, sculptures, talks and cups of herbal tea. Community Gardens Ireland, Cloughjordan Community Farm and the East-Clare Community Co-op will occupy this welcoming space.
A number of campaigners, NGOs and active art enablers will form a dedicated space in the global green - fablab makers, the artist-activists of Creativity and Change, Dublin Ecofeminists, An Taisce’s Climate Ambassadors, Sight Savers Ireland, Community Energy, Not Here Not Anywhere, Concern, Self Help Africa, Irish Cycling Network, Léargas, The Reclaim Project and Tits Up (recycling art photography). The focus here is more than information – it’s animation and creation, so watch out for VR headsets, interactive games, scavenger hunts and other treats and activities.
Provocative installations and happenings will abound around the Global Green - encounter Eugene Kelly sculptures and Sean Walsh swinging chairs, curracks and mask makers, dancing and drumming workshops, live art making including a graffiti wall, embedded storytellers, and the launch of a new work by Caitriona Sheedy called Preface -Reinterpreting Pandora and Eve'.
Lots of games for younger folks will be present too - including huge Jenga and Connect 4, so it’s a great place for people with of all ages to pop along to.
And if you are very lucky, you may get into the very confined space that is perhaps the island’s smallest theatre space - Ireland’s Shed. This mobile theatre features some dexterous creatives of immeasurable talent who will charm and disarm in equal measure. The Little Green Disco is the rinky dinky bicycle powered soundsystem, while a host of sunshine and pedal power renewable energy features festoon our area. Play scalectrix, play massive Jenga, and make yourself a smoothie on yer bike while you are at it.
Cultivate - based in Cloughjordan ecovillage - has been curating this Global Green sustainability space at the Electric Picnic since the festival’s beginning. It is a welcoming place - a home away from home - for many of north Tipperary’s makers, doers and performers.
Find them on the Electric Picnic app, or on the social media of global green at EP and cultivate.ie.