Mallow Arts Festival: A rake of music and culture to enjoy

“It’s a very varied programme, we try to produce a varied programme each year, to encompass as many aspects and branches of the arts as we possibly can. We feel we’ve done that again this year, and it’s a nice mix of music, literature, cinema, theater and a wide variety of workshops,” muses Mallow Arts Festival director Tadhg Curtis over the festival’s latest line-up, ahead of kickoff this week.

The annual arts festival of the North Cork town and its catchment area of villages along the N20, Mallow Arts Festival is a community-driven affair, booked and promoted by locals and diaspora across bars, function halls, churches, arts spaces, the local cinema, and even the front windows of local retailers.

Undertaking a major role in arts provision to the area, the festival’s programme ranges from workshops in visual arts, music and radio for the kids; to headline evening gigs from the likes of folk legends Scullion, pop singer and mental-health advocate Bressie, duo Kieran Goss and Annie Kinsella, and Sweep Down to the Sea, a trio of musicians interpreting the music of comedic songwriter Percy French, featuring members of Dé Danann and The Stunning.

Among that complement of musicians will be singer and songwriter Rita Lynn. Hailing from the nearby village of Burnfort, and finding herself in the wider world before turning her attention to a sparse, soulful strain of contemporary music, she’s scheduled to perform on Saturday afternoon at St James’ Church, and aside from it being the debut of her three-piece live band, she’s also approaching it as a homecoming, being her first time performing close to home.

“I didn’t anticipate myself ever playing a gig in Mallow, or North Cork. So when I was asked to do it by Paul [Hayes, music co-booker], it was great because I’ve wanted to do a gig in that church. I’d wanted to do it for the end of the Ostara tour (Rita’s debut headline tour, earlier this year), but I just didn’t know who to get onto; I’d wanted to do a fundraiser gig for Palestine, but I wasn’t sure who to get onto. So when Paul messaged me about it, I was like, ‘great, if there was ever a time to do it, it’s now’.

Building on a tradition of arts festivals and community organisation in the town, and addressing the generational gap in arts appreciation and participation created by infrastructural issues, the modern iteration of Mallow Arts Festival has succeeded in placing a bedrock of artistic support and practice in a community that’s often been in need of same — but hasn’t been without its challenges, even several years into its run, having won the trust of the wider community.

“The major inhibiting factor is the lack of suitable venues. Now, we’re very lucky to have access to the West End Arts Centre and studios, and the amount of facilitation that they give us is absolutely tremendous. We have about seven or eight different events in there, in conjunction with the main art exhibition, they’ve been fantastically good to us. We’ve gone out to more businesses this year for access to their shop windows, and any spaces they have to display pieces of art from the three secondary schools, and we’ve had a good response to that as well.”

That aforementioned generational gap in access and provision to the arts is well on its way to being sutured, but as with many rural areas, a number of people in the Mallow area, residents and returnees alike, are assessing the relationship between the arts, their practices, and their surroundings, in the context of the festival and other developments. For Rita Lynn, musing on how her worlds might intersect on Saturday afternoon represents a personal milestone.

“It’s a funny one, I’m curious about who’s going to be there. Teachers, or our family doctor? I feel like, when I was in secondary school, I wouldn’t have said a peep about having an interest in wanting to sing or perform, that’s something that I found my voice, or the confidence to do it, only after I left, and found my people, which is a natural time to grow and develop and whatnot… but it just feels lovely. I feel pretty proud, like, on a personal level, [also, a little] introspective, thinking about my own growth in my life.”

The response to the festival’s foundation and consistency throughout the better part of the last decade has had knock-on effects, too — the former town hall, a stately red-brick bang in the middle of the main street, is earmarked for development into a regional arts centre after years of speculation — and decades of wrangling by local artists and advocates for a suitable space to develop a local arts scene in earnest.

“Good news on that front, I suppose, as we understand it,” says Curtis, “the whole question of the proposed development and conversion into the North Cork Arts Centre, including a 200-seat theatre, is proceeding according to plan. Documents are going out for tender, as I understand it, very shortly, and hopefully before the end of the year, or very early next year, we would hope that there will be contractors on site, and that will give a great boost.

“Even local groups who want to perform can’t, and there’s no adult theatre group now in town. There always was, back through the years, and that’s largely down to the fact that they wouldn’t have a suitable venue to perform in. The Mallow Musical Society, who are two years old now this year, when they wanted to do their first major production, they had to go out to Banteer, to the Glen Theatre, to do it, because, again, no suitable venue.

“So I think that when the theatre comes about, it will instill a regeneration of all of the aspects of the arts in Mallow, and on a commercial basis as well. I think it’ll bring more business into the town, that it’ll be a boon for a town that does need it.”

In the meantime, the town-central St James’ Church plays host to this year’s headliners, a staple venue and supporter of the festival from the beginning. A Church of Ireland church that celebrated its bicentennial anniversary last year, its Gothic-inspired interiors have played host to a range of Cork underground luminaries, including Fixity, Elaine Malone and Outsider YP.

For Rita, an advance visit proved to be both creatively and personally inspiring. “The colours, the ceiling, the wood panelling… as soon as I walked in, I was like, there’s like some kind of energy. The stained glass, like… it’s rich, very rich. I think with the keys, the voice, the shruti box, the double-bass… yeah, it’s gonna be something to look forward to.”

The festival will be underway by the time this article makes print, and is on the shelves of local shops like Katie’s Newsagent and O’Keeffe’s — at the time of interview, Curtis is steeling himself for a hectic weekend alongside artists, tutors, volunteers and the town at large.

“We’re looking forward to it. There’s been a great reaction to the programme. We’ve had it out there, we had an official launch, which was a very successful occasion, in the Hibernian Hotel. The bookings have gone well for all of the musical events that we have on, and equally, the workshops, some of them are fully subscribed already. And I think, y’know, hopefully it will bring a bit of joy to the townsfolk, and if people can just embrace it, really… they’ll see that we’ll be able to grow it, and develop it into the future, to provide both artistic and economic benefits.”

Mallow Arts Festival continues until Sunday, July 27, at venues across Mallow, County Cork. For more information and tickets, visit https://mallowartsfestival.com/.

Rita Lynn plays St James’ Church in Mallow town centre on Saturday, July 26. Kickoff at 3pm, admission is free. Stream and download Rita Lynn’s music at https://ritalynn1.bandcamp.com/.