Art in the Open 2011: Festival Diary

[Tony Robinson]

The countdown to the festival has officially begun.

 

Months of planning and preparation by the small committee and volunteers make up the AITO festival iceberg below the waterline. Fundraising, wheeling and dealing, meetings, arguing and communicating, re-designing logos, building websites, more meetings, stakeholders and sponsors, evaluating, re-evaluating, mailshots and menus - and we'd better have another meeting about all that.

Then Press and PRO, Andrea Keogh set Thursday 31st June as the start of the official countdown with the first festival photo-launch for the press. We'd never had one of those before!

 

We need a celebrity....?

Wexford has just engaged four excellent 'Cultural Ambassadors'; famous and distinguished Wexford writers Eoin Colfer and Colm Toibin and local sporting heroes, Kevin Doyle and Gordon D'Arcy. All were contacted but as luck would have it, one by one, for prior commitments each had to excuse himself from being the 'Face of AITO 2011'. But the clock was ticking.

 

And panic was setting in....

Meanwhile, a team of munchkins had been busy making signs, filling balloons, sawing a giant palette while 4 paint-tube suits were glued and stapled. Olga Conway's 'Discovering Drama' recruited 4 starlets to parade them at short notice.

Local development officer, Fran Ryan used all his contacts,  favours called in, chickens were choked, candles were lit in Rowe Street Church and the Spirit of Carnsore was invoked.....And, lo, in the nick of time, into Wexford rode current presidential candidate, and champion of the Arts Mr. Michael D. Higgins and fellow Irish speaker, the artist and Hothouse Flowers frontman, Liam O'Maonlai to save the day!

 

And here they all are:

Deputy Mayor, Cllr. Ted Howlin, Cllr. George Lawlor, Mr. Michael D. Higgins, President of the Labour Party

and in front, Neil O'Keeffe (AITO) and Liam O'Maonlai with the four shiny paint tubes: Emma O'Leary (yellow), Garvan Woodcock (green), Leah Cassidy (red) and Ciaran Woodcock (blue) all of 'Discovering Drama'.

 

A big 'thanks' especially Fran & Olga, our two celebs and all who pulled it off against the odds.

 

[Elaine Hurst]

I had missed seeing this picture before the festival. Good one!

[Plein Eire Administrator]

Our festival made the website of the prestigious Plein Air Magazine in the USA as well as the pages of our local Wexford Echo newspaper who, it should be mentioned, always support the arts in somewhat stark contrast to the rival weekly paper which seems interested primarily in bad news stories.

 

[Plein Eire Administrator]

Radio interviews by Valerie Cox from Kilmore Quay Paint-Out on Thursday 29th July on Today with Pat Kenny on RTE Radio One. 4 minutes length from 39 mins into the programme.

[Plein Eire Administrator]

Here's a lovely blog of the event through the eyes of Tennessee plein air artist, Lori Putnam.

 

And a review in the local Enniscorthy Guardian Newspaper.

[Plein Eire Administrator]

Half a page in the Irish Times......in full colour....!

 

 

[Plein Eire Administrator]

RTE's Arena radio programme came to Tintern Abbey and this was broadcvast on Thursday night's show. We will try to get a link to the podcast for anyone who missed it.

And on Thursday Valerie Cox came all the way down to Kilmore Quay to interview and to join in, for Valerie likes to paint. As she was up at 3.30am to review the newspapers before setting off, she is clearly an impressive performer.

On Monday Pamela Duncan of The Irish Times will also pay a visit to see the exhibition and meet some of the artists who make Art in the Open.

[Plein Eire Administrator]

In case you missed it, the AITO publicity juggernaut rumbled on into the nation's living-rooms courtesy of RTE's Nationwide. See Paul Maloney paint the world's fastest plein air and see your buddies on the box.

[Karen Scannell]

Cough ,Cough , Atiiiiissshhhhhhuuuuu Alternative Entertainment , cough, -2fm radio,Cough , splutter from Cough 6pm Thursday Atishhhhue......

God Bless Me!!!! 

[Geraldine Donohoe]

What time and programme on Thursday 28th Karen?

[Plein Eire Administrator]

Our PR Diary continued...

The Hard Sell - its all about the hook...

Here's the result of a PR photo-launch out at the Hook on Saturday.

OMG.

Is this what the diaspora meant at that summit in Farmleigh last year?

 

Sunday and The Machine Marches On...

On Sunday, Karen Scannell was interviewed about Art in the Open by RTE Radio 2fm for transmission on Thursday 28th July. 

 

Achtung, baby...

Today, Tony Robinson was given another chance to untangle his words on SE Radio. Unfortunately,  presenter Alan Corcoran tossed Tony a grenade with an opening introduction about Adolf Hitler being a well-known artist and the beleaguered festival spokesman never fully recovered his composure after that. Never mind, Tony.