To all our friends and supporters,

It’s with heavy hearts that we would like to announce that SOLSTICE will not take place this coming June. The group have decided to individually pursue other exciting ventures and who knows what the future holds. We would like to sincerely thank everyone at Cork Midsummer Festival, Youth in Action and Cork City Council Arts Office. To all our incredible staff, sponsors, patrons and friends we really couldn’t have done it without you and of course to all the artists, SOLSTICE is about community and we thank you for your bravery and the beautiful work you shared with us in 2011 and 2012.
watch this space

Dawn, Eszter, Ruairí & Shirley.

P.S.

Dawn once again joined the Corona Cork Film Festival team as Guest Manager for the 2012 edition and very shortly begins work as Festival Producer with Kinsale Arts Festival.

Eszter has been running Quarter, an arts resource centre in Cork for the past three months and co-curated PARABOLA a two day multi-disciplinary mini-festival at the end of January. She has also just started developing a new show with Makeshift Ensemble.

Ruairi is just back from touring internationally with Keith Hennessy and Turbulence (a dance about the economy). He is continuing research with Siriol Joyner and will present a full scale production later this year. He is also curating & producing HOME, a festival of new work in Cork this April.

Shirley is continuing to produce and stage manage with companies in Cork and Dublin and is planning some time in Melbourne later this year to see what art on the other side of the world feels like and find out if the water really drains counter clockwise!

Frank the fish is currently looking for new digs as his momma and all round Solstice superhero, Lucie is going to take on Toronto from next week.

thank you so much to everyone who made SOLSTICE 2012 a truely memorable five days, you have filled us all with hope and excitement for the future.

Whoever comes are the right people.
Wherever it happens is the right place.
Whatever happens is the only thing that could have.
Whenever it starts is the right time.
When it is over, it is over.

x

The Solstice Team

TITLE Residency Artist, Rachel Yoder, launches URBAN INTERVENTIONS CORK in advance of her sharing at tomorrows showcase. 

Click here to download audio tour and map 

“My name is Rachel Yoder, and I’ve created Urban Interventions while on TITLE.

TITLE is a residency programme run by Solstice, a five-day event for emerging artists that is happening in the Elysian, Cork, from the 27th – 1st of July as part of the Cork Midsummer Festival. You can check out the full programme here.

I studied Drama and Theatre Studies in UCC and have since worked as a writer, director and performer, with Roundhouse Productions and as a freelancer, but Urban Interventions Cork is the first solo project I’ve ever done.

Working solo brings a lot of challenges, not least of which is the practical side of having to do everything yourself, but it can be difficult knowing whether the idea or the process is any good, whether you’re staying on track or going off on a wild tangent. But TITLE has provided a dramagturg, someone who keeps you accountable artistically for the work that you’re making. Thomas Conway is a lecturer in NUIG and literary manager for Druid Theatre Company, and he’s been mentoring the process, both for myself and the five other TITLE artists. If you want to read more about TITLE you can check out the blog.

The idea for the project came about for me when I did a workshop called ‘Fantasy Interventions’ with Ant Hampton in the Project Arts Centre, Dublin, in June of 2011. It was a mind bending experience, opening me up to a whole way of inventing and experiencing theatre that challenged the whole concept of ‘liveness’.

And so the little seeds were sown that grew into Urban Interventions Cork. I sent myself a task of doing six pieces that could be experienced on their own or together. I wanted to choose places that during my time living in Cork (5 years!) I had never been, or at least was unfamiliar with. I have chosen 6 locations and written stories inspired by their physical features, buildings and signs, boarded up doors and smashed in windows, things which aren’t going to be moved or changed overnight. They can be done all at once in about 2 hours, or individually, or whenever you find yourself at the locations. All the content will be uploaded on the 27th of June 2012 for you to download directly onto a smartphone, put on an MP3 player, or if you don’t have access to any of these things you can borrow and ipod shuffle from Solstice at the Elysian, which will be a good opportunity to check out some of the amazing visual art in there as well!”

TITLE residency artist Aleksandra Borys announces additional performance sharing

A2C + CA2 + C2A

Concept: Aleksandra Borys
Creation / Performed by : Aleksandra Borys, Alexis Clancy, Charlotte Spencer
Music: “Madame Butterfly” Giacomo Puccini,
Production: Solstice
Admission FREE

“Listen: there’s a hell of a good universe next door, let’s go” e.e.cummings

We are all creating our universes. They are all part of this universe and our reality. For this time and space, we invite you to join the 3 of us, as we offer you our tale of a possible universe.

#somethingishappening

this thing that is happening is magic. it might be raining cats and dogs outside but things are sunny in the Elysian today thanks to the 193 inspiring and generous people who stepped up and dug deep in their pockets.

we are amazed and eternally grateful. Solstice is happening and we couldn’t have done it without you!