Draft image & text

Did you know that the motto for Skibbereen is What You Seek is Here? Quod Petit Hic Est. This is the inspiration for a community based, family friendly arts event.

On St Johns Eve 23 June 2016 the ringing of the Town Hall bell at 7pm will signal the beginning of something new: a sound procession to animate the town of Skibbereen. People are invited to parade from different assembly points (see map) to the four entrances to the Rock celebrating their journey using everyday materials to announce their presence through colour and sound. Congregating at the top we will share songs, poetry or an offering of any kind. This will be a festive, colorful and memorable occasion evoking a time of refuge and a sense of community inclusion while raising awareness of this area of natural beauty. The event will finish at 9pm with the chiming of the town hall be

Find out more on Monday 13^th June at Skibbereen and Community and Family Resource Heron Court premises. Open Door   5pm – 7pm & Public Meeting 7pm – 8pm. We need the people of Skibbereen to come out on this special day as walkers, leaders, sounders, stewards, photographers. Put it in your diary and on Thursday 23 June go to your nearest assembly point. Wear high viz gear if you have it and bring along something to make some noise – pots, pans, homemade and musical instruments.

Meeting at the Town Hall on Friday were a group of brilliant musicians mashing Claptons Cocaine with the Pogues Irish Rover. Some of them already knew the Rock some didn’t – but all welcomed the opportunity to get involved in plans for 23 June – pending other life commitments.

Join a spatially distributed reading group via online communication platforms. We will start with Dark Matter: Art & Politics in the Age of Enterprise & Culture (2010) by Gregory Sholette. All you need is an Internet connection.

Exploring expanded art practices as redundancy or resistance? This reading group will meet weekly on Thursdays online beginning with work by artist and author Gregory Sholette who will be appearing at Skibbereen Arts Fesival this summer. Please contact me to get involved for more information click here

Clearing the right of way to the fourth entrance to the Rock on High St (lower) in dappled sunshine and great company.

Its not easy to get started again after the long break. Its fantastic to get the support of the artist in the community scheme, but in the intervening time between research phase and now we have got out of the habit of meeting. Summer brings with it lots of urgency to do things in the garden, in and on the sea and with other groups. So myself and Nick went to Lissard today to try out walking in procession singing/chanting and making noise. It was a perfect afternoon. We had the place to ourselves, glorious sunshine, glades of bluebells and the coolest lake. So its ideal for practicing. So we will meet there again next week.

Core group participant biographies being collected ; Lorelie Tomko was born in New Jersey and raised in Seattle. She has lived in several US States also in Mexico, Kenya, Italy and Wales. While living in Wales she trained to be a spiritual healer and feels privileged to use this ability to help others. For over 25 years she has been active in theatre in Kenya, Italy, Wales, Washington and California. Now living in West Cork she is an avid hiker, poet and author of Say Jambo to the Man.

Reddy spent some time taking photos today as a resource to the project online. We have reserved the website domain urbanexplorerproject.com and the Facebook name Skibbereen Urban Explorer for use in the next phase

When is an event participatory and when is it not – when is an event like a conference and when is it not – lots of semantics this week and we struggle to make ourselves understood to ourselves and each other. Pictured above is one of the access points to the Rock, that needs clearing to open up the right of way again. With the help of some guerrilla gardeners we should be sorted.