Imagine Arts Festival scoops Tower Hotel Waterford Excellence Award for October

Friday, November 12, 2004.

The Tower Hotel Waterford Excellence Award for October has been presented to the organisers of Imagine, a 10-day arts festival held in the city during the month.

Commenting as he presented the October award to Imagine at a special lunch in the hotel, Michael Skehan, General Mana ger, Tower Hotel Waterford, said, “ Imagine featured a wide range of different arts in a single festival and included theatre, film, music, comedy, dance, literature, visual arts, crafts and children-focused events. The festival programme gave a platform for local talent and a showcase for international artists.

“Part-funded by the Arts Council and Fáilte Ireland, the festival featured a host of visual art, music, theatre and comedy at venues right across the city. Among the highlights of this year’s festival were contemporary ballet from Wales, concert pianists from Hong Kong, Celtic Fusion from Newfoundland, spectacular theatre from Canada as well as a visual arts trail throughout Waterford and specially-commissioned theatre, film, variety and dance,” he continued.

“A particular feature of the festival was the imaginative range of venues used, ranging from the courthouse on Catherine Street to the Spraoi studios and from Ferrybank Parish Hall to St Patrick’s Church. I understand it is intended that the festival will be built up as an annual event and am sure it will quickly become a fixture on Waterford’s cultural calendar.”

Established in 2003, the Tower Hotel Waterford Excellence Awards recognise excellence and achievement in six categories: Politics and Public Affairs; Business; Sport; Education; Arts, Culture and the Media and the Voluntary and Community sector.

The independent judging panel consists of Gabrielle Cummins, News Editor, Beat 102-103; Peter Doyle, Editor, Waterford News & Star; Paddy Gallagher, Editor, Waterford Today; Liz Reddy, News Editor, WLR fm and Kieran Walsh, Editor, The Munster Express.

In addition to the 12 monthly awards, the hotel will host a gala dinner in January 2005 at which an overall winner for the current year will be named and 2004’s achievements recalled in a video presentation.

The overall winner in 2003 was the then Minister for the Environment, Heritage & Local Government, Martin Cullen TD while the Carrick-on-Suir River Rescue Team; Eurovision contestant Chris Doran; world record-breaker Jimmy Payne; charity fundraiser Donal Jacob; Eamonn McEneaney of Waterford Treasures at the Granary; Waterford senior hurling mana ger Justin McCarthy; South East Regional Airport (Waterford); Olympic cyclist Ciarán Power and Dunhill Multi- Education Centre won the previous monthly awards in 2004.

DATE: 09/07/04

Imagine if he had lived to write the tale

Imagine Waterford' s Arts Festival, which is taking place this October, has scored a huge success with their film commission idea based on an idea by Raymond Chandler. David O'Sullivan film worker with WYD-Eye Film Unit explains, " We were commissioned to make a short film for this year's Imagine festival and we hit upon the idea of using a scenario from the detective writer Raymond Chandler of a book he intended to write but sadly died before writing it. The response has been amazing. Already 25 film scripts have arrived from as far away as Germany and America. The deadline is not for two more weeks but already we are sure that there are some scripts which we would love to work on."

Chandler, the famous crime detective writer spent a lot of time in Waterford as a child and his mother was a Thornton of Cathedral Square. In his late years he befriended a Waterford writer Bill Long and confided with Bill that he had a secret ambition to write one further book based on the character Philip Marlowe.

The scenario was: "Marlowe on vacation in Ireland …stops over for a few days in Waterford…finds an old pub he likes on the quays…drinking there, witnesses a brawl between sailors from different ships…next day hears one of them has been murdered …his body dumped in the doorway of "Stickybacks" bookshop …that night, drinking in the same pub, Marlowe is recognised by the American skipper of the victim's ship, agrees to do a little investigative work". David explains further "We are asking people to explore the Film Noir style of filmmaking for which Chandlers screenplays were famous.

The script can be modern and can be either serious or funny and shouldn't be longer than 15 minutes." The Imagine Festival plans to screen the short film before a Chandler film and have asked Bill Long the writer to introduce the whole story of their friendship in London and his memories of Waterford's forgotten son.

There is still time to put pen to paper - send to WYD-Eye Film Unit, 15 Broad street, Waterford. - closing date July 21st.

03/06/04

Imagine - Waterford Arts Festival gets Arts Council Backing

After the success of the first Phoenix Arts festival, which took place in Waterford last October, the team is delighted to announce a new name and arts council funding. As artistic director Ollie Breslin explains, '' It's great that Waterford now has a dedicated arts festival to showcase local talent and now having become only the second festival in the city to gain arts council funding, however small, gives us a big boost of confidence.''

It is due to this Arts Council funding that the festival, which takes place around the October bank holiday week, had to change its name from Phoenix to Imagine as another festival in Tullamore was already using the name Phoenix. ''Imagine works really well as a name, because the festival includes so much from music, visual arts to children's events that it really is all about the imagination of the artist and the audiences coming together,'' states Ollie, '' it's a bit like looking at what is possible both for the festival and for the city''.

Having succeeded in setting up Waterfords' first outdoor cinema in Millers Marsh car park as well as a host of visual art, music, theatre and comedy throughout the city planning is well under way for this years festival which takes place between October 15th and 25th. The festival will grow this year and it is planned that within three years the festival will be established in the publics' mind as an annual event. ''That hard work is already well underway and everyone involved in giving a lot of their spare time … we have been talking to some local businesses and hopefully we will be announcing some sponsorship news over the summer but we always do with more help,'' explains Ollie.

If you are interested in performing, sponsoring or generally getting involved with the festival please contact us at 086-1759188.