FAIRcraft ARMAGH

A celebration of contemporary and traditional craft on display, craft demonstrations and handson experiences. Exhibitions, stalls, creative workshops, children’s arts and craft experiences, music and entertainment.

Sat 27 May | 10.30am - 4.30pm Market Place Theatre & Arts Centre

FEATURING: Craft Stalls | Craft Demonstrations | Craft Workshops

Enjoy a wonderful day out for all the family at The Market Place Theatre and Arts Centre. Experience high quality craft stalls, traditional and contemporary craft demonstrations and hands-on craft experiences for children. Learn a new craft skill at one of the creative craft workshops for adults and children and there will be fantastic fun at the many FREE drop-in craft and art experiences for kids. Enjoy a wide range of refreshments and musical entertainment throughout the day.

DON’T MISS OUR UNIQUE SELECTION OF CREATIVE WORKSHOPS FOR CHILDREN AND TEENS THROUGHOUT THE SUMMER SEASON!

Jigjazz H

Fri 2 June | 8.00pm | £20.00

Very loosely based on the Anti-Jazz Movement of the 1930’s ‘JigJazz: The Show’ tells the story of four female jazz musicians: Sandra Mitchell (based on Sandra Mitchell, Ireland’s first female Saxophonist), and Irish Jazz singers Rosie Bagnal, Ottie Benson and Ronnie Fitzgerald, who were trying to survive during an era when “jazzing the soul of the nation” was immoral and illicit.

Jazz was seen as a “degenerate” art and women in Irish society at the time were particularly frowned upon for dancing, singing or playing anything other than traditional Irish music. Hence, The Dance Hall Act in 1935 was passed due to the moral panic about jazz undermining traditional Irish culture.

Driven to practice their passion elsewhere, many Irish musicians travelled to America during the 1940s settling into the home of All that Jazz!

Blending sounds and rhythms using similar instruments such as the bodhrán, piano and violin - the jig and the jazz collaborated throughout the coming decades. Meanwhile the dancers tapped in time to the spirit of tradition and modernity.