St. Brigid’s Festival

St Brigid’s Festival 2022

Caroline McCarthy from Torc Céilí Club organised the inaugural St Brigid’s Festival that took place from Friday 28th to Sunday 30th January to celebrate the creativity of women through music, dance, food and art. The Imbolc Feast on Friday 28 January was held at Kidogo Arthouse, Fremantle. The menu created by chef Seanéen Sullivan was a highlight of the festival. Brigid is the patron of flame, hearth and forge, as well as grains, ale and dairy. She has strong connections with bees, herbs and healing. The menu celebrated the spirit of Brigid while using the finest of Western Australian ingredients (and a few Irish twists!). A huge thank you to McLoughlin Butchers for supplying us with some amazing ingredients for the meal. The party continued into the night with live music by Fiona Rea and Val Cutler and some Irish poetry from Clár Ní Chonchúir.

Saturday 29 January brought us to Corpus Christi College in Bateman for the unveiling of a new Irish dance show - The Journey, a tale of strong Irish women told through song and dance. The show was an emotional experience with clever choreography from Samantha McAleer and beautiful dancing from the dancers at The Academy Irish Dance Co. The songs and tunes told many tales with music from the extraordinary Fiona Rea, Val Cutler and Jon Edwards. The show also included some narration from Eimear Beattie and Hilary McKenna. It was a huge success from a wonderful team of people and we can’t wait to see it on stage again! And to round out the festival we had a huge number of Irish community groups come together to celebrate the very best of Ireland’s cultural at the Family Day. We started the day with a trad session by Comhaltas Perth, Sean Doherty Branch. We had a number of fantastic musicians playing throughout the day - Ciaran O’Sullivan, Brendan & Matilda Geraghty, Jerry & Saoirse Murphy, Fiona Doyle, Ben Christiansen, Brendan Doherty, John Battista, Tommy O’Brien, Donough O’Donovan, Kevin Giang, Lucy Hosking, Teresa & James Kelleher. We were making St Brigid Crosses inside in the gallery, we had a children’s Storytime presented by the Irish Theatre Players, a presentation by The Australian Irish Heritage Association, a Cúpla Focal from Sean Byrne, butter making by Seáneen Sullivan and finished the day with Irish dancing from The Academy Irish Dance Co. Perth and Torc Ceilí Club and more music! A huge thank you to Claire Wynne, the Claddagh Association and Fenians Fremantle & Freedom committee for your help on the day! This event wouldn’t have been possible without the kind support from Kidogo Arthouse Fremantle, Irish Embassy Canberra and CLRG Dance Development Fund. A huge thank you to everyone that attended and took part in all the activities! Can’t wait to do it all again next year! ☘