Page 23 - Sligo X North West

Creating 23
Sligo’s Atlantic coast is a haven for creative workers and
businesses looking to escape the city and achieve the perfect
work/life balance, says Aoife Porter.
Sligo’s roaring waves and bustling arts scene provides the perfect atmosphere to foster creativity. Strandhill is a hub given its surf-culture credentials. Ireland’s ‘Adventure Capital’ draws a dynamic mix of people escaping the city. Not content with waiting for the weekend, freelancers and professionals alike down tools when a good swell hits. Here’s a guide to some of the coolest things happening in Sligo over the next little while.
Sligo Live
Sligo Live, a festival celebrating traditional, roots and acoustic music over the October bank holiday weekend has become a key part of the annual events calendar in the North West.
In recent years it has featured international acts such as Van Morrison, Joan Armatrading and, this year, Sheryl Crow and Bell X1.
Sligo Live chairman, Padraig McKeon, says: “We’realwaysasked ‘howdoesSligogetworld class artists for – in their terms – such small concerts?’ It’s all about the music and, like many’s a native in their own land, sometimes we of Sligo are last to realise just how widely renowned and respected the tradition of music in Sligo is.”
The idea of a specialist music festival target- ing those segments seemed a natural fit when, in the early 00s, Sligo set about figuring what it could do to attract more and new visitors to the region.
McKeon is Sligo born, living in Dublin, but the energy that drives that event is very much Sligo centred. The detail of the festival is in the hands of locally-based Rory O’Connor and Shane Mitchell, an accomplished traditional musician and member of the band Dervish.
Having survived the boom and bust cy- cle that was the last ten years, Sligo Live is ambitious. Mitchell, who has played all over the world, is in no doubt about the potential. “There is an international audience out there for this sound and for the story that goes with it. In the UK, Germany, Scandinavia and the US in particular, the markets have a general familiarity with Ireland.”
He is quick to credit Fáilte Ireland with recognising the same opportunity.
The tourism agency has been a supporter from the early days but has now identified Sligo Live as a supporting element of the Wild Atlantic Way story.
Creative Industries
In terms of creative businesses, the largest numbers are in music, visual and perform- ing arts, crafts, video, film and photography, design and architecture. Although fewer in number, Sligo has a strong creative technol- ogy ecosystem with lots of digital marketers, developers and designers.
Sligo’s burgeoning film industry
The stunning Sligo landscape was the backdrop to two big-screen movies in 2014, John Michael McDonagh’s ‘Calvary’ starring Brendan Gleeson and Chris O’Dowd and Ken Loach’s long-awaited ‘Jimmy’s Hall’. It is of no surprise therefore that Sligo’s film industry is particularly busy with lots of small production companies and freelance film professionals.
Cultural Sligo
As we’ve seen, culture in Sligo is everywhere; it flows like blood through the lifestyle, heritage, arts and people. Whether it is the heritage of Lissadell House, the thriving arts scene at The Hawk’s Well Theatre, the Model Arts Centre, Blue Raincoat Theatre Compa- ny or the vibrant music scene evident in a pub in Sligo every night of the week.
This wonderful, thriving creative hub by the sea will be home to large-scale cultural happenings in 2015 including the return of the Fleadh Cheoil and Yeats 2015 a year-long programme celebrating the 150th anniversa- ry of WB’s birthday.
Where To Hang Out?
There are loads of great networking events, creative get-togethers like Swell Sligo, Friday Night Social at the Model and it is alleged that there is festival somewhere in Sligo every weekend of the year.
To witness Sligo’s creative and marketing scene in action pop into Kate’s Kitchen, Ly- ons Cafe, Chapter’s Coffee House, The Model Café any weekday morning.
It’s the quirky things happening all around that keep you inspired: Vinyl Nights at Furey’s Pub, Supper Clubs in Shells or fancy dress surfing at Halloween.
Where to Connect:
Swell Sligo is a network for the web, creative and start-up community in Sligo funded by Sligo LEADER Partnership. In January 2015 it will run the Swell Summit, a one-day event on Jan 31 2015 in Sligo airport inspired by the UK’s Do Lectures ideas conference.
Rough Draft is a design conference that takes place each October. Organised by members of the local design community, the event brings inspirational stories from the county and country to the broad creative audience in Sligo.
NW2 runs a series of regular talks and workshops for creatives at the Hawk’s Well. To compensate for the geographical lim-
its, Sligo creatives are extremely virtually en- gaged and friendly. A quick way to connect is to join the #PositiveSligo and #SligoWhoK- new conversations on Twitter.
Some Useful Resources
LookWest.ie has lots of great info on living, working and setting-up a busi- ness in the West.
SligoTourism.com is the go-to for what’s going on in Sligo. MyCreativeEdge.eu is a directory for creatives in the West. SwellSligo.com
Aoife Porter is founder and owner of Bua Marketing. www.buamarketing.ie