New Cork festival to celebrate neurodivergent artists
Cork has enjoyed the launch of a number of new festivals recently and another one takes place this week.
Neurofestivity - A Celebration and Exploration is a new one-day festival presented by Cork Opera House featuring work by neurodivergent artists with many free events and takes place on Friday 10 March.
Cork Opera House said it will provide a platform to a number of neurodivergent artists across the day and will feature writers and performers such as Cork Opera House Theatre Artist-in-Residence, Jody O’Neill, Stefanie Preissner, Kel Menton and Ian Lynam.
Cork Opera House CEO, Eibhlín Gleeson says: “This festival is an opportunity to bring neurodivergent artists together and explore the processes of making work in today’s society. There is much to celebrate and much to talk about and we hope this will be the start of a wider platform for the presentation of work by this exciting community of artists in the future.”
Artists will be invited to present established and in progress work, encouraging dialogue about neurodiverse work and exploring the many nuances of being a neurodivergent artist. The festival will take place across five events at UCC.
Neurofestivity is curated by Jody O’Neill, in association with Cork Opera House and its programme welcomes emerging writers from the neurodiverse student community in UCC, as well as established writers and performers. The programme will also welcome visual artists from the Neurodiverse and Dyslexic Visual Artist’s Group and will finish with a performance of autistic theatre writer Roderick Ford’s new production ‘Daughter of God’ in The Granary Theatre, produced by Once Off Productions and Asylum Productions.
COH and UCC Theatre Artist-in-Residence, Jody O’Neill says: “In my experience, there is a unique creativity and fusion that occurs in spaces where neurodivergent artists come together. I’m looking forward to seeing what conversations will take place on the day and where they will lead us in the future.”
Tickets to the daytime events in UCC are free, but are expected to sell out quickly. Tickets are now available on the Cork Opera House website. All attendees of Neurofestivity will be offered a discount code for ‘Daughter of God’ tickets.
Tickets to Daughter of God in The Granary Theatre are available from:
https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/asylum-productions-present-daughter-of-god-tickets-531923075237
Schedule:
12.30pm – CONN A, Department of Theatre, Connolly Building, UCC
Items of Inspiration – open lunch
The event will welcome members of the Neurodiverse Visual Artists Group who will host an open informal lunch, sharing items of interest and inspiration in their work.
2pm – CONN A, Department of Theatre, Connolly Building, UCC
Works in Progress – student presentations
This event will welcome students from within the neurodiverse student population in UCC to present works in progress across a number of artforms. Event is free but ticketed.
4pm - CONN A, Department of Theatre, Connolly Building, UCC
Readings of New Work
Writers and performers Jody O’Neill, Stefanie Preissner, Kel Menton and Ian Lynam present 10 minute readings of new work. This will be followed by a Q&A session. Event is free but ticketed.
6.30pm CONN A, Department of Theatre, Connolly Building, UCC
The Neurodivergent Artist – a panel discussion
Panel discussion welcoming Fiona Ferris (Deputy CEO, AsIAm) in conversation with invited neurodivergent artists Stefanie Preissner, Jody O’Neill, Kel Menton and Ian Lynam. Event is free but ticketed.
8pm – Granary Theatre, UCC
‘Daughter of God’ by Roderick Ford
In ‘Daughter of God’, a mother and her three daughters have isolated themselves from society and are bound together by secrets, sickness and mutual dependency. Their situation is about to change with devastating results when one of them gets an opportunity to have a different future.