Muine Bheag Arts Radio

Live @ COMMUNE is a compilation of audio recordings from COMMUNE which brings you a selection of highlights from the programme. In this episode you’ll hear extracts from talks by Cóilín O’Connell and Chloe Maguire, NIVAL and Bagenalstown Community Garden and have a chance to listen back to a reading by Isadora Epstein from Pocket Money, along with live events by Amy Strzoda and Peter Glasgow. COMMUNE took place from 12th - 18th August in the Muine Bheag Community Centre and invited contributions from artists, community organisers, graduates-in-residence, gardeners, zine-makers, visitors and friends. The Community Centre acted as a shared space to host a series of live events including talks, workshops, performances and screenings. This programme is kindly supported by the Arts Council of Ireland, Carlow County Council Arts Office and Creative Ireland Carlow.

feelers invites you to slow down and relax as Niamh guides you through a float meditation. Soothing sea sounds take you on a watery journey through waves and rockpools where you encounter sea creatures and plant life. feelers by Niamh Seana Meehan emerges from her practice of floating. It follows on from a collective float as part of the Grass Roots programme in 2023 in which Niamh invited members of the community to float together in the River Barrow. This episode is dedicated to Paul Meehan Niamh Seana Meehan is a visual artist based in Co. Armagh. She works across written matter, visual art and performance.Performative activities function as sites where the body gets lost, misunderstood, exhausted and anxious. The accumulation and overlapping of ideas within the practice has provoked a methodological approach of slowing down and lingering with moments of doubtfulness. Meehan has performed and exhibited both nationally and internationally. Recent projects include: core is concrete, Catalyst Arts, Belfast (2022), Common Interest Residency, UK New Artists, Leicester (2022), PS² Short Residency, Belfast (2021), COMING SOON/NETRUKUS, CCA~Derry~Londonderry DeMo reciprocal residency (2020) and HOUR, Bergen International Performance Festival (2020). Audio production by Jack Corbett

The Portal is a radio play by 6th class students from St. Brigid’s National School in Muine Bheag. It tells the story of the Murphy twins, Mince and Marmalade and their associate Benice who travel through the portal in Dublin to New York City on a mission to save Ireland from darkness. Muine Bheag Arts led a series of workshops to develop the radio play as part of Cruinniú na nÓg 2024. The Portal is written, acted and recorded by the 6th class students from St. Brigid’s N.S. Credits: Filip Adamowski Piotrowski, Owen Black, Brandon Byrne, Corey Doran Cody, Mason Darcy, Dylan Egan, Ryan Hutchinson, Aaron McAssey, Azaan Faisal Javed Mobeen, Alex Fisher, Harry McCullagh, William McDonnell Moore, Barry McSteen, Kyle Middleton, Shay Minchin, T.J. Minchin, Fiacc O’Rourke, Cillian Ryan, Logan Rossiter This episode is kindly supported by Carlow Arts Office and Creative Places Bagenalstown

The Unseen Histories of Muine Bheag is a collection of stories by Rory Mullen. Listen as our narrator uncovers a series of lost tapes which each tell a tale of the town of Muine Bheag. The stories are wryly told by an unlikely cast of local characters. This episode follows on from a performance by Rory Mullen, which took place as part of the Grass Roots programme in 2021. Rory Mullen is an artist and set designer based in London. He graduated with an MFA in Fine Art from the University of Salford, Manchester in 2016. His practice explores folklore and narrative through performance, sculpture, drawing and installation. He takes an ad-hoc approach to making, adapting and transforming everyday materials to create playful assemblages and large scale sculptural works. Recent projects include: DAY OUT, 2-person exhibition at D/ARTS, London (2024), set design for Simone Rocha, Spring Summer Collection (2023) and Greetings from Ireland, collaboration with Robyn Lynch at NOW Gallery, London (2023).

Voice Tracking is an audio essay by Megan Hadfield created in response to the Grass Roots programme. Grass Roots took place in August 2023 and included a series of site-specific sculptures and events in public space. Voice Tracking was developed following conversations with the artists and encounters with the works as the programme unfolded. The text narrates the movements of four archetypes; the Keeper, the Walker, the Glazier and the Instructor as they come across the works. Megan Hadfield is a visual artist and writer based in Amsterdam. Her practice uses experimental text and installation to reflect on the role of iconography and linguistics in shaping everyday experience. Her writing and audio works can be found at Sonic Acts Biennial and Daisyworld Magazine. Hadfield’s work is currently supported by AFK and Mondriaan Fonds.