Longford County Council announces “Longford Live and Local”
Over 50 live outdoor music events to take place around county
5 July 2021
Longford County Council is delighted to mark the beginning of the “Longford Live and Local” outdoor music events programme, funded through the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media’s Local Live Performance Programming Scheme.
A total of €143,000 has been allocated to Longford County Council to engage local artists, musicians and crew to deliver live performances over the summer period and up until 30 September 2021.
Beginning this weekend and continuing throughout the summer months, over 50 live outdoor music events will take place in towns and villages around County Longford. All events will be strictly managed to observe COVID-19 public health guidelines and some events will be streamed live.
The initiative follows the announcement in March 2021 of a €50m suite of COVID-19 measures to support the commercial live performance sector, by the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media. The scheme is designed to assist producers, promoters and venues to provide opportunities for people in the industry. Of the €50m, it was signalled that an amount of €5m would be allocated to local authorities to facilitate programming of outdoor live performances in summer 2021, animating town centres for local communities, should public health restrictions permit.
It was the famous singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen who said “music is food for the soul” and after the past 18 months we are all looking forward more than ever to seeing and hearing some live music performed by some of Longford’s most popular singers, musicians and entertainers. Events will take place at nursing homes, family resource centres, community centres, GAA grounds and parks throughout the county with the support and cooperation of local communities and Gardaí in each area.
This summer programme of events is being coordinated by Longford County Council’s Arts Office with the support of local Events Manager Shane Crossan and his company Republic of Culture.
In her first engagement as the newly appointed Cathaoirleach of County Longford, Cllr Peggy Nolan said she was delighted to launch this summer music programme of events. Cllr Nolan said, “Longford County Council is delighted to be able to support our local musicians and artists and showcase the wonderful talent we have in this county in every music genre, including trad, folk, country and pop. We all need music to lift our spirits and we need to support our local musicians and artists who have been through such a tough time with no opportunity to perform and do what they do best, which is to entertain us.”
Among those attending the launch of the programme were three of Longford’s very popular and well-loved musicians Noel Carberry, Sean Sweeney and Katie Gallagher. All three of these talented acts are very excited to be able to play a live gig in front of an audience once again.
The first events will take place this weekend at the Latin School Community Centre, Dromard on Saturday 10 July at 4pm and at Drumlish Community Centre Sunday 11 July at 3pm. Every event is free, but numbers will be strictly limited observing COVID-19 health guidelines and each event will be ticketed and traceable.
A full programme of events showing dates, locations and a list of all the artists performing is available to download from the Events page of the Longford.ie website here and on Longford County Council social media channels. Copies of the programme will also be available to pick up from local libraries, shops and the Backstage Theatre this week.
Details of local ticketing agents and collection times will be posted shortly on the Longford.ie events page as well as on our social media channels Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
If you wish to secure your free tickets online, they are available through Eventbrite.ie. Click here
ENDS
All media queries should be directed to Longford County Council Communications Officer Denise Canavan on mediaenquiries@longfordcoco.ie or 043 33 43362.
