Love Longford is a community arts festival in the true sense, in that, it draws on every element of the local community to assist in the exhibition of the talents of local artists (especially visual artists and musicians), to demonstrate the wealth of creative talent in the community and to use that talent to celebrate community life in Longford and to express the pride of Longford people in their home town.
2013 was the first year of the festival and the central elements of the programme were a series of “Pop-up” exhibitions in vacant commercial premises of the work of artists Gary Robinson, Gordon Farrell, Amanda Jane Graham, Pat Hourican, photographer Shelley Corcoran and film maker Shane Crossan and Out-takes Film Group and Reflections Art Group
The Pop-up exhibitions were augmented by a facilitated tour of the exhibitions – the Longford Art Trail.
Secondary School students created large-scale temporary art installations, located in the Market Square which greatly enhanced the visual festive atmosphere of the town.
The Market Square was also the venue for a most unusual musical event when the largest choir ever assembled in Longford performed a free open-air concert. The choir was an amalgamation of nine separate choirs they created a great sound for the massed audience and were one of the hits of the festival. The organisers hope to build on the success of the Love Longford Festival – so watch this space to learn more about our plans for 2014.
