Longford's Connolly Barracks set for amazing Lights Festival

An amazing Lights Festival is taking place in Longford’s Connolly Barracks on the weekend of February 24-26.
Following on from the success of last year’s arts event - The Light Brigade, Artistic Director, Tom Meskell in partnership with County Longford Arts Services is developing a new and ambitious Festival - Longford Lights.

Work on the project began with a community arts seminar in Backstage Theatre on Saturday, January 14, where participating groups and artists met to discuss the project.

The project has been funded under the Arts Council of Ireland’s Project Award Grant and by Longford County Council.
Longford Lights will be the biggest outdoor art illumination ever produced in Longford.
The project is situated in the former Connolly Barracks site in the Camlin quarter of Longford town.

Shane Crossan, Assistant Arts Officer Longford County Council, explained “This project seeks to deepen and broaden the scope of community based light / lantern art making within Longford communities and local artists so that the festival can grow in support each year. “

Tom Meskell, the Artistic Director brought together a team of artists from all over Ireland and England including the Liverpool Lantern Co, Macnas of Galway and Black Powder Monkeys to work with ten community and school groups in the Longford town area.

These groups included the Ethnic Minority Hub, Longford ICA, St Joseph’s National School, St Michael's Boy's NS, Templemichael College, Meánscoil Mhuire, St Christopher’s Services, Peter Keenan Branch O.N.E., Longford Men’s Shed and Killoe Men's Shed.

Following the seminar, artists commenced working with their assigned community groups. This will involve developing a concept for an art piece in the former Barracks campus. Each group will collaborate with the artist to progress ideas and to help in the fabrication/ completion of the artwork or elements of the piece.

The separate artworks will form a large installation event to create an immersive experience for attendees using sound, light, space and pyrotechnics.
The Festival is free and open to the General public, for updates check @countylongfordartsservices on Facebook.