Yeat's Birthday Celebrations!!

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YEATS DAY – A DAWN TO DUSK CELEBRATION OF WB YEATS BIRTHDAY

8.30am – Breakfast at the Lake Isle

A boat trip across Lough Gill to the Lake Isle of Inisfree casts off Yeats Day with music, poetry and

breakfast on board.

11.00 – Happy Birthday at the Yeats Society

The illustrious Yeats Society pays its tribute to the Nobel Prize winner at the Yeats Memorial Building,

Hyde Bridge, Sligo. And the Yeats Building will be open until 6pm to host visitors on this special day.

11.30 – The Living Statue

Swap your poetry for a ribbon: a one-day temporary installation of the public’s own poetry at the

famous statue of WB Yeats, Stephen Street, complete with birthday window display in nearby Ulster

Bank.

11.30 – The National Library Collection

The Pollexfen Building in Wine Street, was home to WB Yeats’ mother’s family shipping business; on

Yeats Day, it will exhibit a small collection of the poet’s memorabilia and works from the National

Library of Ireland and Sligo IT. The Western Development Commission will also show a speciallycommissioned

film, emphasising Yeats in the community.

12noon – The Japanese Connection

The Hamilton Gallery on Castle Street hosts a celebration of Yeats’ love and understanding of

Japanese Noh theatre with a specially commissioned exhibition by Irish-based artist Yoko Akino. The

Japanese Connection will be opened by His Excellency Ambassador Atsumi.

12.30 – Yeats Choral at the Library

The first outdoor performance at the County Library’s new garden stage at Stephen Street; Yeats’

Cup participants and winners perform their choices with a choral poetry performance from Eily

Kilgallon’s School of Drama and the very young members of the Anne Carton Creche.

1.00– Yeats and the Abbey in his own words

The Abbey Theatre travels to the Hawkswell, Temple Street, to celebrate this birthday and, in Yeats’

own words, provide insight into Yeats’ involvement in the foundation of Ireland’s national theatre –

the Abbey Theatre.

1pm – Yeats and Son

The Model on The Mall will present a special birthday curator’s tour of its current double exhibition

Yeats and Son; the works of John and his younger son Jack B Yeats from the acclaimed Niland

Collection. The tour will be led by a guest curator from the National Gallery, in collaboration with the

Model.

3pm – Yeats by Yeats with The National Gallery

The National Gallery of Ireland’s Dr Marie Bourke travels to The Model on the Mall, to give a special

talk on the portrait of WB Yeats by his father John.

3.30 – Yeats Day launch

The official launch of the inaugural Yeats Day, by Minister for the Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht,

Jimmy Deenihan TD at Drumcliffe Churchyard where WB Yeats is buried.

Prizewinners at Drumcliffe

Winners of the Yeats Day special schools’ art competitions, the Hawkswell Theatre’s Cat & the Moon

poetry competition, the Junior and Senior Yeats Cup winners and the Callan Tansey essay winner will

meet the Minister at Drumcliffe.

4.30 -6.30 – Happy Birthday Mr Yeats

The people of Sligo and beyond, young and old, gather in O’Connell Street to meet the Fiddlers and

Fairies of WB Yeats imagination. Share some birthday cake, courtesy of Sligo Community Training

Centre and O’Hehirs and enjoy poetry and music on this very special day. Youth drama and visual arts

group Branching Out and musicians from Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Eireann will join the festivities. Local

schoolchildren will decorate shop windows with their birthday cards and the young and younger are

encouraged to don fairy clothing!

7.00 – Yeats and the Abbey in his own words

A second chance to see the Abbey Theatre at the Hawkswell, providing an insight into WB Yeats’

involvement in the foundation of Ireland’s National Theatre – The Abbey. And the Hawkswell will

launch the iYeats poetry competition; your chance to submit your own work.

7.15 – Party Piece

Time for your party piece; Come and sing, recite or play a song, poem or music in an evening’s

entertainment hosted by inspiring musician and composer Shaun Purcell at Hargadon’s O’Connell

Street.

8.45 – No Crows at Dusk

Wonderful musicians No Crows will mark the end of the first Yeats Day in the beautiful 13th century

Dominican Friary, Sligo Abbey, Abbey Street

June 13th - June 17th: Drawings at Sligo Abbey

Sligo Abbey, in collaboration with The Model, hosts an exhibition of drawings by participants in

National Drawing Day 2012. The work in the exhibition is inspired by the iconic and ancient abbey

environment and the Sligo landscape.

Twitter: yeatsday ………….. website: www.seasonofyeats.ie