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First Fortnight Festival at Riverbank Arts Centre

Riverbank Arts Centre is delighted to partner with First Fortnight Festival again this year to present theatre, screenings, discussions and family events. First Fortnight is a charity that challenges mental health prejudice through arts and cultural action.

FAMILY DAY – Saturday 18th January

WORKSHOP: Batman Needs a Break
Pow… Sock… Smash… Batman spends so much time fighting crime and pouring over clues in the deep dark Batcave that he is exhausted. But when he finally gets a holiday, he discovers that he hasn’t a clue how to relax! He tries baking to see if that will help him to calm down but it turns out he’s not very good at it. What else can he do to just chill out?

During this workshop, hosted by Batman himself, you will help The Dark Knight to find ways to de-stress as we create Utility Belts crammed with calming contraptions, and make colourful capes to help unleash our Inner Heroes Of Happiness.
Facilitated by Paul Timoney – artist, performer, storyteller, poet, art teacher and general maker of things.

10.30 – 11.30am, 6-8, years old
12pm – 1.30pm, 8-12, years old

 


FAMILY: Storytelling Yoga with Nicola Foxe
Saturday 18th January, 10am
Using popular titles such as ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’ and ‘The Gruffalo’, Nicola Foxe combines the wonders of storytelling with the benefits of yoga creating a captivating ‘Yoga Storytelling’ experience for the children.
Moving their way through the beginning and middle to the end of the session, the children will learn breathing techniques and a sequence of poses all to the tune of their favourite stories.
Nicola is a child yoga specialist, an SNA and has been teaching yoga to children of all ages, abilities and cultures since 2012.
Suitable for 3- 6 year olds and their adults,
Tickets €10 (admits child + adult) BOOK tickets – Storytelling Yoga

FAMILY CINEMA: UP
Saturday 18th January, 2pm

Pixar Animation Studios and the acclaimed director of MONSTERS, INC. created UP, the hilarious uplifting adventure where the sky is no longer the limit.
Carl Fredicksen, a retired balloon salesman, is part rascal, part dreamer who is ready for his last chance at high-flying excitement. Tying thousands of balloons to his house, Carl sets off to the lost world of his childhood dreams. Unbeknownst to Carl, Russell, an overeager 8-year old Wilderness Explorer who has never ventured beyond his backyard, is in the wrong place at the wrong time – Carl’s front porch! The world’s most unlikely duo reach new heights and meets fantastic friends like Dug, a dog with a special collar that allows him to speak, and Kevin, the rare 13-foot tall flightless bird. Stuck together in the wilds of the jungle, Carl realises that sometimes life’s biggest adventures aren’t the ones you set out for.

Tickets  €4. BOOK tickets – UP

CINEMA: One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest
Thursday, 16th January, 8pm

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, a tragic-comedy directed by Milos Forman and starring Jack Nicholson, is about a free-spirited rogue who takes over the ward of a mental hospital through a combination of ingenuity and chutzpah.
Based on Ken Kesey’s celebrated novel, the film uses a metaphorical framework – the madhouse – to symbolise the individual against the system, the story gets its
power from the innumerable details which reveal what life is about in a mental institution.
Director Milos Forman. USA 1975. Cert 18

This film screening is presented in partnership with Irish Film Institute and will be followed by a panel discussion.
Early Bird tickets €6 Book tickets 

 

THEATRE: In One Eye, Out the Other

Saturday 18th January, 8pm

The first solo comedy show from Tadhg Hickey introduces you to Feargal; a downtrodden but cheery man who fulfilled his lifelong dream of becoming an alcoholic. Using the Catholic calendar as a roadmap, Feargal leads us on a surreal and hilarious journey with many poignant twists in the hope of arriving at a sort of light at the end of the tunnel for the ‘bright man’.
Written/Performed by Tadhg Hickey.

Most Nominated Show at Dublin Fringe Awards 2019

“Great art….a vital catharsis; I laughed until I cried. Go see it.” Sunday Independent

“Absolutely brilliant. Watch out for the ending!” Mario Rosenstock

Tickets €15. BOOK tickets- In One Eye, Out the Other

VISUAL ARTS

The Creative Well Archive Project – 10th January- 5th February

In 2021 The Creative Well and “This Must Be the Place” will celebrate 10 years of arts and health in Kildare. So this year they will be gathering The Well, its participants and its work since its inception to create a celebratory publication for their 10-year anniversary.

The Creative Well visual arts programme of work aims to build and support well-being and rich life experiences by encouraging adults to engage with their creativity through visual art. Designed for people with all levels of abilities and life experiences, providing opportunities for everyone from complete beginners, to practicing artists and all in between. The next step in the programme is the making of an archive and pausing to reflect. This will be a year for gathering stories & testimonials. A year for reflection on what was done and thinking about what there is still to do. To listen to all who have been on this creative journey and to talk to past and potential stakeholders about how best to continue it.

The Archive will be open from 10th January at the McKenna Gallery, where artists Emma Finucane and Eleanor Philips will be creating a space for the work of all The Creative Well’s participants to be collected and documented. This is open to all members both past and present of The Creative Well.

Members of the public are welcome to come and view this archive process, learn about the project’s history and the artists involved.