By Michelle Crean 

Organisers of this year's K-FEST Arts Festival from June 3 to 6 can't wait for yet another great weekend celebrating emerging artists and musicians.

EXHIBITION: Visitors pictured at a previous K-FEST in Killorglin viewing the art on display. Photo: David Hegarty

MUSIC: Derry band TOUTS pictured performing at a previous K-FEST in Killorglin. Photo: David Hegarty

The June Bank Holiday weekend marks the ninth chapter of the four day festival with an all-new schedule of events, featuring a gallery trail of over 60 visual artists, 30 live bands, spoken word artists, film, crafts, buskers, dancers, workshops, street entertainment, and a multitude of family activities. All the events at K-FEST are offered at no or low cost to the public.

This year organisers had a particularly tough selection process with the artists chosen to exhibit in their pop-up spaces, as they had such a high number of online submissions, and could only take on 60 from the bunch!

Approximately 300 artists submit each year and 60+ are selected to display at K-FEST. At least 15% of spots are ring-fenced for Kerry artists and all artists are being paid a fee in line with The Arts Council Paying The Artists Policy.

Every artist selected for K-FEST is entered into the Screaming Pope Prize automatically.

"This prize is chosen by our team and also by selected judge/judges who differ from year to year," Darragh Kinch of Kinch Design Studio and Marketing Manager for K-FEST, said.

"It is a tribute to their talent and the prize for the winner is €1,000 with four runners up prizes of €100 each and automatic acceptance into the next year's festival to exhibit! It is an opportunity for an emerging artist to maybe try something new with their work with an open space to experiment with exhibition space.

Last year it was a local artist from Tralee, James Hayes, that took the Screaming Pope Prize accolade at the festival.

"James is an incredibly talented painter, and a very deserving winner of our prize last time around. We are looking forward to seeing a new series of paintings from James at this year's festival. We also have a new judge to help with the selection process for this year."

PLENTY TO EXPERIENCE

The festival opens with The Poetry of Comedy Friday night, in which audience members are invited to recite verses that will make everyone titter and laugh. Spoken word events and film take place through the weekend alongside an open mic Rambling House on the Bank Holiday Monday. Pubs across Killorglin will morph into cutting-edge music venues with some of Ireland's best up-and-coming bands and musicians hitting the stage. A few names include Lemonade Shoelace, Naked Lungs and Everything Shook. K-FEST in collaboration with BIMM Institute Dublin will welcome seven student bands to K-FEST, where they will perform and create a live video production. K-FEST’s family and street programme this year includes buskers, art demos, kids market, circus skills, science, yoga, dance, Punch and Judy and the Fairy Trail.

DANCE

Continuing to support dance this year, there will be a Contemporary Sean Nós Dance Performance with award winning artist Sibéal Davitt and Creative Dance Project Film called ‘Imprints’, choreographed and created by dance artist Carol O’Connor will be shown over the weekend in one of the screening areas.

"We have visual artists across all disciplines, including painting, sculpture, print, performance, textiles, graphic design, photography, film, sound art and audio-visual. Selected artists show their work in curated, bespoke pop-up galleries throughout the town’s disused commercial and private spaces," Art Director Rochelle Lucey added.

"We are aiming to experiment a little more with some performance art this year. We will have performative spaces in a couple of our galleries with a diverse collection of performance art and dance."

The arts strand will include a number of artist-led workshops, one in leather-making being held by master crafter Conor Holden and a printmaking workshop with visual artist Aoife Claffey. Limited spaces available, booking is essential, visit www.kfest.ie.

NEW MURAL

"We will also be welcoming a new permanent fixture to the streets of the town of Killorglin with the arrival of a beautiful new mural by ‘Ominous Omin’ in the days leading up to the June Bank Holiday this year. The mural will be a tribute to Máirín Cregan, a historical figure with strong roots in Killorglin, and will be a testament to her life and work. She was an Irish nationalist who was involved in the 1916 Easter Rising and Irish War of Independence. She later made her name writing for children, as well as writing plays and novels for adults."

Another mural, created in support of President Volodymr Zelensky and the people of Ukraine, will be installed for the duration of the festival. Created by Aches, a Dublin based street artist, it will be temporarily installed in one of the gallery spaces.

Since 2013, K-FEST has housed over 800 visual artists and approximately 4,000 original works of art along with a number of murals on the trail throughout the town of Killorglin. With an attendance of more than 10,000 people over the June Bank Holiday weekend, K-FEST affords new and emerging artists from Ireland and beyond the ability to showcase their work to a diverse audience, providing opportunities for patronage, partnerships, and community building with fellow artists and local residents.

To see the full programme of events go to www.kfest.ie.