Our Bealtaine festival is having its 21st birthday this year! We invite you to join with us in celebrating and marking the festival’s coming of age. For 2016, our theme is Iconic Citizens, which continues Bealtaine’s three-year exploration of Nationhood and Citizenship and specifically reflects on the first generations of citizens inhabiting the new Irish State. The festival will also consider where we are, culturally, as a maturing nation and people.

Here are some tasters of what Bealtaine 2016 has to offer:

• Visual artist Deirdre O'Mahony will work with a community in North Clare – using film to explore their lives and thoughts on life. The project will also investigate the values and behaviours that the community holds dear and that are particularly important in ensuring that they remain contented and connected as a community.
• Writer Brian Leyden will be the Bealtaine National Writer in Residence and his memoir ‘The Home Place: A Memoir’ will be our book for the month. The residency will include a series of special performances with musician Seamie O’Dowd in Clare, Dublin and Leitrim, visits to writers’ groups and book clubs, as well as readings and workshops.
• Visual artist Anna Spearman will embark on a residency with the Kilkenny Collective for Arts Talent (KCAT/kcat.ie) - an open access Arts and Lifelong Learning initiative promoted by the Camphill Communities. This joint Bealtaine / KCAT residency will comprise of the artist working alongside the 13 KCAT Studio artists.
• The IFI’s Wild Strawberries Film Club will collaborate with the festival to run a programme of screenings and work with access>CINEMA on a national film tour that will take place during Bealtaine.
• WillFredd Theatre Company will take their much-praised show Care on tour during the festival, and accompany the tour with special workshops in hospices.  
• Musician Colm Mac Con Iomaire, writer Peter Murphy and singer Paula Cox will perform at a unique event in Wexford.
• There will be a special event at the Ark Cultural Centre for Children bringing together grandparents and their grandchildren.
• Finally, Bealtaine, in partnership with glór Arts Centre, Ennis and Clare County of Culture, are delighted to announce VoltAge, a festival-within-a-festival, to celebrate Bealtaine’s 21st Birthday and Clare as County of Culture. VoltAge will feature three days of exhibitions, discussions and events from Thursday 5 May to Saturday 7 May.

For the past 20 years, Bealtaine has grown into Ireland’s largest co-operative arts festival with over 3,750 events taking place last year in cities, towns and villages throughout Ireland. I and my colleagues in Age & Opportunity appreciate all the time and work put in by artists, arts centres, libraries, theatres, galleries, arts officers, national cultural institutions, associations, community groups and creative people in coming together each year to celebrate creativity as we age. It is this unique collaboration across generations that makes the festival special each year. The Bealtaine festival is central to Age & Opportunity’s drive to create, encourage and promote high-quality and meaningful engagement in the arts for people as we age in Ireland. I hope that, in 2016, we can continue to build and grow the festival together.

How can your group or organisation get involved in Bealtaine 2016?

As always, you can get involved in Bealtaine by arranging an arts event, workshop, session, class, performance or concert, to take place in May 2016, celebrating creativity as we age. If this is your first time to organise an event for Bealtaine, please contact us or go to our website for suggestions and advice. We encourage you to link in with local artists, performers, arts facilitators, arts centres and local authority arts officers or contact us to help you to make connections with artists, groups, organisations or partners.

Fill out the online Bealtaine Event Registration Form here so that the details of your event feature on the Bealtaine website. Alternatively you can download an Event Registration Form here and send it to us by post. Please note your unique id no. to register your event. Completed event registration forms should be returned to us by Friday, 25 March 2016.

Use our logo on your posters and publications so that people know you are part of Ireland's biggest collaborative arts festival. Our logo is available for download from bealtaine.com or email us at bealtaine@ageandopportunity.ie to get a copy.

Find out more from Tara Byrne, the new Age & Opportunity Arts & Culture Manager on tara.byrne@ageandopportunity.ie or call us on (01) 853 5178.