"Festival In A Van" brings live performances to two locations in Kildare today

This July, Festival in a Van is joining forces with Creative Places Athy to bring the magic of live performance straight to the front door of two communities in Athy on Friday 19 July 2024. 

On stage as part of this special visit to Athy will be Rhythm Africana performing traditional songs from all over Africa sure to get you dancing. 

The main event is an outing of a spoken word theatre piece by acclaimed group We AreGriot which explores themes of migration and home. The mic will also be handed over to local residents for more unique performances. All are welcome to this free event which aims to jumpstart your weekend and broaden your horizons with some of the best performers on the scene in Ireland today.

Rhythm Africana was founded in 2013 by Justine Nantale to highlight traditional African styles of music and rhythm. Following the success of their first EP My African Dream, the band has been invited to perform at events by AFRI-Action from Ireland, Trocaire, Concern, Oxfam, Action Aid, Community festivals Comhlámh- action for global Justice seminar, Fields of Life Charity fundraiser, Dun Laoghaire Refugee Project. Rhythm Africana has also been one of the headline acts of the Malaika stage at Africa Day, the annual festival supported by Irish Aid and the Minister of State. Rhythm Africana band performs a variety of traditional songs from Africa. Musicians are based in Dublin and hail from Uganda, Zambia, Congo, Nigeria and Ireland.

WeAreGriot is a collective of Nigerian-Irish poets and storytellers: Dagogo Hart & Samuel Yakura. Together they have curated poetry-plays and theatrical shows like Boy Child, See True and Sthory. They hosted the celebrated Dublin hip hop and poetry slam series, Talkatives. WeAreGriot have worked with many arts organisations to curate and commission events, theatrical installations, featured poetry performances and workshops, including Poetry Ireland, Dublin Fringe, International Literature Festival Dublin, Dublin Book Festival, Guinness, Tradfest to mention a few. Their goal is to reflect the times they live in through their work, to celebrate culture and community and to stretch the boundaries of poetry. WeAreGriot create to serve both art and agenda.

Friday 19th July 2024

1pm – 2pm: Castlepark, Athy, Co. Kildare, R14 RD79

5pm – 6pm: Bert House, Athy, Co. Kildare, R14WD68

Presented by Festival in a Van, this day is funded by the Arts Council and Creative Places Athy. 

ABOUT FESTIVAL IN A VAN

Gemma Tipton set up Festival in a Van in 2020, turning a box van into a mobile stage, as a way of keeping live performance going during Covid. Travelling in a bubble, and armed with oceans of hand sanitiser, the Festival in a Van team were able to visit care homes, schools, residential centres and direct provision centres touring music, theatre and poetry.