Irish Performing Arts Festival (IPAF)

description

Hi,

My name is Eoin Nash and I am the founding / director of the Irish Performing Arts Festival (IPAF). The IPAF is an international festival celebrating arts, disability and inclusion. I work as a Music Therapist, I am a training Psychotherapist and as a musician/ conductor I develop inclusive arts initiatives with and for COPE Foundation, locally, nationally & internationally. One of my initiatives is the IPAF which began in 2009. With a team of people at COPE Foundation and with the support of local and national performing / visual artists and venues we have successfully run 3 festivals.

The IPAF strives to provide persons with a disability opportunities to develop and showcase their artistic talents in Music, Drama, Dance & Visual Arts. Mainstream venues are used throughout Cork city and county to host competitions, conferences, workshops, exhibitions and performances. Having hosted 3 very successful Festivals, COPE Foundation will this year, host a European Song Competition as part of its 2012 IPAF programme, along with two world premieres.

Our Project / Commission
One of the most important aspects of this Festival is inclusion and developing contemporary work, enabling every person to have a voice. In line with our vision, a unique composition will be commissioned and premiered during the 2012 festival. I am working with performers from COPE Foundation, that have severe and profound disabilities. They will create and record samples of music using soundbeam & assistive technology. These samples will be passed on to Irish contemporary composer, David Wallace, who will compose a piece of orchestral music using the samples created by the artists. In addition, Tara Brandel from Croi Glan, one of the Ireland’s best known and most successful integrated dance companies, will develop a piece of contemporary dance based on the movements of the COPE Foundation artists, which will be performed to the commissioned contemporary composition by David Wallace.

This piece will be performed, as a world premiere, by the IPAF orchestra and Croi Glan as part of the Irish Performing Arts Festival 2012.

To help me present this unique and innovative piece as part of our festival, I am asking for your help. If you can make a donation and spread the word, you will be helping me, the performers and composer on the beginning of a very exciting journey. You will be supporting creativity and a Festival that is unique to Ireland and has the potential to change people’s lives.

Thank you.

Eoin