Arts news – The season to be merry at NUIG arts fest

â€ËœMERRIMENT and What Not' is the theme for the 13th NUI Galway Arts Festival next month. The festival, Múscailt, runs from February 4 to 8 and involves a superb programme of art, music, performance, dance, literature and film. It will host an array of international, national and local artists including special guest Mario Pirovano, who will perform Francis the Holy Jester written by Nobel laureate Dario Fo. Mario is the only actor that Dario Fo has permitted to perform this piece. Triko Cirkus Teatar (Best Independent Theatre Company in Croatia in 2012) will bring their hit show Slavuj/Nightingale/Rossignol including four theatre clowns in the style of Jacques LeCoq and three musicians, directed by Lee DeLong. This is their only show in Ireland. New work is an important feature of each Múscailt Festival and artist Conor Gallagher will install Channels, an ambitious, mixed media show where original paintings and driftwood sculptures meet. The foyer of the Bank of Ireland Student Theatre will house new installations and art objects by Nick Hitchcox, Maria Hitchcox and Hannah O'Reilly, and Robin Jones will blur the distinction between drawing and sculpture in his outdoor Temporary Work. Artsoc will present their annual show in ÃÂras na Mac Léinn and the duo of art student Paul Kearney and local artist Podge Daly will exhibit new oil paintings entitled Reflections & Fragments in the University Art Gallery. Nick Danziger, international photographer and film-maker and Adjunct Professor at the NUI Galway's Huston School of Film & Digital Media and the Irish Centre for Human Rights, will display The British, a collection of photographs of Great Britain in the 1990s. Closer to home, Women's ID Project portrays women in their lives and communities in the Westside and Ballybane in Galway. There is much more, most of it open to the public, and you can find details on www.muscailt. nuigalway.ie A Skull in Connemara at THT MARTIN McDonagh's darkly comic A Skull in Connemara will be presented by Decadent Theatre Co next week in the Town Hall Theatre. First performed in 1997 by Druid as part of their Leenane Trilogy, the play follows Mick O'Dowd, who, for one week each autumn, is hired to disinter the bones in certain sections of his local cemetery, making way for new arrivals. As the time approaches for him to dig up those of own late wife, strange rumours regarding his involvement in her sudden death seven years earlier begin to resurface. Considering the success of McDonagh's latest feature film, Seven Psychopaths, there is bound to be renewed interest in McDonagh's work, which is always popular with audiences. The cast includes John Olohan, Brid Ni Neachtain, Patrick Ryan and Jarlath Tivnan. The show runs from January 31 to February 9. New season of music for kids ADVENTURES in Music start their 2013 season with Mikey and the Scallywags on Sunday February 3. This energetic and engaging gig promises to get you off your seat. Formed in 2010 Mikey and the Scallywags are an eclectic mix of musical personalities based in Galway whose lively performances have been enjoyed all over the country. From the Electric Picnic to the Volvo Ocean Race, they have been entertaining young and old alike. They are currently working on their debut album with a follow up children's album before 2014. Their musical styles range from Folk/ Gypsy-Swing/ Bluegrass and Hip-hop. Get tickets at the door of St Patrick's Band Hall (beside Ceannt Train Station) and mykidstime.ie. Tickets are €5 per person, children under two free, family Ticket €20. Doors open 2 pm for young children's pre-concert activities, 2.30 concert, 3.15 Meet the musicians. Artwork marks 160 years of Galway hotel A NEW painting by Ted Turton will be unveiled on Thursday in the lobby of the Meyrick Hotel to mark its 160th anniversary. It is a bird's eye view of the hotel and its surroundings in Turton's distinctive and whimsical style. While not confined to any specific historic period, the train arriving at the station behind what was long called 'the railway hotel' is steam-powered, and the waiting taxis are horse-drawn. New Sean-nós Singer at NUIG THE Centre for Irish Studies at NUI Galway has announced the appointment of Joe John Mac an Iomaire as Sean-nós Singer in Residence for 2013. The appointment recognises his importance in the rich singing tradition of Connemara and the West of Ireland. A native of Ros Dugáin, Cill Chíaráin, Joe John remembers his mother singing from a young age, but learned much of his singing from the time-honoured practice of cuartaíocht at houses such as that of Seainín Choilmín. Like many of his contemporaries, Joe John's singing is firmly rooted in the repertoire and style of his locale. His voice is instantly recognisable for its sweetness of tone and distinct delivery, and his renditions of An Droighneán Donn and Bean a Leanna are among his signature performances which featured in TG4's recent Amhrán is Ansa Liom. Caoineadh na dTrí Mhuire is also a favourite and he makes the annual pilgrimage to Maméan each August to sing it as part of the revived pattern there. Joe John won Corn Uí Riada on two occasions (1975 and 1977), and he was also successful in Comórtas na bhFear at An tOireachtas in 1968 and again in 1978. He has been invited to sing at festivals throughout Ireland, and indeed, has been a favoured guest of Conradh na Gaeilge in Boston on many occasions. During his residency, Joe John will participate in a series of performances and workshops at the Centre for Irish Studies and other venues in Galway. A selection of his repertoire will also be recorded to deposit in the Sean-Nós Archive at the Centre for Irish Studies. The Sean-nós singing workshops at the Centre for Irish Studies, NUI Galway will commence on February 13 and are free of charge and open to all.