A NEW entry into the city’s crowded calendar of festivals is the Galway Cartoon Festival, which arrives next week and runs from October 21 to 30, with the aim of celebrating and showcasing drawings which make us laugh and make us think.
The festival will bring great cartooning from around the world for people here to appreciate and enjoy, and according to the organisers, cartooning is the one major artform we do not celebrate in Galway and they believe it is "high time for that to change".
The core of the festival will be two exhibitions of by some of the leading practitioners in Ireland, Europe and the USA. Featured artists include Martyn Turner of The Irish Times; Martin Rowson of The Guardian; the inimitable Tom Mathews; Graeme Keyes of The Phoenix; Tom Tomorrow, creator of comic strip This Modern World; and local cartoonists Allan Cavanagh and Richard Chapman (Sergei ) - one of whose works is depicted below. Cyprus, Latvia, Turkey, Portugal, Slovakia, Belgium, Germany and Malta will be among the many other countries represented.
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In order to squeeze into the busy schedule of culture, the festival runs at the same time as the Vodafone Comedy Carnival Galway and shares a venue in the Town Hall Theatre, so why not catch a cartoon exhibition and stand-up comedian on the same night? As well as exhibitions, the Galway Cartoon Festival is planning workshops, discussions and other events concerning aspects of the cartoon arts. These will be held at the Black Gate Cultural Centre on Francis Street.
The main sponsor of the Festival - and key location for cartoon blather - is Tigh Neachtain. The festival launch, and opening of the Town Hall Theatre exhibition, will takes place on Saturday October 21 at 4pm in the Town Hall bar. The Black Gate exhibition opens on Tuesday October 24 at 6pm. See galwaycartoons.eu Let the merriment commence!
