Spring Classes in Galway Arts Centre

Welcome to Galway Arts Center’s spring creative classes, starting on May 8^th 2013. We hope you find a course to suit you. Booking for all classes is strongly advised, as places are limited. Places must be paid for in advance. For booking please contact reception at Galway Arts Centre phone: 091-565886 or E-mail: info@galwayartscentre.ie

Creative writing classes with Susan Millar Du Mars

Monday Afternoon’s, 2-3.30pm, commencing on Monday, May 13^th and runs for eight weeks. The fee is 90 Euro (80 Euro concession rate)

The class is suitable for both beginning and continuing creative writing students, working in either poetry or fiction. Students will spend their week responding to writing exercises designed to inspire rather than inhibit. In class, they will receive gentle feedback on their work from their classmates and from the teacher.

Susan Millar Du Mars writes both poetry and fiction. A collection of her stories, Lights In The Distance, was published in December 2010 by Doire Press; she has published three collections of poetry, Big Pink Umbrella (2008), Dreams for Breakfast and, most recently, The God Thing (March 2013), all with Salmon Poetry. She is also co-organiser of the Over the Edge reading series which specifically promotes new writers.

Spring Poetry Workshops with Kevin Higgins

Tuesday evenings, 7-8:30pm (first class Tuesday, May 14^th), Thursday afternoons, 2-4pm (first class Thursday, May 16^th); on Friday afternoons, 2-3:30pm (first class Friday, May 17^th).

The cost to participants is 90 Euro (80 Euro concession rate)

The Tuesday evening and Friday afternoon workshops are open to both complete beginners as well as those who’ve been writing for some time. The Thursday afternoon workshop is an Advanced Poetry Workshop, suitable for those who’ve participated in poetry workshops before or had poems published in magazines.

All poetry workshops are facilitated by poet Kevin Higgins, whose best-selling first collection, The Boy with No Face, published by Salmon Poetry, was short-listed for the 2006 Strong Award for Best First Collection by an Irish poet. Kevin’s second collection of poems, Time Gentlemen, Please, was published in 2008 by Salmon Poetry and his poetry is discussed in The Cambridge Introduction to Modern Irish Poetry. His third collection Frightening New Furniture was published in 2010 by Salmon and his work also appears in the generation defining anthology Identity Parade –New British and Irish Poets (Ed. Roddy Lumsden, Bloodaxe, 2010). A collection of Kevin’s essays and book reviews, Mentioning the War, was published in 2012 by Salmon Poetry. His next collection of poetry, The Ghost in the Lobby, will be published in early 2014, also by Salmon.

Kevin is an experienced workshop facilitator and several of his students have gone on to achieve publication success. One of his workshop participants at Galway Arts Centre won the prestigious Hennessy Award for New Irish Poetry, two have won the Cúirt New Writing Prize, one has been awarded an Arts Council Bursary and yet another won the Cúirt Poetry Grand Slam, while several have published collections of their poems. Kevin is also co-organiser of the successful Over the Edge reading series which specialises in promoting new writers.

Acting with Pete Mullineaux

Wednesday evenings, 7-8:30pm (first class Wednesday, May 8^th) and runs for six weeks.

The fee is 66 Euro (60 Euro concession rate)

A performance class, which will bring out the actor in you! The focus will be on exploring self-potential through acting and other techniques. Participants will explore improvisation skills, a selection of play texts, breathing techniques, projection, voice work and gesture. The overall aim is to have fun and build self-confidence while learning more about theatre.