Each year in the month of May, Bealtaine is presented as an annual nationwide festival celebrating the arts and creativity as we age. Tipperary County Council Arts Office and Tipperary Library Service have once again worked together to deliver an extensive and varied programme of 150 events and activities right across the county.
Tipperary Arts Office, with support from the Arts Council, puts out a call each year to professional artists to deliver longer term engagement projects across all artforms targeted at older people, each culminating in a showcase event in May. An important new focus of the Arts Office in 2025 is the wider programming in 12 care settings across the county. The Music on Tour programme sees 10 professional musicians performing in hospitals, day care centres and nursing homes. The Memory Box programme, supported by the Tipperary Museum of Hidden History, and a new one-woman Poetry Play in association with Festival in a Van will be performed in a further seven day care centres.
The Libraries Service runs an extensive programme of activities, which this year boasts an impressive number of free events across all library branches in the county. Highlights include performances of the songs of Percy French by father-daughter duo Jim Ryan (Jim O’ the Mills) and Cáit Ní Riain. The green fingered among us will be wowed by a talk by international garden designer and landscape architect Peter Donegan, while Michael Fortune will share stories and traditions around May Day and the May Bush. Add to this singing sessions, visual art, needle felting, painting and theatre workshops, screenings, talks and demos and the stage is set for an activity-filled month of May.
The Bealtaine festival is an initiative of Age & Opportunity and is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. Tipperary Bealtaine is supported by Tipperary County Council, the Arts Council, Creative Ireland, Tipperary Age Friendly, Tipperary ETB, Tipperary Museum of Hidden History and Healthy Ireland.
See link for the programme below.
Printed programmes for Bealtaine are available in all library branches, District offices and arts venues around the county.
