Free Art Activities across Cork County Libraries this May as part of the Bealtaine Festival

Artistic Collage in red, green, blue, black and yellow.

Cork County Council has launched its Bealtaine Festival programme for 2025, featuring a selection of free events in libraries across the county. Bealtaine takes place each May and is a national celebration of arts and creativity as we age, supported by the Arts Council and Creative Island.

This year’s events include arts and crafts; poetry; storytelling; Japanese painting workshops; and a course in drawing, painting and mindfulness.

Mayor of the County of Cork, Cllr. Joe Carroll said: 

Bealtaine is the perfect time to try something new or to revisit a lost skill. Creativity benefits us all regardless of what age we are. The activities take place in our fantastic libraries, which continue to be a great, free resource for every member of our community.

Coinciding with Poetry Day on Thursday, the 1st of May, the Bealtaine programme kicks off with Poetry Friends in Macroom Library from 3.00pm until 4.00pm. Guest poets Fiona Smith and Bernadette Gallagher will read a selection of their work. This will be followed by an open mic where people can share their own poems or a poem they connect with.

Beginning on Tuesday the 13th of May and running for four weeks, artist In Seun Kim will lead Japanese painting workshops in Youghal Library. Artist Amanda Wright will facilitate a free arts and crafts workshop in Millstreet Library on the 16th of May at 11.00am. Artist Sinéad Cullen will also lead a 4-week course in drawing, painting and mindfulness in Castletownbere Library.

Storyteller Terri Ryan will facilitate a two-part workshop for budding storytellers across libraries in the county. The free workshops will take place in Bandon, Cobh, Kinsale, Midleton, Mitchelstown, Skibbereen and Youghal.

An exhibition will run throughout the month of May at Fermoy library showcasing Stories from the Blackwater Catchment. The Creative Communities project brings together Elders from Cluain Dara day care centre and students from the neighbouring Coláiste an Chraoibhín to share stories and questions about what it means to live in the catchment of the River Blackwater. Artist Julie Forrester will also host free creative drop-in sessions in the library on Thursday mornings of the 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th of May, between 10.00am and 1.00pm.

Participants are asked to contact the library by phone, email or in-person to book their place at the workshops and events.