Lust for Life 2025 – Tipperary Bealtaine celebrates with a record number of 150 events supporting creativity in older age this May.
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 events and activities right across the county. The vast majority of events are provided free of charge.
Speaking about the 2025 Tipperary Bealtaine programme, Tipperary County Council Cathaoirleach, Cllr Declan Burgess said: “Tipperary County Council is proud of its long association with Age & Opportunity in presenting an all-county, creative and accessible Bealtaine programme curated by our Arts and Library Services with opportunities to discover, celebrate and enjoy our creativity at all stages of life”.
Tipperary Arts Office, with support from the Arts Council, puts out a call each year to professional artists to propose projects or events targeted at older people. In 2025, these events include a range of performances, open mic events and even a mini festival, as well as longer-term engagement projects based in community and care settings, each of which will culminate in a showcase during the month of May.
A new focus of the Arts Office in 2025 is the wider programming in care settings with performances and workshops being delivered in 12 centres. The much-loved Music on Tour programme will see 10 professional musicians performing in hospitals, day care centres and nursing homes. A new programme strand – the Memory Box supported by the Tipperary Museum of Hidden History – will travel to five day care locations and a new one-woman Poetry Play will be performed in two day care centres in association with Festival in a Van.
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, readings and conversations with internationally renowned authors Carmel Harrington and Patricia Gibney. The green fingered among us will be wowed by a talk given by international garden designer and landscape architect Peter Donegan, while you will be captivated by Michael Fortune’s 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 extensive Tipperary Bealtaine programme will be launched on 1st May in South Tipperary Arts Centre. The launch event coincides with the opening of a very special exhibition which revisits WAAG – the Women Artists Action Group (1987-1991).
The theme for Bealtaine 2024 – 2026 is Lust for Life, based on Iggy Pop’s iconic punk-era song celebrating life’s dreams, ambitions, intoxications and excesses. We hope you will join in and attend some events, embracing your own Lust for Life this year!
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.
Programmes for Bealtaine are available in all library branches, District Offices and Arts Venues around the county.
An online version of the brochure can be downloaded at www.tipperarycoco.ie/arts
Further Information from : artsoffice@tipperarycoco.ie