As a Strandhill native, I grew up with weekend evenings spent watching the surfers bend, twist and conquer the wild Atlantic waves and fell in love with them trying to be one with the sea and ride it to the shore. Funnily though I am not a surfer – I have tried (many times) however, with a zero sense of balance it’s certainly not my strong point 🙂 However, that does not mean that I do am not an avid fan of the sport (and lifestyle), so when I saw the Shore Shots Festival was back again I knew I wanted to share.
For those who are not aware the Sligo Shore Shots Surf Festival 2017, is a weekend festival featuring the latest films from the world of surfing, live music and a range of inspiring talks from designers and creatives. It is one of those weekends where you can relax and take it easy and enjoy some simply excellent entertainment.
There is literally so much on over the weekend. Acclaimed artist Dorothy Cross will be one of the headline speakers. She’ll be interviewed by Jim Carroll from the Irish Times in The Model arts centre to talk about representing Ireland at the Venice Biennial and what inspires her work. Director of the award-winning Hozier music video Brendan Canty will be on hand to discuss film-making and photography while screenprint studio Damn Fine Print will be live printing and exhibiting their work in the Create room.
For environmentalists and those interested in sustainable food and farming, the festival will host a special screening of Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story, followed by an interview with Aoibheann O’Brien, founder and CEO of the ground-breaking Food Cloud initiative. Big wave surfer, environmentalist and adventurer Easkey Britton will host a unique storytelling workshop on the Saturday morning while they will also be live music from David Kitt on Sunday night and special guests throughout the weekend.
Food blogger Finn Ni Fhaolain will discuss her new book while the farmer, surfer and campaigner Matt Smith will talk about his role in the Moy Hill Community Garden project. You can check out the details of all of the speakers here and the films here that are showing. You can go to all of these under your weekend ticket and then the workshops are separate – and they sound pretty awesome.
The Workshops
- Storytelling Workshop with Easkey Britton – book tickets here.
- Go surfing with iSurf Ireland – book tickets here.
- Kayaking around the lakes of Sligo with Sligo Kayak Tours – book tickets here.
- Dynamic Vinyasa Yoga with Salt & Soul – book tickets here.
- Stand Up Paddle or Surf-vival training course with NW Adventure Tours – book tickets here.
Also, on a slight sidenote, the amazing Surfer imagery is by the talented Ian Jermyn from Organic Devolution. You may remember that I did a lino printing workshop with him before (you can read about it here) – well as soon as I seen the image I straight away knew it was his awesome work!
The wave riders of all craft, the photographers, videographers, shapers, artisans and craftspeople, casuals, part-timers, full-timers, bums, junkies, lunatics and searchers… all bit parts of the scene – be they chasing notoriety or something else. The Festival celebrates it all. The Sligo Shore Shots Festival takes place from April 22nd – 23rd 2017 and you can read more about it here. And also follow along on Facebook and Instagram!
