Midland Arts and Culture Magazine | SPRING 2013

Midland Arts and Culture Magazine | SPRING 2013
Mark Boylan
a young musician
making tracks
MARK Boylan is a 15-year-old musician from Banagher in
Offaly who has already made headlines and an impact with
his music.
Backstage
joint exhibition
programme a
great success
In early 2012 Longford Arts Office and the Atrium Gallery at
Backstage Theatre joined forces in an effort to provide a more
cohesive and efficient support service and exhibition space to
artists in the area.
Construction work in Backstage in the
preceding few years had impacted on
the gallery space there and the theatre
was keen to re-launch this space and
give it a greater focus, following renovation
work in 2011 to improve the facility. In
order to re-launch the programme of
exhibitions and indeed raise the standard
of supports offered with this exhibition
space, the theatre approached the local
Arts Office with a proposal to work
together to deliver this service. Fergus
Kennedy Arts Officer welcomed the
proposal, acknowledging the shared
interests and objectives of both parties.
In 2012 the joint programme hosted
exhibitions by Cavan artist Padraig
Lynch; Roscommon based artist Anne
Rigney; Ceramics Artist Ed Walshe and
an exhibition of the work of photographer
Shelley Corcoran and the students of
the Longford Photography Schools
programme.
In the coming months the programme
will feature artwork from two visiting
artists from Galway, Anne Harkin-
Petersen from Tuam and Ruth Cadden
from Spiddal, as well as Cavan artist
Elena Duff and James Brady.
The exhibitions programme has worked
seamlessly with a joint literary programme
already established between both
organisations and in fact many of the
exhibitions featured have an integrated
literary dimension. An exhibition of the
work Lucy Brennan from Lanesboro in
June 2013 will also feature readings
from poet Kieran Furey.
Both the Arts Office and Backstage are
keen to introduce an educational outreach
element to the programme and are in
discussions with artists on the structure
and scope of this proposal.
The success of the Arts Office
supported Director in Residence
Programme at Backstage which is
headlined by Seamus O Rourke in
2013, and the positive outcomes to
date on the joint visual artist and
literary programmes demonstrate
clearly the value of pooling of resources
in time of financial difficulties to
maximise available resources. M
At the age of 13, he composed a song
called The Festival, inspired by a visit to
Cheltenham with his family, which he
then put up on YouTube. It was an
overnight hit (31,000 views to date)
which resulted in him being invited to
play for 60,000 people at Cheltenham;
tour with the High Kings; play in Vicar
Street and flown to America to perform
in front of 70,000 people and millions
on TV – as his song became the World
Championship theme for Breeders Cup
2011.
He spent the summer of 2012 playing in
California and Holland and in Spring
2013, he travelled to The Cheltenham
Festival where he did a series of interviews,
reports and live performances for a
variety of TV and Radio shows.
Mark is currently working on promoting a
new project, again inspired by horse
racing. Speaking of his new venture
Mark said:
“I was asked to write a song a few
months ago in remembrance of a young
jockey from Scotland called Campbell
Gillies who died last June in an accident
in Corfu while he was there celebrating
his twenty second birthday. Campbell
had become the first Scot in ten years to
ride a winner at Cheltenham, just three
months previous. I was reluctant to take on
this venture given the sensitivity of the
subject but when I was contacted by his
mother, I couldn’t refuse. It was an
emotional journey writing the song,
especially having been told that
Campbell loved my music and played my
CD constantly in his car.”
A Song for Campbell was released on
January 24 on iTunes with proceeds
going to the Injured Jockeys Fund (who
flew Campbell’s body home from Greece)
and the reaction was phenomenal
reaching Number 14 in the UK
Singer/Songwriter iTunes Download
Chart in a week.
It featured alongside songs by Jake Bugg,
Damien Rice, Boyce Avenue and was
positioned a few places ahead of Ed
Sheerin’s A-Team and Eva Cassidy’s
Songbird.
“My song actually spend a period at
Number 2 over the first weekend”, said
an excited Mark. “I have been contacted
by many members of the Scottish and
English media who are excited by the
whole song and story and the family are
delighted as it is providing a fitting
tribute to Campbell.
“I received almost 10,000 views on the
You Tube video in 2 days and over 1400
tweets. In fact one fan in Scotland has
had my lyrics tattooed on her body!” M
Mark Boylan’s song is available to
download (with a few others) on iTunes by
searching A Song for Campbell and also
on Amazon.
A Song by Campell by Mark Boylan (pictured) is available to download on iTunes.
10
Vases made by ceramic artist Ed Walshe
exhibited as part of a joint exhibition along
with other works including those of Gary
Robinson (pictured above)