The Seán Corcoran Series returns to Drogheda on 4–6 September with three days of music, song, dance, art and heritage across the town.

Highlights range from the headline LAOCH concert with Landless alongside Dónal Lunny & Macdara Ó Faoláin, Caoimhe Ní Mhaolagáin & Seamas Hyland, and Mick O’Brien & Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh, to Edwina Guckian’s Cake Dance, live conversations, new music, photography, dance and street performance. There are also workshops and participatory events including zine-making, analogue synth building, gardening for bats, spinning and weaving, alongside heritage walks and celebrations of Drogheda’s cultural history.

Tickets and full programme: www.seancorcoranseries.com

At the heart of this year’s programme is LAOCH, the annual gala concert at St Augustine’s Church on Saturday 5 September. A celebration of the heroes of Irish music, song and dance, LAOCH also marks the 50th anniversary of Féile na Bóinne, the landmark Drogheda folk festival first held in 1976. The line-up features Landless, alongside Dónal Lunny & Macdara Ó Faoláin, Caoimhe Ní Mhaolagáin & Seamas Hyland, and Mick O’Brien & Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh, with surprise guests also promised on the night.

On Sunday 6 September, Drogheda’s Georgian St Laurence Street will become the setting for a special street-wide programme of arts, heritage and community events.

One of the weekend’s most distinctive events will be the Cake Dance, hosted by renowned dancer Edwina Guckian in collaboration with Luail – Ireland’s National Dance Company. Drawing on an old social tradition where dancers literally dance to win the cake, the event promises to bring music, movement and plenty of fun into the heart of the town as part of a special road closure programme supported by the Irish Walled Towns Network of the Heritage Council.

Also on Sunday, Féile na Bóinne: A Legacy Explored will look back at the festival’s important place in Drogheda’s cultural history. Aoife Nic Cormaic, presenter of RTÉ’s Rolling Wave, will host a live conversation with Nuala O’Connor, director of South Wind Blows, and former RTÉ presenters and musicians Paddy Glackin and Peter Browne. The event will be recorded live in Drogheda’s Old Methodist Church for broadcast.

The festival features a number of unique Louth debuts, including NEST by acclaimed young Irish composer Amanda Feery, presented in the intimate setting of Gerrard’s Church.

On Saturday, Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin and Niamh Keady-Tabbal present ‘Sé mo léan gan mé i m’éinín…’, bringing sean-nós singing and Irish traditional music into dialogue with Arabic songs from Palestine and Lebanon.

Across the weekend, the town itself becomes a stage and gallery:

BENCH #6: Pit by Alex Vostokova and CoisCéim Dance Theatre explores the social, psychological and ecological effects of modern urbanism, while Tionól na mBan, led by piper Emer Mayock, brings women and girl uilleann pipers together for a special on-street performance celebrating Na Piobairí Uilleann.

Visual arts feature prominently, with the festival opening on Friday with THREAD by Cathal Carolan, launched by photographer Rich Gilligan. The work is a personal photographic journey through the friendships, communities and spaces connected by skateboarding.
The weekend also includes ROCKS & SHAPES, a collaboration between SPIRAL X Seán Corcoran Series and Drogheda Zine Fair, inviting participants to create a zine inspired by the shapes, symbols and motifs of prehistoric rock art.

The festival will also celebrate Highlanes Gallery’s 20th birthday with a special programme including a workshop with Miriam de Búrca, an in conversation between writer Belinda McKeon and poet Leanne Quinn, exploring Quinn’s collection Landscape with Question, and a walking tour with community historian Brendan Matthews, exploring the life and work of celebrated Drogheda painter Nano Reid.
Beyond the headline events, the Seán Corcoran Series programme includes analogue synth building with Synthesize_Her, bat-friendly gardening with Dr Niamh Roche, spinning and weaving, food, fermenting, printmaking and straw weaving.

Tickets and full programme: www.seancorcoranseries.com