History of Clonmel Junction Festival

The first Junction Festival was in 2001. It was a modest affair with four theatre shows each playing one performance, one comedy performance and a few sessions in the pub. All events sold out completely. With such enthusiasm it was decided to make Clonmel Junction Festival an annual event.

The 2002 festival introduced the street art programme, which has become such a distinctive part of the event in the subsequent years. It was also the year rock music was introduced with a line up including Damien Rice, Kila and Maria Doyle Kennedy.

2003 and 2004 saw further expansions of the programming and a massive growth in popularity with audiences figures doubling in each of these two years. Highlights from 2003 and 2004 include the premiere of Des Dillon’s “Teach a Bloc”, “Tom Crean Antartic Explorer”, “Romeo and Juliet”, Damien Dempsey, Caroline Moreau and Oleg Ponomarev and The Dublin Comedy Impro.

In 2005 Junction Festival grew further, expanding from 6 to 9 days so as to encompass two weekends. Street performances were introduced each day under the arches of the Main Guard. Clonmel Junction Festival 7.05 highlights included “Tick my Box”, Jason Byrne, KT Tunstall, Yair Dalal and Mairtin O’Connor.

Junction Festival 2006 boasted the very impressive NoFit State Circus, a five-night sell out, winning rave reviews nationwide. That year also had Liam Clancy and Odetta, Gemma Hayes playing on home turf, Dulsori - a hugely impressive drumming group from Korea - and Tall Tales acclaimed production of the Australian comedy “Wallflowering”.

Junction Festival 2007 introduced the concept of “Talking Time”, to create a dialogue about the issues explored in some of the work presented in the festival. The discussions were chaired by well-known personalities, with many of the festival’s performers and artists contributing to the discussions. Musical highlights of 7.07 were Foy Vance, Pete PAMF, Kasai Masai and Adama Yalomba, Jack L, Mary Black and The Dubliners. Theatre highlights included “The Syringa Tree”, “Sclavi: the Song of an Emigrant”, “Remember Her”, an aerial dance performance, and “TapEire”.

In 2008 a collaboration was organized between Body Mind & Soul, visiting artists from Malawi and Maslow, a young local band. "Sensazione" an eco-theatrical fun fair was the headline event in 2008. Along with this several other theatre world premieres took place during the nine days including "Raw" a creation of the aerial dance company Fidget Feet in collaboration with the festival and made possible by funding from the Arts Council.