Two days of songwriting & creativity. Bigger & better than ever ! Get inspired.

Collaborate & Create something new with top class mentors.

Bigger and better than ever!

This year we've expanded the festival to a 2 day event, giving participants even more opportunities to meet, collaborate and create incredible new music!

Our mentor team has expanded, with the addition of some world-class talent providing workshops on The Art of Writing to Pitch, Write To Rise, Transforming Real Life Stories into Powerful Songs and Finding Fun in Creativity. See below for more details on our brilliant mentors.

Two of our most experienced mentors, SJ McArdle and Keith Burke, will be on hand during the Sunday in their Song Surgery to help songwriters polish their songs till they sparkle.

Participants will get the chance to perform their new creations at the festival's closing event – the Gala Concert, where one song will be chosen to be professionally recorded for a day in Jejune studios with Daniel De Burca.

This year we will based exclusively in the Barbican Centre in Drogheda, where we will have multiple rooms available to provide space for participants to team up, find a spot to work and develop their brand new songs.

Reflecting the feedback from our participants at previous events, the festival will take place over two days in order to provide a lot more time for participants to work on their songs - especially on the Saturday, when collaborators will be in the early stages of developing their new creative partnership.

Even though the event is now over a weekend, we've worked very hard to make sure the tickets are still very affordable, with no additional ticket being needed for the second day. So, even if you can only make it for the Saturday, you'll still have a great experience!

A whole weekend of creativity!

Saturday:

Registration will take place on Saturday morning, followed by the workshops, which will continue into the afternoon, with ample time allowed between the events for participants to start their creative process.See the daily schedule for details

As always, attendance at two different workshops is included in the ticket cost.

On the day, make sure you’re early to ensure prompt commencements of the various workshops you have chosen on your ticket.

Differently from last year's schedule, everything will be accommodated within the Barbican building with more spaces available than ever before.

Saturday's official events will culminate in the Mentors' songwriters-in-the-round event,

held in the Barbican main theatre, which has always been an incredibly inspirational

part of the festival.

This will also mark the end of official events for the day. It is the organisers' intention that this will end at around 6pm, in order to give everyone the chance for a well deserved break after all their efforts on the day.

For those who haven't yet had enough music for the day, we will also be organising an informal meetup in Peggy Moores later in the evening. Here, participants will be able to relax, chat with the mentors and also continue to network with the rest of their fellow festival goers. There might even be a tune or two shared!

Parking will be available in the underground car park next to the Barbican. The daily cost of parking there is 7.50 euros per day or 15 euros for both days. Please note this car park closes at 6.30 pm sharp.

If you play an instrument and use it as part of your songwriting process, be sure to bring it along! For the piano/keyboard players amongst the participants, the festival is making efforts to ensure there are a couple of rudimentary keyboards available. However, it would still be more advantageous for participants to bring their own if they rely heavily on their instrument for writing.

Sunday:

On Sunday, participants will have multiple spaces in the Barbican to meet up with their co-writers to finish off the work begun the day before.We will have additional rooms & spaces available to facilitate co-writing.

Mentors Keith Burke and SJ McArdle will be holding their Song Surgery from 2pm to 4 pm, where they will provide a fresh ear and advice to help the new songs become the best they can be.

Radio presenter & legendary DJ Ian Shipply will conduct in person interviews with participants throughout the afternoon on sunday.

The Gala Concert event commencing at 4.15pm in the Barbican main theatre on Sunday evening, where participants will get the opportunity to perform their new creations to their peers, has proved to be the highlight of the festival in previous years – at once both an exciting and a moving experience.

At the end of the Gala Concert one song will be awarded the "Clare Corrigan Award" to go forward for professional recording in Jejune recording studios with Daniel De Burca.

Song Surgery

On Sunday afternoon experienced, veteran mentors Keith Burke and S.J. McArdle will help participants to polish their new songs up to a shine with brief feedback sessions for individual songs where

Description supplied by the event organiser.