Latest news with #InTuaNua
Irish Independent
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
June bank holiday in Wicklow: Seven super events to enjoy over the long weekend
The June bank holiday is only just around the corner and time is running out to make plans. With that in mind, here are our top seven things to do in Wicklow for you and your family to enjoy this June bank holiday weekend. Live music in Wicklow town Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, May 30-June 2 All events free at various venues Whether you're into dance beats or trad music, or anything in between, Wicklow town's bars have got you covered this June bank holiday weekend. At the centre of it all is the 'Here comes summer party' at the Bridge Tavern on Saturday night, with live music from Feilim, followed by an after-party at Phil Healy's until 2.30am. Entry is free and ice-cold drink specials are promised all night. Live trad sessions are taking place at the Black Castle Bar in Wicklow town on Sunday, June 1 from 7pm to 9pm and on Monday evening from 7.30pn at Fitzpatrick's. There will also be live music at O'Shea's Corner on Friday, May 30 from 8pm until late. Comedy in Greystones Thursday, May 29 at Mrs Robinson's Tickets €6.34 at Tallaght's Joe Dowlin, with gigs at Vicar Street and Electric Picnic to follow, will headline at Mrs Robinsons Comedy Club on Thursday, May 29. Hosted by Keego, who just spent two weeks touring New York, the stage will also welcome newcomer Claire Roche, who used to be a Power FM DJ, Elizabeth Redmon from Houston, Texas and Dane Frisby, an award-winning local, who started his career in Estonia. Ticket's cost €6.34 and there is a waiting list open for the event at Mrs Robinson's in Greystones. It starts at 8pm. Leslie Dowdall and Revival Gospel Choir in Bray Friday, May 31 at Cornerstone Church Tickets €22 at Renown Irish rock singer Leslie Dowdall returns to her home county for an emotive performance at the Cornerstone Church in Bray. Kicking off the June bank holiday proper from 8pm on Friday, May 31, the lead singer of In Tua Nua will be accompanied by the Revival Gospel Choir from Arklow. The group started in 2005 and has become a passionate force within their local community, driving vocal music forwards and building a vibrant community of singers. They will be joined by international jazz guitarist, Hugh Buckley for this special night. Tickets cost €22.50 and are available on Ancient east walking tour in west Wicklow Saturday, May 31 with Tir na Glass Tickets €28 at This full tour will walk you through the history and engaging legends associated with Kilranelagh, in west Wicklow, "the real ancient Ireland", where you'll escape the bank holiday crowds and find the Ireland you've always dreamed of. The guide will start at Kilranelagh graveyard, which is the second oldest graveyard in Ireland. There we will visit the hero of the Irish rebels, Sam Mac Allister's grave; as well as the mysterious Gates of Heaven; and St Brigid's holy well where you can get to drink her healing waters. Other stops along the way will include the Boleycarrigeen stone circle, Crossoona Rath with its Ogham stone, the battle place of Michael Dwyer and the Irish rebels and St Brigid's chair and headstone (know to cure headaches and backpain!). These sites are not easily accessed without guidance, and the walk is about 3.5 to 4 hours long and is a hill walk on uneven ground, so do wear appropriate footwear for hiking, warm waterproof clothing in case of bad weather, and a packed lunch. Bluegrass BBQ in Donard Saturday, May 31 at Donard Community Hall Tickets €20 from Toomey's Bar or O'Keeffe's shop Americana is coming to west Wicklow this June bank holiday weekend as the village of Donard hosts a host of bluegrass, country and americana musicians, alongside a summer barbecue. The line up featured the Dublin Bluegrass Collective, The Blueberry Pickers, Whistle and Redwood plus special guests, with the barbecue starting from 5pm and the music live from 6pm to 11.30pm. This is an adults-only event and tickets exclude food. Gymkhana and field day in Coolgreany Monday, June 2 in Coolgreany village Free to attend The 44th Johnstown/Coolgreany gymkhana and field day is taking place on June bank holiday Monday in Coolgreany village, with all proceds going to St David's Church, local schools and the local senior citizens group. On the day there will be horse and pony jumping, a series of classes for the smalles of riders, a 14-class dog show, rode bull, tug of war and an assortment of food and drink offerings, including the tea tent, a barbecue and some home baking stalls. To enter the tug of war competition or any of the numerous equine events head to . Trio of south-west Wicklow markets Thursday, Friday and Saturday, May 29-31 Free to attend in Aughrim, Knockananna and Tinahely A series of craft, car boot and farmer's markets are taking place across the south west of County Wicklow over the June bank holiday weeked. From 10am-4pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, the Tinahely Craft Market will be open to all, with sellers offering a range of locally produced crafts that focus on sustainable and local materials. These include baby blankets made from wool produced down the road in Carnew, soya candles and soap and upcycled and recycled quilts, cushions and bags. On Saturday the regular Knockananna car boot sale will be open in the hall from 8am to 1pm. Iti is €10 to pitch and table are provided to all sellers, with buyers attending for free. Up the road in Aughrim, the weekly Town and Country Market is open from 10am to 1.30pm at the Pavilion on Rednagh Road with a farmer's market vibe to the day and plenty of local produce.
RTÉ News
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
New Dublin event to tackle vexed question of AI and the arts
This Thursday, Let's make AI:OK for music and the creative sector takes place at the National Concert Hall in Dublin to discuss the impact of AI on the creative arts in Ireland It is one of the great questions and challenges of the first quarter of the 21st century - will Artificial Intelligence enrich our lives or will the near-future be a joyless dystopia where machines do all our thinking and human creativity becomes redundant? It has long been the theme of countless sci-fi books and movies and while it is still only in its infancy, AI is already everywhere - from the `AI slop,' deepfakes, fake news, and memes that clog up our social media to search engine bots. In the new Mission: Impossible movie, the Entity, an advanced, self-aware AI plans to destroy the world by hacking into countries' nuclear arsenals. Which may even be scarier that those hyper-realistic deepfake videos of Tom Cruise on TikTok. And, as usual, when it comes to new tech, it is the creative arts that are the canary in the coalmine of these radical disruptions. Struggling musicians, film makers and authors already facing existential threats now have to contend with the creeping and, let's face it, creepy rise of a technology that has the potential to have a huge impact on their livelihoods. For Dr Martin Clancy, the genie is already very much out of the bottle. He's a senior researcher in artificial intelligence and its potential impact on the creative arts and the founder of AI:OK, an initiative dedicated to promoting the responsible use of AI in the music industry. He is on a mission to educate, demystify and protect rights and employment in the face of this new technology. This Thursday, he will be part of "Let's make AI:OK for music and the creative sector," a free event at the National Concert Hall in Dublin discussing the impact of AI on the creative arts in Ireland. Organisers are calling for an ethical and responsible path for AI integration and the the event will be "an exploration and a call to action, highlighting both the threats and potential of AI within Ireland's creative sectors." Dr Clancy has skin in the game and not just as a lecturer and campaigner for fair use of AI. The softly spoken academic has had a long career in the music industry. He was a founding member of Dublin band In Tua Nua and has managed successful Kildare singer Jack L for over thirty years. Supported by Enterprise Ireland and Research Ireland, he has become a global voice in the movement for ethical AI in the creative industries and is a Senior AI Research Fellow at Insight Research Ireland Centre for Data Analytics at DCU and a Policy Fellow at Trinity College Dublin's Long Room Hub. "This Saturday is about giving people a chance to figure AI out themselves," he says. "Whether you're a writer or a musician or a nurse of an accountant. AI is everywhere. We will be asking what are people worried about? What do they think? We want to address those questions and keep supporting the arts." Without blinding us with science, Let's make AI:OK for music and the creative sector aims to explain in plain language the good and the bad of AI and let people make up their own minds. It will feature a panel made of experts and interested parties, including Prof. Noel O'Connor, CEO of Insight Research Ireland Centre for Data Analytics, Anna McPartlin, an author, film producer, and screenwriter of RTÉ drama Gone, and Ciaran Conroy, Acting CEO of the Association of Independent Music Ireland (AIM). "We're bringing in a range of people to say this is why we care," Clancy says. "Anna McPartlin is making her first movie this year and she is horrified by AI. "She's spent the last thirty years writing a bunch of books in her voice and she works as a tv producer and an author. It's all about developing her individual voice and about 18 months ago I sent her a piece written by AI in the style of Anna McPartland and she went nuts. It's as simple as that. This NCH event is about getting people to talk about their concerns." The event is timely as it follows the announcement of the Irish government's new guidelines for the responsible use of artificial intelligence in the public service. Dr Clancy's work has taken him all over the world to share his expertise in the area. He first became involved in an area clouded by copyright and creative ownership through his job teaching DJs how to use a software called Ableton. His interest in the area led to him being invited by Trinity College to do PhD on the subject and his research led to a book, Artificial Intelligence and Music Ecosystem, which was published just before the advent of ChatGPT in 2022. AI:OK has support from the major record labels, music streamer Deezer and music industry bodies such as the American Association of Independent Music, AIMP (Association of Independent Music Publishers), and the Association of Independent Music Ireland. "When I was doing my research I could see what was coming," Dr Clancy says. "As opposed to having a dystopian vision it was important to figure out at some point what was ok and what was not ok about AI." So, what does he see as the threats posed by AI? "The threats are really simple," he says. "I've worked in music for forty years, doing pretty much everything you can imagine. Most people who work in music have two or three jobs and most of those jobs are threatened by AI and they don't necessarily have to be. "The idea here is very simple - if we mark products and services that are helpful for humans to stay in work, there's not too much not to dislike about that." Musicians and film makers have already begun the fightback. Last year, Hollywood ground to a halt after filmmakers and writers went on strike over big studios' plans to introduce AI into film production. Last week in the House Of Commons, producer Giles Martin - son of Beatles producer George Martin - led a delegation calling on the UK government to do more to protect artists from AI as the controversial Data (Use and Access) Bill makes its make through parliament. The UK government recently rejected proposals from the House of Lords to force AI companies to disclose what material they were using to develop their programmes. A spokesperson for the British government said that "no changes" to copyright laws would be "considered unless we are completely satisfied they work for creators". Elton John, a man who has never being a shrinking violet when it comes to the inequities of the music industry, was very forthright in an interview with BBC News last Sunday. "For young people and for everyone who is creative the fact that AI could run rampant is scary," he said. "You have to ask for approval and you have to have transparency. It's quite simple. If someone wants to use your song, ask, and then you have to have transparency about how it's used. "But the danger is young artists haven't got the resources to fight big tech if there is a lawsuit or anything like that. I am very angry about it. A machine is incapable of writing anything with any soul in it. When you try to rob young people of their creativity, it's a criminal offence." Dr Clancy is not opposed to AI. He believes that it is better to ride the tiger's back than to be eaten by the tiger. "The one thing that we can all be certain of is that there is no great AI art being made, like something new, something really fantastic like hip-hop," he says. "At the moment it is very pedestrian and very predictable but a moment will come soon with this technology where something fantastic will happen. "My personal agenda is - find out what's happening, go and do some crazy stuff, ideally with tools that are ethical - meaning that some humans are getting paid for using them. "When we find that, we might find some way of making a living from it. If we can't think of a way of fixing it or at least approaching it then we should really give up. There is only a short window to get this right." Let's make AI:OK for music and the creative sector takes place at Dublin's National Concert Hall on Thursday, 22 May at 1pm.
RTÉ News
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
New Dublin event aims to ask the big questions about AI
It is one of the great questions and challenges of the first quarter of the 21st century - will Artificial Intelligence enrich our lives or will the near-future be a joyless dystopia where machines do all our thinking and human creativity becomes redundant? It has long been the theme of countless sci-fi books and movies and while it is still only in its infancy, AI is already everywhere - from the `AI slop,' deepfakes, fake news, and memes that clog up our social media to search engine bots. In the new Mission: Impossible movie, the Entity, an advanced, self-aware AI plans to destroy the world by hacking into countries' nuclear arsenals. Which may even be a tad scarier that those hyper-realistic deepfake videos of Tom Cruise on TikTok. And, as usual when it comes to new tech, it is the creative arts that are at the coal face of these radical disruptions. Struggling musicians, film makers and authors already facing existential threats now have to contend with the creeping and, let's face it, creepy rise of a technology that has the potential to have a huge impact on their livelihoods. For Dr Martin Clancy, the genie is already very much out of the bottle. He's a senior researcher in artificial intelligence and its potential impact on the creative arts and the founder of AI:OK, an initiative dedicated to promoting the responsible use of AI in the music industry. He is on a mission to educate, demystify and protect rights and employment in the face of this new technology. This Thursday he will be part of "Let's make AI:OK for music and the creative sector," a free event at the National Concert Hall in Dublin discussing the impact of AI on the creative arts in Ireland. According to the organisers, the event calls for an ethical and responsible path for AI integration and is "an exploration and a call to action, highlighting both the threats and potential of AI within Ireland's creative sectors." Dr Clancy has skin in the game and not just as a lecturer and campaigner for fair use of AI. The softly spoken academic has had a long career in the music industry. He was a founding member of Dublin band In Tua Nua and has managed successful Kildare singer Jack L for over thirty years. Supported by Enterprise Ireland and Research Ireland, he has become a global voice in the movement for ethical AI in the creative industries - as a Senior AI Research Fellow at Insight Research Ireland Centre for Data Analytics at DCU and a Policy Fellow at Trinity College Dublin's Long Room Hub. "This Saturday is about giving people a chance to figure AI out themselves," he says. "Whether you're a writer or a musician or a nurse of an accountant. AI is everywhere. We will be asking what are people worried about? What do they think? We want to address those questions and keep supporting the arts." Without blinding us with science, Let's make AI:OK for music and the creative sector aims to explain in plain terms the good and the bad of AI. And let people make up their own minds. It will features a panel made of experts and interested parties, including Prof. Noel O'Connor, CEO of Insight Research Ireland Centre for Data Analytics, Anna McPartlin, an author, film producer, and screenwriter of RTÉ drama Gone, and Ciaran Conroy, Acting CEO of the Association of Independent Music Ireland (AIM). "We're bringing in a range of people to say this is why we care," Clancy says. "Anna McPartlin is making her first movie this year and she is horrified by AI. "She's spent the last thirty years writing a bunch of books in her voice and her voice and she works as a tv producer and an author, it's all about developing her induvial voice and about 18 months ago I sent her a piece written by AI in the style of Anna McPartland and she went nuts. It's as simple as that. This NCH event is about getting people to talk and contact us to talk about their concerns." The event is timely as it follows the announcement of Irish government's new guidelines for the responsible use of artificial intelligence in the public service. Dr Clancy's work has taken him all over the world to give talks and share his expertise in the area. He first began involved in an area clouded by copyright and creative ownership through his job teaching DJs the use of a software called Ableton, which is used by DJs. His interest in the area led to him being invited by Trinity College in Dublin to do PhD on the subject and his research led to a book, Artificial Intelligence and Music Ecosystem, which was published just before the advent of ChatGPT in 2022. AI:OK has support from the major record labels and music industry bodies such as Music streamer Deezer, the American Association of Independent Music, AIMP (Association of Independent Music Publishers), and the Association of Independent Music Ireland. "When I was doing my research I could see what was coming," Dr Clancy says. "As opposed to having a dystopian vision it was important to figure out at some point what was ok and what was not ok about AI." So, what does he see as the threats posed by AI? "The threats are really simple," he says. "I've worked in music for forty years, doing pretty much everything you can imagine. Most people who work in music have two or three jobs and most of those jobs are threatened by AI and they don't necessarily have to be. "The idea here is very simple - if we mark products and services that are helpful for humans to stay in work. There's not too much not to dislike about that." Musicians and film makers have already begun the fightback. Last year, Hollywood ground to a halt after filmmakers and writers went on strike over big studios' plans to introduce AI into film production. Last week in the House Of Commons, producer Giles Martin - son of Beatles producer George Martin - led a delegation calling on the UK government to do more to protect artists from AI as the controversial Data (Use and Access) Bill makes its make through parliament. The UK government recently rejected proposals from the House of Lords to force AI companies to disclose what material they were using to develop their programmes. A spokesperson for the British government said that "no changes" to copyright laws would be "considered unless we are completely satisfied they work for creators". Elton John, a man who has never being a shrinking violet when it comes to the inequities of the music industry, was very forthright in an interview with BBC News last Sunday. "For young people and for everyone who is creative the fact that AI could run rampant is scary," he said. "You have to ask for approval and you have to have transparency. It's quite simple. If someone wants to use your song, ask, and then you have to have transparency about how it's used. "But the danger is young artists haven't got the resources to fight big tech if there is a lawsuit or anything like that. I am very angry about it. A machine is incapable of writing anything with any soul in it. When you try to rob young people of their creativity, it's a criminal offence." Dr Clancy is not opposed to AI. He believes that it is better to ride the tiger's back than to be eaten by the tiger. "The one thing that we all be certain of is that there is no great AI art being made, like something new, something really fantastic like hip-hop," he says. "At the moment it is very pedestrian and very predictable but a moment will come soon with this technology where something fantastic will happen. "My personal agenda is - find out what's happening, go and do some crazy stuff, ideally with tools that are ethical - meaning that some humans are getting paid for using them. "When we find that, we might find some way of making a living from it. If we can't think of a way of fixing it or at least approaching it then we should really give up. There is only a short window to get this right." Let's make AI:OK for music and the creative sector takes place at Dublin's National Concert Hall on Thursday, 22 May at 1pm.
