RT One announces new arts programmes to mark the legacy of 96

RT One announces new arts programmes to mark the legacy of 1916 This spring a range of new television arts programming on RT One will mark the legacy of the poets, artists, playwrights and novelists whose work inspired and transformed Ireland over a century ago, and will celebrate some of Ireland's most inventive living cultural figures, who continue to break boundaries and inspire Irish society today.

As well as The Works Presents, which continues in its Thursday night slot, RT One has commissioned nine new arts programmes that reflect in different ways on the legacy of the cultural revival, featuring Bob Geldof, Christy Moore, Camille O'Sullivan, Fiachna Braon in and Derbhle Crotty.

Channel Controller for RT One, Adrian Lynch, said: From the poets and artists of the revival to the cultural trailblazers of today, culture in its broadest sense has always played a dynamic role in defining our sense of identity, be it national or individual. RT One, as the nation's main television channel, strives to reflect that across our programming. Over 27 hours of dedicated arts programming will have been broadcast on the channel since last September, from documentaries such as Brent Pope: Inside Out to specialist arts series such as The Works Presents and our upcoming RT 1916 Easter Sunday special,Centenary.

The RT One line-up this spring includes A Fanatic Heart: Geldof on Yeats. In this new two-part documentary, Bob Geldof contends that Yeats is one of Ireland's greatest patriots, a poet and statesman who brought about immense change in Ireland without firing a bullet. Featuring performances of Yeats' poems by a host of leading cultural figures, including Sting, Van Morrison, Edna O'Brien, Richard E. Grant, Olivia O'Leary, Liam Neeson, Colin Farrell, Noel Gallagher, Anne Enright, and more.

In a two-part film for April, Christy Moore: Journey, Moore revisits the places and people that inspired some of his most powerful songs. He is an artist who has tirelessly documented the lives and stories of the oppressed and marginalised - and the people and events that made them so. From Bloody Sunday to Carnsore Point to the Stardust fire, Moore's songs tell a story of Ireland in the second half of the century after independence.

In A Terrible Beauty Culture and Revolution in Ireland, airing on Tuesday 15 March, Professor Declan Kiberd looks at the role that artists and cultural leaders had in reinventing Ireland in the late Nineteenth Century, and asks whether the cultural revival really was the spark that ignited the flame of revolution.

Four-part series Fire in the Blood, which began last week, sees four modern-day cultural leaders pay tribute to four trailblazers of the Celtic Revival: actor Derbhle Crotty celebrates the life and legacy of Lady Gregory; singer Camille O' Sullivan takes us on a journey through the fantastical world of Harry Clarke; musician and broadcaster Fiachna Braon in casts a cold eye on Douglas Hyde; and GAA star Anna Geary celebrates the lasting legacy of the founder of the Gaelic Athletic Association for the Preservation and Cultivation of National Pastimes' Michael Cusack.

On Easter Sunday, as part of RT 1916, 1,100 singers join the RT National Symphony Orchestra and conductor David Brophy for A Nations Voice, an open-air concert at Collins' Barracks, which will include a major new work commissioned for the occasion by RT from composer Shaun Davey and writer Paul Muldoon. A Nation's Voice is presented by the Arts Council and RT , in association with the National Museum of Ireland, the Association of Irish Choirs, Music Generation, and Ireland 2016.

And on Easter Monday, also as part of RT 1916, Centenary, a cultural celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising, will be broadcast live from the Bord G is Energy Theatre on RT One. Through live and pre-recorded performances from some of Ireland's most popular artists, Centenary will tell the story of Ireland's journey from the 1916 Rising to the country that we have become.

Plus a new dedicated arts hub on the RT Player will also be launched in the coming months.

LINK:	http://www.rte.ie/about/en/press-office/press-releases/2016/0311/77412...
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