FATHER TED

It's only his second year in the hot seat as Artistic Director, but Ted Turton's involvement with the Galway Arts Festival goes back over twenty years, as he relates.

"I was there at the very beginning," he says. "I first got together with Ollie Jennings back in 1978, initially working in the design of brochures and publicity material. It was almost a one man show back then - Ollie was running everything, the box office, administration, and he was Artistic Director and PR. Now it's become so big that it has an entire team working on it all year round."

Turton had come over to Ireland in the mid-seventies after finishing art college in his native England. "I grew up in Cheshire in one of those classically quaint cobblestone villages near to where Lewis Carroll was born," he says. "People said I was emigrating the wrong way at the

time - most people were going over to England. But I wanted to shake off the shackles of my

education and Ireland seemed as good a place as any."

Initially working as a graphic designer with In Dublin magazine he decided on a move to Galway following a traumatic experience in the capital, as he relates. "I nearly got blown to bits in the Dublin bombs of 1974. I just missed being in Nassau Street by a couple of minutes. I used to come home from work that way every day so I was very lucky to escape."

According to Turton, the Arts Festival had its origins when a group of like-minded souls decided

it was time to put Galway on the cultural map.

"It grew out of a desire to make things happen in Galway. In the late seventies there was

an interesting group of people, some from abroad wanting to do things and the festival gave

expression to a lot of that. I was in my mid-20's at the time and I wanted to stay in Galway

instead of racing off to Dublin to see theatre and music events. We figured, 'why not bring

them down here?'"

Nowadays of course there are things happening all year round in Galway in nice venues but

in the early days it was all tents and warehouses.

"When we started there was hardly enough events to fill every night for a week. Also for some reason - god only knows why - the festival was held in April back then. I remember the Footsbarn Theatre Company arriving in Galway on a Good Friday. They were all looking forward to pints of Guinness but the whole place was closed. We managed to get in the back door of a pub but it was raided by the guards and we all had our names taken. It was a valuable piece of publicity at the time!"

Despite these inauspicious beginnings, the Galway Arts Festival is now one of the top arts

festivals in Europe. When did those involved recognise that it was becoming a major event?

"There were significant milestones in how the festival was perceived. Theatre Repere from Canada was just one of the things that stands out for me. We brought new forms of theatre that were visual and physical with elements that appeal to different age groups. People were coming down from Dublin and from elsewhere with probably slightly cynical notions and they ended up being gobsmacked by what they saw. One thing we have done is to change people's perception

on what theatre can be. We haven't stood back and done the same old things year after year."

According to Turton, the Galway Arts Festival is accessible to everyone despite the huge range

of events on offer.

"We can't compete with other festivals on size or in financial terms. You see massive festivals

in Salzburg, or even Edinburgh which is huge with 194 events on the fringes alone. Finding decent shows that aren't sold out is like looking for a needle in a haystack. In Galway we pride ourselves on being intimate, where every event is of high quality,

yet you're not swamped. The performers really seem to enjoy it too. They go away and tell other groups on the circuit so our reputation increases."What is the secret to planning a good programme? "There's nothing like a good show to be able to offer people. You can say I'm going to have this kind of show or that kind of theme to the

festival but there's no substitute for a damn good show. It can come out of the blue. Last year the big surprise was a Polish group, Theatre Biuro Podrozy, who came along with a show based on testimonies of those who experienced the Bosnian war. It wasn't spectacular or a blockbuster - just a 40 minute outdoor show which was wonderfully evocative. Some of it was quite traumatic but much of it was uplifting. People were coming up to me for days after and saying thanks for bringing it over here."

What does he say to those who think festivals like Galway are just an excuse for a giant piss-up and that all this arts stuff is for the birds?

"Well, there's always a lot of drinking going on in Galway anyway and that's fine by me. If people come down for the craic that's great too - it's the height of the summer season after all. But we always aim to draw everyone into the atmosphere of the Festival with shows out on the streets free of charge so it's actually quite hard to avoid."