First Fortnight and WeAreGriot to present Welcome to Antidote at The Grand Social this October

First Fortnight Mental Health Art & Culture Festival are teaming up with the performance poetry collective WeAreGriot to present Welcome to Antidote at The Grand Social on October 5.

WeAreGriot were commissioned by First Fortnight to compose a tetraptych (a term usually aligned with visual art, is a four-part arts presentation) of poems thematically connected by the festival’s mission of challenging mental health stigma.

While the completed show, Antidote, will premiere during First Fortnight Mental Health Art & Culture Festival this coming January, the October performance will offer a first taste via a public development performance of the show.

 

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The WeAreGriot collective is comprised of four artists: Dagogo Hart, Emmet O'Brien, Felispeaks, and Samuel Yakura, and draws inspiration from the griot tradition of West Africa, where griots are revered as historians, storytellers, praise singers, and keepers of oral traditions.

Antidote will also feature synths from Neubri, the event's host Jimbo, and Cork’s own Kaiser Kestine.

First Fortnight and its festival aims to challenge mental health stigma through arts and cultural action and de-stigmatise conversations around mental health.

Annually, during the first two weeks of January, the festival looks to tackle the stigma attached to mental ill health through stage performances, exhibitions, gigs, poetry, panel discussions, interviews, film and more.

Tickets for Welcome to Antidote at The Grand Social are priced €17.02 and are available here.