Imagine Arts Festival Waterford 2023 is a go! The official launch of the Imagine Arts Festival Waterford 2023 took place on Tuesday night in the intimate setting of the Theatre Royal amidst the display of paintings of local artist Pat O'Brien. The 2023 festival was launched by the Mayor of Waterford City and County Joe Conway and the new festival director for 2023 Sinéad Dunphy.

Speaking at the launch Mayor Conway said, "ladies and gentlemen, I'm delighted to be here as mayor of Waterford City and County to officially launch the Imagine Arts Festival for 2023. As we are gathered here tonight we can feel the artistic energy. The place is awash with it and there's anticipation in the air. The Imagine Art Festival will run from October 24th to 29th and is posed to set our imaginations ablaze and ignite the warming suffusion of artistic endeavour that lies within us. This year is going to be very special and I'm delighted to see that there is going through such a wide gamut of artistic expression. Music, visual arts, performance, heritage events, artist development workshops, seminars. Under new leadership this year of Sinéad Dunphy we embarked on a new era of artistic expression and innovation. Sinead's passion for the arts shines through. And I think I can quote a little bit from her here. She says in her debut year as festival director, she's very honored to present a program that invites you all to immerse yourselves in the boundless world of creativity. So it remains just for me to say dive into the imagination and dive into the artistic endeavour."

In her opening speech the new festival director Sinéad Dunphy said, "this is my first time directing a professional festival in my hometown, and it's a huge honor for me. It's also a huge honor to have the support of everybody involved with the festival and from the community. That's where I wanted to look when planning for this year. The idea of community connection came true with the feedback I received from artists, musicians, theatre practitioners, dancers, literally full gambit, it was an incredible explosion of energy that I found to return home to. The Imagine Art Festival has a long history of celebrating the arts and for 2023 we are returning to its roots. We need to look at being the Multidisciplinary Arts Festival and I'm committing the festival to really focusing its place as being a resource to artists. Within the programme this year, we're not just looking at a huge expression of different creativity for so many different talents, but we're also looking at how the festival can help those talents, how it can develop different art forms, and how we can, on a year-round basis, become a real resource to helping people develop their own careers."

Music on the night was from the Gypsy Jazz Ensemble, led by Dylan Bible.

A full list of details on the festival can be found at
www.imagineartsfestival.com.