First Fortnight 2012

We owe a huge debt of gratitude to every single artist and performer who gave up their time and took part in First Fortnight 2012, and the fantastic Julie Feeney is no exception to that rule. Here’s a clip of Julie performing Impossibly Beautiful (composed by Julie Feeney and taken form “Pages”) at The Therapy [...]

Now in its third year, First Fortnight doesn’t need us to tell you how well thought out it is. Of all the oft-forgotten yet important social taboos to target, mental health is clearly still more essential during an economic near-apocalypse. Setting up in early January, a time that’s notoriously gig deficient, was a stroke of [...]

Jetting in from Italy to be a part of First Fortnight 2012, stunning Italian artist Lemeh42 created  a beautiful wall drawing in The Exchange, Dublin. His work aimed to show the intimate aspect of the drawing act. It was a performance intended as a way to unveil what drawing really is, the purest expression of [...]

John Saunders, Director of See Change, First Fortnight’s partners in helping challenge mental health stigma has written a fantastic piece for The Journal. Its title says it all — Mental illness isn’t abnormal — it’s part of being human. Read John’s column here. Come down to the free Soapbox Sessions event on Saturday to hear John, [...]

Where: The Button Factory When: Saturday January 14 – 2.30pm How much: FREE!!!!  Ireland needs meaningful discussion on mental health. To start this conversation, we’ve gathered well-known voices from Irish cultural life to share their ideas and bring their personal interpretation of the subject to life through performance, prose, music and all important discussion. Hosted [...]

First Fortnight is deeply saddened to hear of the passing of John McCarthy, founder of Mad Pride Ireland and inspirational figure in the campaign to end prejudice and discrimination in mental health. Our thoughts are with John’s son Dave and all the family. “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change [...]

Fear. When I close my eyes and imagine what it looks like I see a huge ball of black mála. Right at the top of my chest. When I eat, food has to make its way around it and I have to breathe extra hard just so the air can get to my lungs. I [...]

The lineup for this coming Wednesday’s Therapy Session in The Workman’s Club has been unveiled. The first of 3 intimate sessions will feature spoken word performances from Vickey Curtis, Sarah Marie Griffin and Alex Barclay. There will also be acoustic music performances from VerseChorusVerse, Thomas Walsh, Tieranniesaur and Mark Geary. Tickets for this event are [...]