Westport Town Hall Theatre is booming
SINCE reopening in June 2015 after an almost 10-year closure, Westport Town Hall Theatre is booming, writes Tom Gillespie.
The variety of events is phenomenal, from community events like a recent talk hosted by Westport Eco Congregation on how to recycle at home, to a sold-out concert last week with Christy Moore.
Rosaleen Heraty from Horkan’s Hill in the town is manager of the 225-seat multi-use cultural space for the performing arts.
Westport Town Hall has been at the cultural heart of Westport since first opening its doors to the public in the early 1900s. Located centrally on the Octagon, it has been home to many of the town's active arts, community and voluntary organisations.
The hall was last refurbished in 1973 but was closed on health and safety grounds in 2008.
Rosaleen took up the story: “At that point in time it was falling apart, but a group of locals, spearheaded by local businessman Noel Kavanagh, Sean Staunton and Fr. Denis Carney, came together to head up the redevelopment of the hall.”
The rejuvenation of the town hall cost a whopping €3.2 million. Mayo County Council, the local town council, Fáilte Ireland, the South West Mayo Development Company, the local St. Patrick’s Drama Group, Minister Michael Ring and the local community all contributed to the project.
Rosaleen continued: “The clergy are involved as the building has always been owned by the Archdiocese of Tuam. At the moment Westport Town Hall Ltd., which is run by a voluntary board of directors, lease the premises from the Archdiocese of Tuam and Fr. Charlie McDonnell represents the Archdiocese on the board.
“The investment by the community of Westport has been phenomenal. Without them it would not be here.
“We do have a lot of local drama groups coming in now. The place has never been busier in its history. We keep the doors open to everything, travelling, professional and amateur. We do everything from bake sales, fundraisers for the local ladies rugby club, Men’s Shed, and the National Council for the Blind. We do it just to keep the place buzzing.
“The lynchpin in the place is that it is for the community. Mayo County Council and the South West Mayo Development Company are still helping us out.
“The Arts Council have not come on board. We have applied each year and what we are told is that the Arts Council feel, that for the region we are in, they already fund enough infrastructure, even though our artistic programme would be the busiest.
“We have to keep going because the demand is there. The majority of the door and ticket sales will always go to the performing artists or groups. That’s the way it is but in order for us to keep the place going we have to keep going. We depend very heavily on volunteers. We are kinda going six days a week, if not seven. We would be programming over 180 events in a year.”
Rosaleen said the Westport audience is always very supportive of all events, particularly the local groups.
Rosaleen, who lived on the Octagon for the first few years of her life, continued: “I was very interested in the redevelopment programme as I was a member of the drama group. My background would be in business management. I started to get interested when the redevelopment started.
“Then the job as manager was advertised and about 80 people went for it. I applied. I didn’t think I would get it. I had to do an interview in front of an independent panel and the panel was short-listed to 12. A couple of weeks later I had to do a presentation in front of another panel on my vision as to where I saw the town hall going.
“I was told afterwards that while I did not have experience in running a theatre, it was my vision and passion for it that got me over the line. I think it was by the skin of my teeth.
“When I started the job the place was still under construction. I started in December 2014 and the place was not ready for opening for another six months.
“By the time we got to opening in June 2015 we were just about ready. I did feel at the beginning maybe not having enough experience in running a theatre by times can go against you, but to say I have learned in the post would be an understatement. The focus here is on community stuff. We do pride ourselves in having a good reputation.”
The town hall is the anchor place for the Westport Arts Festival (Westival), the Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival, which is probably the busiest festival in Westport every June, the Westport Festival of Chamber Music and their own children’s festival, Mac Luí.
They have developed their own summer show, Patrick, which is going into its third season, and Seán Keane is returning for his third summer in July and August.
The box office, which can be contacted on (098) 28459, is open Monday to Saturday from 12 to 6 p.m. and on performance nights until the interval. Their email is info@westporttheatre.com; the box office is boxofficewth@gmail.com; tech, technicalwth@gmail.com; and the website is www.westporttheatre.com.
Do you have a story to tell about your business? If so, Tom Gillespie would be delighted to hear from you. Get in touch at (087) 9680780 or gillespietom49@gmail.com.