FOUR Clare artists have so far been selected to participate in Ireland Performs, the Culture Ireland initiative that supports Irish artists to perform live to a global audience.

Over 120,000 people tuned in to the first week of Ireland Performs and the series will continue for several more weeks.

Clare’s Sharon Shannon, Aindrias de Staic and Ruairi McKiernan have already performed live from their homes, while Pádraig Rynne will be performing today (Saturday) at 12.30pm.

All performances can be viewed live or watched back afterwards on the Culture Ireland Facebook page.

Each artist had an individual approach to the performance, streaming from their own chosen space, including Aindrias de Staic who performed from Ennistymon’s craft shop.

Ruairi McKiernan read from his latest book “Hitching for hope” live from his kitchen. Viewers responded online from Australia, Tasmania, Japan, across Europe to the US and the follow up views for the performances post the live events continue to grow.  

Ireland Performs will continue for several more weeks with a stellar offer of some of Ireland’s finest talents including theatre, visual arts and spoken word as well as music.

Ireland Performs is a grant scheme to support professional artists and enable the live presentation of their work on online platforms. Funding of €100,000 is being made available and all successful artists will be awarded €1,000. 

The scheme is still open for applications and more information is available here.