Samhlú - Seeing Things Seminar, May 1st

The multi-disciplinary author and researcher, Síle de Cléir, is to be the keynote speaker at a one-day event in Westport this May on the future of Irish towns. De Cléir, who has a background in fashion and textiles, is a leading researcher in folklore and ethnology, with a particular focus on the intersections of textiles, popular religion and identity. This range of research activity has given her a unique insight into the challenges facing small towns, and a way in to understanding their past. She is to speak at Samhlú - Seeing Things, an event  jointly hosted by Westport Civic Trust and UCD Centre for Irish Towns, reimagining a different past, present and future for small Irish towns.

“Samhlú is the act of imagining or creating something new. We ask can the material culture of towns inform more liveable, imaginative futures for everybody?” said John Mulloy, one of the event organisers.

“Across Ireland, small towns are alive with traces of the past — their streets, open spaces, even shopfronts and street furniture hold stories that continue to shape how we live today,” adds Orla Murphy of the UCD Centre for Irish Towns.“Yet many of them face new challenges such as vacancy, dereliction, degraded public space and the impacts of climate change. These, along with a loss of ritual and disappearing material practices all raise questions about how to sustain and nourish towns as socially inclusive places.”

The event brings together leading voices from architecture, heritage, cultural geography and the arts to ask: what would our small towns look like if we truly connected to their material reality? Speakers will include: Síle de Cléir (UL), Nessa Cronin (NUIG), Fiona White (ATU), Karen Keaveney (UCD), Philip Crowe (UCD), Laura Earley, Stephen Wall (UCD),  the Mayo Traveller Movement, Victoria Durrer (UCD) and more. Themes will include connection to rural identity, colonialism, morphology, ritual, adaptive capacity, mapping the future, inclusion, climate change and beauty.

In addition to the talks, there will be two workshops: a visual art session led by local artist Tom Brawn (currently a postgraduate student at the Royal College of Art in London) and a creative writing workshop by poet and artist Alice Lyons on Words & Places. There will also be tours of the town, led by Orla Murphy and John Mulloy.

Structured as a day of talks, workshops, and town walks, Samhlú – Seeing Things invites participants to explore continuity and change — from ancient May rituals to contemporary questions of livability and belonging.

The event takes place on Friday, 1 May 2026, at the old Dunnes Stores building and Breheny’s old garage, Castlebar Street, Westport. Booking for the event will be open on February 3rd  on www.westportcivictrust.org  Tickets cost €25 and €15 for students/concessions and Westport Civic Trust members