Lumen is a Street Theatre Company which seeks to engage with the public by presenting scenes and performances that are visually spectacular, distictive and inspiring within the setting of Limerick's urban landscape.
As a Street Theatre Company drawing on the rich and influential tradition of Limerick City’s own Umbrella Project, Lumen seeks to engage with the public by presenting scenes and performances that are visually spectacular, distinctive and inspiring within the setting of Limerick’s Urban Landscape.
Lumen desires to revitalise the arts in the local community by engaging with this community to collectively create their art through artistic outreach programs, workshops and community participation, and to present the finest of street art and theatre at both a National and International standard in the buildup to the Limerick 2020 bid, and beyond.
The founders of Lumen have worked as artistic advisors with community based groups throughout the region. They have been heavily involved in youth based street theatre for the St Patrick’s Day Parades in Kilrush, Ennis and Limerick, and their designs, constructions and street performance theatre for the West End Youth Centre / Clare Youth Service St Patrick’s Day entry won the Martin Folan Creative Award in the Limerick City parade of 2016.
The founding members of Lumen draw on a rich and diverse background of formal artistic education and have careers in areas as varied as visual arts, design, sculpture, fashion, art curation, art education and graphic design. They have a history of working with communities, youth and theatre, and through collective endeavours with these groups they have given life to ‘the extraordinary’ in creative, novel, and engaging ways.
Martin Shannon is a painter, sculptor, and printmaker. He holds degrees in both Fine Art Sculpture and Printmaking, and a Masters degree in Fine Art from the Limerick School of Art and Design. He was selected for Ev+A in 2005, has had a residency in 411 Galleries in China, and has exhibited widely both nationally and internationally.
Giordana Giache is an artist, designer, fashion designer and educator. She holds a B. Design in Fashion from the Limerick School of Art and Design. She won the Irish Heart Foundation’s Fashion Award in 2000, has her own successful fashion label, has taught Fashion at the Limerick Senior College and is currently lecturing at Limerick School of Art and Design.
James Ryan is an artist and curator. James holds a BA in Fine Art from the Limerick School of Art and Design, and a Masters Degree in Fine Art from the University of Ulster. He has created and curated many public art events in China, and has worked directly with the Department of Foreign affairs to promote Irish art and artists within China. James founded Le Chéile, the Irish Community group in Shanghai, where he worked as Creative Director and art teacher. He was Director of the 411 Galleries which has exhibited work throughout China, and curated the exhibitions in the Ireland Pavilion at World Expo 2010.
Kate Hodmon is a visual artist, illustrator, graphic designer, photographer, prop maker and theatre administrator. She studied art and design in the Galway – Mayo Institute of Technology and has a Diploma in Illustration and Graphic Design from the University of Hertfordshire. She has exhibited her artwork both nationally and abroad, and has worked with Spraoi, the Street Theatre production company in Waterford. Kate is currently working with Limerick Youth Theatre.
Our goal is to enrich the cultural landscape of Limerick and the wider region, but we need your help. We need a space that will allow us to work with community groups and provide outreach programs that will leverage our wide and rich artistic expertise in order to bring the creativity, and performance of community based art to a wider audience.
Can you help us give the people of Limerick and the Mid-West the opportunity to engage with the arts in a new way, and to give life to the extraordinary?
