This year, to our relief and delight, turned out to be something of a success. At the risk of hubris though, describing it solely as a literary or arts festival might be doing a disservice to the ethos of our original idea.

As an alternative to ‘off-the-peg’ consumerist hedonism, we essentially wanted to mount a combination of fun and wide-ranging artistic excellence, in an atmosphere whereby artistic endeavour could spring naturally from within our local community and beyond - whilst not pandering to the almost redundant perception of ‘community arts’ (or any other buzzword that conjures up the so called packaging of art in general). Instead, we wanted to create something that would evolve out of the hedgerows, fields and souls of our local villages – something special that has become tragically separated from art as to consider it almost invisible.

Although we feel that this year’s festival succeeded in satisfying many of our original aims, we have received many calls, predicting a bigger festival next year. But we will be careful in ensuring that we don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. Although infrastructural work will be carried out to ensure a more smoothly run event, we are determined to harness the ‘rough around the edges’ magic of our first year. Although the somewhat high-brow literary components of 2007 gave the festival relative gravitas, it was the eclectic music offerings, the farm-work sculpture, the campfire banter, the recitations, the X-Tractor talent contest, the poetry competition, the brass band, the twenty-second film booth and the freedom of the children’s marquee that provided grist to the same artistic mill. There literally was something here for everyone.

As a logical progression from last year, we are focusing our attention in 2008 towards our natural hinterland, Ulster - and are particularly interested in celebrating the vibrancy and potency of an almost vanished world of artistic expression in a forgotten enclave of modern Ireland.

Represented best by Queen’s University’s mid-sixties generation, many of whom attended the first music festivals here in Clones, Co.Monaghan - we want to try and fuse the essential feeling of the ‘Fleadh Cheoils’ of the sixties with contemporary aspiration and the genuine demotic. We intend to invite the many important Ulster writers, including Maurice Leitch, David Park, John Morrow and many others. We also intend to focus on The Ulster Poets who were part of that extraordinary flowering- such as John Montague, Seamus Heaney, Derek Mahon, Frank Ormsby, Ciaran Carson and others.

In tandem with this, we will celebrate the prolific virtues of the ‘Maritime Sound’, emerging from Belfast’s Maritime Hotel - a significant location that produced some extraordinary music for many years leading up to the troubles.

In this respect, we will invite a key artist key artis - the legendary blues-man, Henry McCulloch – who has acted as a rock solid conduit to an entire movement of significant Irish music. On this basis, we are extending an invitation to Henry and will be asking Jools Holland to interview him along and inviting him to put together his own ‘all-star’ Ulster band. This, in our own way, is an effort to shine a spotlight on pre-troubles Ulster, and will include many other aspects of Ulster music.

By way of diffusing any idea of parochial introspection however, we will be striving to temper local focus with a healthy presence of international artistes. We have already secured the attendance of a 75-piece Male Voice choir from Wales and will be inviting Stephen Fry, Alabama songwriter, Jim White, Michael Gambon, Rhys Ifans, Mick Jones, and Elvis Costello… and we have a few surprises up our sleeve. 

We obviously be stretching the muscles of our Cinema & Film forums, along with setting up an ambitious ‘Easy Listening’ symposium, looking into an array of post-war musical genius such as Jacky Trent and Tony Hatch.

Although today’s version of Heineken-sponsored stand-up comedy gives us the collective shits, we will also endeavour to provide a genuinely eclectic comedic offering…. So, don’t be surprised if you see Ken Dodd waving his tickle-stick in the Butty Barn…. or even Ronnie Corbett spinning yarns from the bucket of a JCB. 

And don’t be shocked to see the likes of Frank Geary sitting on a panel or two. This years architectural debate ‘Why’s our countryside littered with shite’ should not be taken lightly… and we can guarantee some architectural heavyweights throwing their illustrious thoughts into the cement mix.

Also, on the back of this year’s Damien Hirst Art Auction (especially the lucrative sale of his donated spin painting) we intend to mount an ‘affordable art auction’, plat forming a diverse collection of national and international artists. Furthermore, the money raised from this auction strand has enabled us to create something quite spectacular in relation to the ‘2007 Flat Lake Arts Project’. Jonathon Leahy’s brilliant sculpture, wrought from disused farm machinery, will form the basis of an ambitious multimedia art project, to be presented on the Sunday evening of next year’s festival.

What people seemed to universally enjoy at this year, was that we tried to mount an event in an atmosphere free from omnipresent nanny-style interference … where one can actually breathe without being confronted by red-tape policy documents, glossy mission statements, corporate sponsorship of any kind… and free from organisational negativity - all subjectively stacked up to bewilder the original impulse which makes art enjoyable and genuinely worthwhile.

So, whilst The Flat Lake is a festival that likes soda farls, Tommy Cooper and films about confessing window cleaners – it is also a significant cultural environment that enjoys Proust, Jack London, Nancy Drew and W.F Marshall. And we would be more than honoured if you would consider our invitation to participate in 2008.

The 2008 Flat Lake Festival takes place on the weekend of 23rd/24th August.

Because we don't want The Flat Lake to exceed 2,000 guests and due to early demand, It will probably be a ticket-only affair ...so we advise you to book early when the tickets become available after the 'Yuletide Celebration of Consumer Greed and Religeous Hypocracy'.

 

We can be contacted at the above address or at flatlakeinfo@eircom.net.

We remain,

Sincerely Yours

Patrick McCabe & Kevin Allen