Mick brings his talents home with spectacular ‘Light Ballet’

Despite the fact that he has worked all over the world, Coolderry light artist Mick Murray always harboured a dream of bringing his talents home to the Midlands, particularly over the past year of coronavirus lockdowns.

That dream was realised earlier this month when he collaborated on a spectacular light installation called ‘Light Ballet’ which floated down the river Shannon over a period of eight days and lifting the spirits of thousands of people all along the route.

“A lot of artistic projects happen in cities, and in my opinion middle Ireland has been a little bit forgotten,” says Mick “so when I heard that the Arts Council were providing funding for a ten-day season of arts experiences around the country as a means of bringing art to the people, I decided to get involved and that’s how ‘Light Ballet’ happened.”

Mick Murray collaborated with another lighting designer from Belfast, Matthew Cregan, and the two spent much of last year working on their project to create a light installation and soundscape which would cover almost 200 kilometres of the Shannon river.

“It was the perfect project for the times we are living in, as people could view it from any point along the Shannon with their families in an outdoor setting and still be able to maintain social distance and all the other public health measures,” he points out.

The spectacular light installation was accompanied by a newly-composed soundscape by David Kitt, which was synchronised in real time so that audiences could experience the music in a variety of settings. The soundscape is available to access through the websites of either Culture Works – who produced ‘Light Ballet’ – or Brightening Air/Coiscéim Coiligh, which commissioned the project on behalf of the Arts Council.

‘Light Ballet’ transformed the skies as it danced its way through eight counties, including Offaly, from June 13 to 20 last, and Mick Murray says while it was important to him from a monetary point of view, as work has been very scarce over the past year, it also gave audiences “a very important lift from a mental health perspective” and helped to foster a spirit of togetherness and community.

From the time he attended secondary school in Roscrea, which was the closest school to his home townsland of Drumakeenan in Coolderry, Mick Murray says he was interested in lighting. “I used to do the lights at all the concerts and events in the Vocational school,” he recalls “and then when I went to college in Galway to study Electronic Engineering I got involved in theatre quite quickly with the Drama Soc in college, and also with Macnas.”

After college he continued to work with arts organisations in Galway, before joining the technical team of Riverdance and touring the world. “When I was working at the Galway Arts Festival I also met a group from Australia called Circa, which is the biggest theatre export to come out of Australia so I worked with them internationally as well.”

With over 20 years experience in the field of lighting design and light artistry, and a hugely impressive CV which includes a number of large-scale public realm lighting projects, such as Spire-Inspire for UNESCO International Year of Light; Beckett Bridge for Winter Lights/Eventco; St. Patrick’s Festival; National Concert Orchestra and the Gaiety Theatre, the talented Coolderry man says the ‘Light Ballet’ project on the Shannon has been one of his “most rewarding projects” so far.

“The feedback was just amazing and I think the whole project had an extra significance given what everyone has been through over the past year with the pandemic.”

The father of two daughters, aged four and six, Mick has made his home in the city of Ljubljana with his Slovenian partner, and says one of the upsides of the pandemic was that he got to enjoy a lot of time with his family over the past year.

The ‘Light Ballet’ project also meant that he also got to enjoy a lot of time with his parents, Pat and Ann, at the family home in Coolderry, and he says his Dad, who is a plumber/welder by trade, was “a huge help” on the technical aspect of the project and looked after a lot of the logistics. He also has two sisters, one living in London and the other in Australia.

“The last year has certainly been challenging for everyone working in the arts sector, so the decision of the Arts Council to fund a te- day season of arts experiences through their Brightening Air initiative was hugely welcome and also very significant,” says Mick, who is hoping to work on similar projects in the future.