QUARTER BLOCK PARTY Brus Performance Marathon Returns Saturday 15 July

Quarter Block Party has been on a long journey since beginning in 2015. What began as an answer by a team of DIY artists and volunteers to years of economic recession and diminishing opportunities for artists & creatives in Cork City, grew each year to become a proper festival. A party which lit a spark every February while the days still felt short and cold. Reflecting on the freshness and newness of the early days of spring, Quarter brought young artists, new work, contemporary ideas and sparked conversation. That was the big idea. Conversations, and exchanging each other's perspectives.

Festival Co-Organiser Caoilian Sherlock says “One of the best things about 'Quarter Block Party' since we started has been the conversations. The late nights, the rambles, the early mornings, the music trailing and the poetry dispensing mixed in with afternoon markets, engaging workshops, the odd naked body or two entwined in a community hall - and a truly surprising amount of performances which utilise industrial levels of lube.

We were a mixed bag of musicians, dancers, theatre makers, writers and actors who couldn't find work, couldn't make work, couldn't show work. We were like the sugary dust at the end of a bag of sweets. In Cork, there's a name for that sugary dust. The Brus. You know, from Gaeilge. No, not for a brush - but for the broken, crumbly bits.”

The last edition of Quarter Block Party took place one month before lockdown in 2020. You might remember there was a General Election that weekend and something called Storm Ciara. There was change and disaster in the air, little did the Festival know how much turmoil was on the horizon.

“When we started out we were talking about being 'homebirds'. We were starting cults, we were playing guitars in shop windows, we were Some Baffling Monster, we were searching for Jesus in all the wrong places, we were playing American Football in Deer Park while advocating for sex workers by the Old City Wall behind Dunnes Stores.

When we started we were popping up and dropping down. We were Jet Setters, Pillow Queens, Altered Hours and we were trying to fit 400 people in 100 capacity rooms. We passed milk buckets along the historic spine, danced in the marsh and were running up that hill. 

Since we started we've been Radió Mná, Talk Of The Parish, Playful Commons, Slumber. It's been a Growing Conversation.” – Ruairi O'Donovan, Quarter Block Party Co-Organiser


Quarter Block Party has been away for three years and they're coming back this summer, to try something different. Something really communal and explorative.

The Festival wants to gather everyone together in one place and build a stage where each person can showcase their ideas. Where you can try something fresh from your head, bring back something you never finished but have been thinking about intermittently when you're in the shower. Something that starts a conversation or completely stops the show. A kind of open mic for all artforms.

Quarter would love to hear from YOU, share your work, share each other's stories and begin to build a Quarter community of many perspectives and ideas. 

They have a large space, a PA, a backline for a band, microphones for singers and poets, and a dancefloor. They have room for circus performers, spoken word artists, storytellers and writers, dancers, drag queens. They have space for the introverts, the extroverts, the avant garde - maybe even the Gardai if they want to let out their inner freaks. Who knows?

They will have 30 performers, back to back, with approx 3 minutes each. You have the room's attention - what do you want to do with it? 

Quarter will have an hour break for lunch, where everyone is invited to to eat together and start those conversations. You might meet your soulmate over a bowl of Dahl! 

Quarter invites friends of the festival, previous performers, strangers, artists, creatives, newcomers, relatives, old pals, friends of friends, all ages - young and old. 

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