Emilie Conway

Lookit we’re this far!

Remembering this grrrrrrreeat jazz singer, mentor & dear friend who left us this time last year. ❤️ Fionna & her partner double bassist were so so good to me especially during the making of my 2 albums….. so many cozy chats by the fire at her house, actually called the Nest, in Portincaple & a few hot whiskeys & lots & lots of laughter & music …. Miss you Fionna. Thank you for all you gave me & so so many other singers & musicians. You were so generous with your wisdom & your heart. ❤️❤️❤️

And on that note - to learn more about Fionna, listen to the wonderful podcast series created by which I tagged in my ? Reel /story (not sure which one I made ! )

On international Day of Disabilities, am privileged to have my music & activism work acknowledged & championed by the !!

From the UN tweet:
‘We must leave no one behind, especially the 1.3 billion persons with disabilities worldwide.

For Intl. day of Persons with Disabilities we are championing 🇮🇪 Irish vocal jazz artist 🎶

Read about her disability rights activism👇unric.org/en/jazz-has-va…
’

.dlr

Thank you to & for facilitating what turned out to be a very moving and important discussion on what the .protection on Disability Reform might mean for disabled artists, and indeed all disabled people. The Green Paper proposes that:

entitlement to any disability supports determined exclusively by ‘ability to work.‘

Disabled people’s ‘ability to work’ would be assessed by Social Protections new bio-psycho-social-functioning model. Disabled people would then be scored & assigned to one of 3 Tiers - high, low or medium capacity to work - & mandatory connection with Intreo for those assessed as medium to high. Entitlement to disability supports would be means tested against work income.

So,What happens if someone from Tier 1 assessed as ‘no ability to work’ wins an arts council award? Wil

And

What happens a society that regards it’s disabled people solely on their ‘ability to work?’ What’s the message here ?

And, should any other human being or State sit in judgement of another human beings potential ?

How about a payment & in light of the fact the annual additional cost of disability is between 8-12,000e
annually.

If there’s one thing we need now and over the next months of consultation, it is allyship and support. Thank you all today !

Happy Birthday dear SSheila Jordan!! Such lovely memories from celebrating your 90th birthday with @ in London 5 years ago !!! Thank you for all your music & your love. Hope you have a wonderful gig tonight & Happy happy 95th birthday ❤️🎂 🎉❤️so much love to you & so much gratitude # # #

Happy Birthday dear Sheila Jordan !! Such lovely memories from celebrating your 90th birthday with @melaniebong @@pizzaexpresslive in London 5 years ago !!! Thank you for all your music & your love. Hope you have a wonderful gig tonight & Happy happy 95th birthday ❤️🎂 🎉❤️so much love to you & so much gratitude ###

Music and Art are the guiding lights of the world.” - Pablo Picasso

"Guiding Lights" Art & Music from Impressionism to Jazz

Join me .lexicon as we explore the relationship between music and art from the light play of Ravel's Jeu d'Eau and Monet's Water Lilies to the pulsing yellow, red and blues rhythm of Mondrian's Broadway Boogie Woogie to Monk's In Walked Bud!

Over 4 successive Mondays will follow the sound of the music and the smell of the oil paint, as we journey through time to la Belle Époque Europe, Paris, Munich, Vienna, east to St. Petersburg, through World War I, the Spanish flu, back to Paris for Les Années folles, the Jazz Age, the Roaring '20s and at the outbreak of World War II, fleeing to the safety, lights and glamour of New York in the 40s, a city astir from the Harlem Renaissance, the end of Prohibition, vivid and fizzing, shaken and stirred, with a fireworks of innovative work as artists from old Europe mixed with those from the New World.

Mondays Nov 27, Dec 4 and 11 will be lectures and discussion.
Monday 18 will be a performance of music reflective of our course - as well as Christmas tunes!!! 🎍

This event is completely ACCESSIBLE! It is also FREE but booking is essential, via eventbrite. The link is above in my links section.
-- dlr Libraries

I'm so looking forward to finally being able to bring your our Winter Wonderland concert - with Johnny Taylor, Dave Fleming and Dominic Mullan Dec 2, Doors 3:30, Concert at 4pm

Climb about our magical, musical sleigh, wrap your hands around a hot chocolate or a mulled wine as we transport you across peaceful snowy landscapes, glittering baubles and the Christmas stocking dreams and wishes of Classic Winter Jazz!

Also delighted to be able to say that Bewley's Cafe Theatre is completely ACCESSIBLE! .. I know, it should be the norm, but it's sadly not - yet!

Booking on eventbrite

Hear hear @jpn_jazz 2023! Jazz is ‘here to stay!’ Thank you so much for the bursary to attend this year’s conference in @mybcu Conservatoire & @bmusic_ltd Birmingham Symphony Centre An inspirational, energising and thought provoking packed 2 days of jazz,jazz,jazz with fellow artists & promoters and people passionate about jazz music! What a programme of discussions & showcases … Wow @sowetokinch @fergusmccreadie @seonaid_music @bianca_gannon_music & so many, many more. Also the amazing student performance And that’s the Irish contingent there in the photo ! New friends and colleagues Paula & Maeve from @movingonmusic & @bianca_gannon_music from @improvisedmusic ❤️ I was a panellist on #Inclusion last year and was much encouraged by new discussion on this years panel which looked at more ideas & questions.. @attitudeiseverythinghq @womeninjazzmedia @actheduchess Thank you so much to all involved, especially @ros.rigby for such an amazing time & all your care for me, us & the music ❤️

It’s the most pumpkinest time of year !! 🎃🎃🎃 super fun carving party with pumpkin pals .suzanne & lady Lynch ! Happy Halloween everyone !

Wow !!! There really are no words !! Not after the way sang, spoke, evoked, transformed, prayed, bewitched & bedazzled all the possible & impossible words there might be, last night with his band

Audiences tonight for the are in for an unforgettable concert. Uplifting beyond belief! Kurt’s Voice, The Groove, the Funk the Joy & Charlie Hunter’s Blues !!!!!!

Im awestruck & star struck! & so thankful for this photo with the Maestro himself - thank you ! All these years later since first encountering Kurt & his amazing music way back in 1999, in the GreenMill, Chicago, for ‘Live in Chicago’ with Jon Hendricks. I’m sure Kurt inspires so many jazz musicians as hearing him that night re-directed the course of my life - into jazz & music!

Thank you Kurt & your band for making the music so shining new again last night ! ❤️

instagram.com

Mackie Messer! Not the best video in the world but it will give u an idea of what’s on the menu (!) for the Roaring ‘20s: Une Soirée F***e @arthursbluesjazz this wed. With Johnny Taylor, piano, @bardono2 , bass and @dominicmullan_ drums Inspired by the courage & joy of artists from the 1920’s, I present their music as well as my own from the 2020s, incl @nationalgalleryofireland #Mondrian commission & disability rights protest song! Oh and wear your 20s frock or indeed whatever u fancy! Doors are 6:30 There’ll be a live podcast w me & @jenimcmahon at 7pm Concert 8pm. Tickets and info on Eventbrite link in my bio ! Presented by @irishwomeninjazz

Good afternoon folks!! Yes!! We're on in Arthur's Wednesday week! Oct 18 with the Une Soiree F***e of The Roaring 20s for you!

Octobers

Tomorrow, Sunday Oct 1 join us for jazz!

doors 7:30pm upstairs in the Vintage Room: me, & Johnny Taylor. Presented by

ID: that’s Scott there on guitar with sheets of music in front of him on the table Johnny is smiling sitting at the piano - taken in rehearsal today.

I forgot to get one o myself so that pic of me throwing shapes in a black flouncy skirt is from another project… but u get the idea!

As far as I understand the workman’s is sadly not wheelchair accessible. Please let me know if I have this wrong.

Tickets: link in bio !

Cosmic Wetness audio described and multi-sensory tour 1pm, September 27.

Calling disabled/visually impaired/blind people interested or curious about art. Come along Sept 27 at 1pm, when Karen and I will bring you through an experience of her work with a blend of sound art, audio-description, braille and tactile pieces all to make the exhibition come to life beyond the visual.

This has been a very special project. It came about because Karen Donnellan attended an accessible experience I created for .projects.studios last year. She so enjoyed it that when her work earned her an exhibition 🎉🎉🎉with the RHA, she approached me to male her exhibition accessible to people who are visually impaired or blind.

Karen’s work is very exciting & contemporary with a sparkle. She’s a multi-disciplinary artist working with glass, crystals, found objects, and much , much more around ideas like ‘that which cannot be physically held.” (Interesting for us VI people!) And also “Pleasure Activism, The Politics of Feeling Good.” (This also piqued my interest as disability activist ! )Please see her website for more.

Karen greeted every suggestion I made with delight - and “let’s do it!!!” And the RHA responded with support and willingness - so this is a good news, disability led access story!

An image description…. The truth is folks that Instagram is extremely difficult to use as a visually impaired person and so by the time I eventually managed to make a post. I no longer have the wherewithal to write an image description, so let me apologise to my visually impaired and blind colleagues. So let me simply say there are two photos of Karen and me in the Rha gallery standing beside her work whch comprises intricate shapes of what looks like matchsticks, marshmallows and jelly tots??? Aha and to learn more, you must come along!!
you must come along.!

HI folks!
Non-stop rain eh! Seems like a good day to do some admin so!
Delighted to announce that the good folk invited me to play October 1, 7:30

So, I'll be singing with Johnny Taylor, piano and Scott Kohlman, guitar. We'll present some originals including some from my Mondrian catalogue as well as some lovely old jazz standards!

Now wouldn't you think it be a good day to make an instagram video ..... hmmmm... but Schroedinger's cat ate my phone ...

Hot day in Mayo! Pedicure au naturale! 😂☀️

Happy World Senior Citizen Day! Today, we celebrate authors whose writing careers gained prominence after age 60.

"Ma sighed gently and said, 'A whole year gone, Charles.' But Pa answered, cheerfully: 'What's a year amount to? We have all the time there is.'"
-- Laura Ingalls Wilder

Join us today at the museum for museum tours, trivia, and free entry for seniors 65 and over!

I’m still reeling from this. Rest in peace and power, Sinéad O’Connor. How lucky we were to have u for as long as we did but I wish it could have been longer. We’ve lost a beautiful soul & a beautiful songbird.

Thank you for sharing your many gifts, among them your courage, your authenticity & your artistry, so generously with us for so long. We’ll miss you terribly. But, you’ve left us a serious legacy to uphold. I hope I can play my part.

I have chosen this photo from Sinead’s second album ‘Am I Not Your Girl’ which, like many of her albums, I loved and wore out on my CD player until it skipped.

The first jazz standard I learned was ‘Secret Love.’ I had heard Doris Day sing it. But the recording that I personally connected to was Sinead O’Connor’s. And so it was thanks to Sinead & her interpretation that I could deliver the song with any kind of confidence when I sang it at the GreenMill jam session after Kurt Elling’s Live in Chicago in 1999.

Singing that song, the way I did that night, inspired by Sinead’s singing, admitted me to an apprenticeship to this music, jazz, that I secretly loved but had not had the opportunity to develop or share.

And many years later I leaned that this album ‘Am I Not Your Girl.’ was Sinead’s beautiful acknowledgment of the music she loved which had inspired her to become a singer.

Secret Loves ❤️

Last Saturday an amazing thing happened. The first disability pride parade.

Disabled people came from all over Ireland to celebrate disability & to protest the disabling conditions & systemic structures we face.

Ireland has both the highest unemployment & poverty rates of disabled people in all of Europe ref , and so it was emotional & empowering to meet so many passionate, determined and creative disabled - and so many young disabled people knowing that the first obstacle most people faced was actually getting into the city centre on often inaccessible or at least unpredictably accessible public transport.

It made me feel like change is coming & heartened in my work with my disabled artist colleagues with DADA Disabled Artists & Disabled Academics

It was also heartening to feel the support of Saturday shoppers and visitors to the city as they clapped and cheered when we passed by.






To quote chair of Disability Power Ireland who organised the parade:

‘We can’t wait any longer for our voices to be heard. We can’t wait to come together and celebrate the beauty of our existence, which is a natural part of human diversity. We rejoice in the resilience, creativity and power of our community.”

Thank you to & .ie for covering this event. Images are from Virgin Media and the Irishtimes News

Disabled Women Ireland
Chronic Collective Saoirse Smith Pallas Projects/Studios Independent Living Movement Ireland Tara Carroll // Green and Purple Visual Art Neuro Pride Irelandd Heather Humphreyshreys.td Anne Rabbitte TD Pauline Tully TDly_cavan Gary Gannon TD

At the first Disabled Artists Stakeholders Meeting I said: "work that has resulted from working with us {disabled people} has been completely transformative, like nothing else before, truly original, truly illuminating and enlightening.

"There is gold in working with us and really listening to us. Difference is a value. There’s undiscovered gold in our difference."

"You could do so much more. We could do so much more together. Nothing about us without us."

Delighted to attend & speak at the first Disabled Artists Stakeholder group w/ .aine & .culture.gaeltacht
which took place

Braille & Some of my drawings which will be made into tactile pieces for multi sensory tour of trailblazer, Lavinia Fontana, this Monday 11:30 for visually impaired visitors!

Nearly all set !

Drawings done ✅
Music selected & ready, ✅
Audio descriptions nearly finished ✳️
Tactile pieces & materials organised in the Gallery ✅
Braille outline of the exhib & selected works received from ✅

Looks like I can nearly relax. Lots of fun for me artistically working across so many disciplines to create multi sensory experiences for VI visitors. The idea is that it all comes together to spark an vivid imagination of Fontana’s work!

Also delighted that this event kicks off with a program of events with 🌈🏳️‍🌈

We’d a lovely time .lexicon last Thursday! Thanks to al who came out for our Jazz on a Summer‘a Day ! Thanks to all the staf who were so helpful & for the great sound !

Also wish to acknowledge my dress is by the late exquisite Irish designer Penelope Mahon - thank you so much to her daughter & dear friend Antonia Mahon for gifting it to me.

And my necklace is by another Irish jewellery maker,

Thank you to the for the nice mention, among some very fine jazz cats,
re our Jazz on a Summer’s Day concert .lexicon this Thursday.

I’m singing with & Johnny Taylor.

The concert is sold out I believe but there is a waitlist. Link in bio.
dlr

Good morning! During the pandemic I ran an online art therapy. It got a great response & I really enjoyed facilitating it. Ever since it’s been on my mind to run one in person!! So here we go!

Art for Life: Summer Solstice Therapeutic Art Circle.

Inspired by the brightness and strength of the energy of the Summer Solstice starting next Tuesday for 4 weeks .community.centre 7pm.
No previous experience required. Materials supplied tho you’re welcome to bring your own too.


All welcome and link in bio ie

So lovely meeting children with visual impairments/disabilities and taking them thru &Sound tour of the Ark.

We sang, we drummed on theatre wall, we discovered a tin parrot and a cool smooth seal. We followed a long leafy vine into an enchanted forest, heard the low wolf howl & heard him crunching thru the forest, we inspected massive leaves and smells. And we sang some blues together and the a new ‘Welcome to the Ark’ song.

And we have more than a few budding bass players who played bass with maynards_clayhole & drummers who played drums with

Beautiful Pink June super moon that turned honey coloured as it ascended on Sat eve !

My drawings ahead of of J.A. O Connor’s A Thunderstorm. tonbe converted into tactile prints via a Zyfuse machine. This is preparation for an event I’m presenting with for visually impaired visitors. I decided there was too much black in the first one which would obscure the dramatic leaning lines of the tree in the painting. So I made a second simpler one. Very curious to see what they are like in relief!

Great gig and new album launch with & ! They’re on tour at mo. Don’t miss it ❤️🎼🎉

Here's the link to my interview with the United Nations Regional Information Centre- UNRIC.
"Jazz is the “voice of eloquence, freedom, authenticity and respect — and joy!" -Emilie Conway
This , read our interview with Irish 🇮🇪 vocal jazz artist Emilie Conway about the values of jazz and her disability rights activism. 👇

“Jazz has values”: championing disability rights through music To mark International Jazz Day (30 April), UNRIC spoke with Emilie Conway about the values of jazz and her disability rights activism.

“Jazz has values”: championing disability rights through music To mark International Jazz Day (30 April), UNRIC spoke with Emilie Conway about the values of jazz and her disability rights activism.

‘Jazz is the “voice of eloquence, freedom, authenticity and respect — and joy!” 🎼🎶

Happy ! I was very privileged & pretty overwhelmed by this interview invitation with Read the full article at link in my bio.

Lovely eve yesterday had celebrating Irish Jazz stalwart Dave Fleming to a full house !! Thanks to all for making it what it was ❤️

a few hazy snaps there of the band: Dave, me, Johnny Taylor &
improvisedmusic

On this day 2015 Johnny Taylor & I were in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic where we’d been invited by to give The Secret of a Rose Concert for

This is me with the great Dominican composer Rafael ‘Bollumba’ Landestoy. Such a privilege to meet him. I wrote lyrics to a composition of his which, thankfully, he liked & we performed it in the concert. I know that sadly Bollumba who was 90 at the time has passed away since - even more precious to have met this gentleman.

We will never forget what an amazing experience it was to perform to a packed house of Dominican people who welcomed us so warmly. We’ll be ever grateful to Carlos & his team for all their generosity and the amazing time we had.

So there we were and I working away on production of the Mondrian recordings …. & coincidentally, what’s in the background??? Only a v Mondrian inspired looking painting Michael and his daughter did some years ago !!!!! 🎨🎶

On This Day 2022. reporter did the first ever report on the unique challenges faced by disabled artists in Ireland seeking to build a career in the arts on an equitable par with our non-disabled peers.

Challenges & inequities which the did not remove.

Disabled artists who received this income have informed dadacampaign2022 that they have indeed, as we foretold, had their disability supports cut.

As me & my disabled artists colleagues said often in our campaign last year, consistently meeting the costs & impact of having a disability is a pre-requisite to being able to work.

Until this anomaly within self employment in the arts is changed by .protection .td it is difficult to see how we can have real diversity in the Arts as it is unsafe for most disabled artists to lose their disability supports in order to practice and develop their art in a sector where income is so precarious.

Thank you again for highlighting the issue. ❤️

.aine

We celebrate our dear friend, colleague & stalwart of Irish Jazz, Dave Fleming April 27
tickets via Eventbrite link in bio

Celebrating Dave Fleming

Emilie Conway Quartet Celebrates Double Bassist and Stalwart of Irish Jazz, Dave Fleming.

Double bassist Dave Fleming has been a stalwart of Irish jazz for over 40 years. His cultural & musical contribution, as much as his personal impact, of kindness, wisdom & wit, is immeasurable.

One of Ireland's true musical elders, through his career he has played with local & international luminaries including The Wad, Noel Kelehan, Louis Stewart, Jim Doherty, Lynne Arriale, Scott Hamilton, Spike Robinson, Harold Land, Warren Vache, Teddy Edwards, Bobby Shew, Art Farmer, Joe Pass, Barney Kessel, Billy Eckstine, Jimmy Witherspoon, Van Morrison, Mose Allison, the Tommy Halferty Quartet, Hugh Buckley Quartet, Van Morrison & The Chieftains and many, many more.

Emilie Conway started working with Dave over 15 years ago and his support musically & personally was instrumental in the production of first album the Secret of a Rose with Johnny Taylor on piano and Dominic Mullan on drums.

Now, In recognition of his contribution and his 70th Birthday, Emilie Conway & her musicians, Johnny Taylor & Dominic Mullan delight in paying tribute to & celebrating their great friend and colleague, Dave Fleming, in a concert that features him & the music he loves.

Tickets on Eventbrite

https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/celebrating-dave-fleming-with-emilie-conway-quartet-tickets-609774811877?fbclid=PAAaZ9l1Al9731mcJAbHf8oYRLU3y3dX6JYMxA1YlYhodf4jjhusGInK1bT7U

emilieconway.ie | bewleyscafetheatre.com

Doors, 6:30pm, Gig 7pm

The venue is wheelchair accessible via a lift to the theatre