Adidas Originals Street Art Competition

Champion Sports have just launched a pretty cool competition to find Ireland’s most talented urban artists to create an original piece of street art that will embrace the theme of ‘celebrating originality meets street art’. The prize is a masterclass with Krooked Type and the chance to get your art displayed on your own billboard. The competition is part of the launch campaign for the brand new adidas Originals clothing and footwear range.

The winner will get a two-day masterclass featuring Maser, Albert Hooi and Fraher, which should be a dream come true to any budding young artist. Or even a 30-something scribbler to be honest ;) Krooked Type will be judging all entries.

The new adidas Originals range is driven by adidas' history and looks to bring the spirit of adidas’ past and present to life in a fresh and modern range. The range combines typical adidas quality and materials with creative and luxurious street fashion, creating urban wear that blends timeless and modern designs echoing the brand’s heritage.

Coinciding with the competition, and offering a great place to pick up some inspiration, adidas and Champion Sports have specially commissioned a new collection by Maser. His ‘Originals-inspired’ street art installation can be seen at The Bernard Shaw, Richmond Street, Dublin 2, as part of the launch of the new adidas Originals range.

Speaking about the campaign, Emily Barry, Marketing Executive, Champion Sports said, “We are truly excited at the launch of the adidas Originals range in our stores. It has been a great experience to work with Krooked Type on the installation, which we feel really celebrates the spirit of both the Champion Sports and adidas Originals brands. We’re looking forward to receiving lots of entries to the Street Art competition and working with the winners to create their very own billboard!”

To enter simply email your artwork to celebrate@champion.ie before Friday 8th October. Submitted entries will be uploaded to the Champion Sports Facebook page, as they are received. The three winning finalists will be announced on or around Monday 11th October.

Arthur's Day 2010: More Bands, More Artists & More Tickets

The last time I posted about Arthur's Day 2010 I was able to confirm venues and artists but the specifics weren't available. Since then not only have tickets gone on sale, and sold out!, but all the venues obviously had their respective artists finally confirmed. Unfortunately though, as I said, ticket sales were exceptional and many venues sold out almost straight away. Today, however, I am happy to pass on the very good news that Guinness has announced that a limited number of additional Arthur’s Day tickets for all studio venues will be released for sale at 9am tomorrow (Tuesday, 24th August) via Ticketmaster.

What could make this news any better? Guinness have also announced over 15 additional artists that have been added to the Arthur's Day line up including Manic Street Preachers, David Gray, Cathy Davey and Oscar-winning actor turned musician Tim Robbins & The Rogues Gallery Band. There have also been several new talents added to the line up such as Ty, The Courteeners, Biffy Clyro and Bitches with Wolves.

Speaking about Arthur’s Day, Manic Street Preachers said, “Some of our greatest gigs have been in Ireland; we really do have very special memories of playing there. From a tiny show for our first label Heavenly to playing Slane Castle and everything in between. The atmosphere will no doubt be amazing and we’re proud to a part of what is fast becoming one of Ireland’s biggest days of the year”.

While David Gray commented that "Coming back to Ireland is always a great experience for me and the band, particularly being back in Galway! It was amazing to be part of the celebrations last year and to support the Arthur Guinness Fund. We are really looking forward to getting the chance to play some of the new tunes as well as some old faves in such an amazing location. Cheers Arthur!"

New additions to the Arthur’s Day line up:

Studio Artists Manic Street Preachers David Gray Tim Robbins & the Rogues Gallery Band Biffy Clyro The Courteeners Ty Cathy Davey

Pub Artists David Kitt Oliver Cole Fight Like Apes Keywest Bitches with Wolves Ryan Sheridan Carly Connor

New Arthur's Day Artists

Orla Flanagan, Guinness Brand Manager said, “We are excited about the new acts added to the line up. We wanted to hold back some tickets so that fans of our newly announced artists including Manic Street Preachers and David Gray got an opportunity to see their favourite bands. The real magic of Arthur’s Day is that all the studio artists will also make a surprise appearance in an Arthur’s Day pub venue. Fans that purchase pub tickets will not only see great pub artists but also see artists like Brandon Flowers, Snow Patrol or Paolo Nutini play in a pub for €5 which is an exciting element of Arthur’s Day”.

The Arthur's Day celebrations will begin at 17:59 at St James’s Gate Brewery in Dublin on 23rd September. The celebration will then continue with activities and events at various locations in Ireland and throughout Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe, and North America. The full line up now stands as follows:

Studio Venues	Artists
St James’ Gate	Snow Patrol Manic Street Preachers Biffy Clyro Our Thursdays Winner
The Academy	Brandon Flowers Plan B José González Slow Club Tim Robbins & The Rogues Gallery Band
Olympia Theatre	Carbon/Silicon Cathy Davey The Chapters Our Thursdays Finalist
Vicar Street	The Maccabees The Hoosiers Eliza Doolittle The Courteeners
The Village	Kelis Tinie Tempah Example We Have Band Ty
Folan Quay, Galway Harbour	David Gray Newton Faulkner The Magic Numbers Sharon Shannon Our Thursdays Finalist
Savoy, Cork	Paolo Nutini Kt Tunstall The View Fortune O Emperor Our Thursdays Finalist

PUB VENUES	Each pub will also welcome a surprise performance on the night from a studio artist
Dublin
The Baggot Inn	Heathers David Kitt
The Bank	Joey Negro & The Sunburst Band
The Brazen Head	The Shoos Sparrow and the Workshop
Bruxelles	Sparrow and The Workshop Heathers
Dakota	The Milk Bitches with Wolves
Doheny & Nesbitt	John Spillane The Boy Who Trapped the Sun
Fitzsimons	Pilotlight Ryan Sheridan
Flannery’s	Molotov Jukebox
The George	Bitches with Wolves Dirty Epics
Hogans	RoySeven
Odeon	Oliver Cole Butterfly Explosion
O’Donoghue’s	David Kitt The Chapters
Oliver St. John Gogarty’s	The High Kings Oliver Cole
The Palace Bar	The Boy Who Trapped the Sun John Spillane
Pygmalion	The Dirty 9s The Rags
Sinnotts	Fight Like Apes Pilotlight
The Stag’s Head	The Rags Ryan Sheridan
The Temple Bar	Broken Records The High Kings
Whelans	Dirty Epics Butterfly Explosion
Galway
Kelly’s	Duke Special
Róisín Dubh	A Band Called Wanda Plus Special Guest
Taaffes	Johnny Flynn Plus Special Guest
Tigh Cóilí	A Band Called Wanda Johnny Flynn
Cork
Crane Lane Theatre	Carly Connor Keywest
Old Oak	Director Simon Fagan
The Pavilion	Mick Flannery Simon Fagan
Reardens	Mick Flannery Carly Connor
SoHo	Keywest Director

Further Information: Arthur Guinness Fund
The Arthur Guinness Fund supports the emerging sector of social entrepreneurship in Ireland. In April this year, Guinness assigned €1 million to ten social entrepreneurs with each of their projects receiving €100,000 and additional support and expertise from Diageo Ireland and Social Entrepreneurs Ireland. A further €1.5 million will be used to support future Irish social entrepreneurs in the coming years.

Cee Lo Green: F**K YOU

This is one of the best examples of Kinetic Typography, and a severely catchy tune to boot. Listen and love!

Golden Pages iPhone App Viral

Following on from my post about the Golden Pages event on Wednesday to promote the company's 40th Birthday and the launch of their new iPhone App, the Golden Pages have released the following video. Fairly slick and awesome imho. Check it out...

Ray Bans & Augmented Reality

Nice bit of extended Augmented Reality from the chaps at Ray Bans. Check it out...