The Busk

The busk takes place on Grafton Street every December to raise funds for the Simon Community. I worked with Collective on the feature length documentary, The Busk: A Decade on Grafton Street, for RTÉ. The documentary explored the meaning of The Busk through the eyes of musicians who have participated like Bono, Glen Hansard, Dermot Kennedy, Lisa Hannigan and more.

I wrote the spoken word intro and a series interludes that were woven throughout the documentary. These pieces helped make the personal recollections and live performances featured in the documentary flow seamlessly and also helped the impact of the annual busk to connect with the viewer at home.

The pieces were performed by spoken word artist Natalya O’Flaherty. We filmed on a cold winter night when the streets of Dublin were still quiet due to COVID restrictions.

The documentary was well received. Coverage included headlines like “Emotional viewers say RTÉ doc The Busk is the programme of Christmas 2020”and “Viewers were captivated by 'The Busk' on RTÉ One last night”