Month: July 2009

Connect: Artist Mentoring Project

Common Ground (the arts development agency based in Inchicore) has teamed with Create (the national development agency for collabortive arts) to deliver an action research project, ‘Connect’, on the subject of artist mentoring:

The core of Connect is a mentoring programme that brings experienced artists together with less experienced artists, to guide and support their creative process. A range of events are also taking place which present and discuss ideas about mentoring, through panel discussions, presentation of case studies and workshops. This public action research forum is one of these events. It will be of interest to artists, those working in the arts sector – particularly within the field of participatory arts practice – and those working in other sectors who have an interest in collaborating with artists or are already doing so, e.g. youth workers, community development groups, educators, healthcare professionals, etc.

The next stage of the project is a public action research forum taking place in Galway on 16 June. For more information, click below:

Background information on the project (.doc)

Programme (.doc)

Ireland & its arts centres

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Civic Theatre Tallaght

Civic Theatre Tallaght

In today’s Irish Times, a very interesting article on the expansion of arts centres during the last decade, many funded under the Cultural Developments Incentive Scheme:

If the physical landscape of Ireland will never be the same after the building boom of the so-called Celtic Tiger years, with all its modern apartment blocks and endless motorways, then neither will the cultural landscape, which has also been transformed by the country’s now-lamented economic prosperity. Nowhere has this been more evident than in infrastructural developments for the arts; the appearance of theatres, galleries and arts centres in the most surprising sites across the country: in satellite suburbs and small towns, from Coolock to Doolin to Naul.

Written by Sara Keating, the article contains interviews with then-minister Michael D Higgins, and directors of arts centres including Dunamaise Arts Centre (Portlaoise), An Grianán Theatre (Letterkenny), Civic Theatre (Tallaght). According to Higgins, fears that the newly built centres would become white elephants haven’t borne out… however it is also true that it hasn’t been an easy ride for them all: witness the recent woes of the Riverbank Arts Centre. Such places are unbelievably important to their communities as spaces for art and performance, and one can only hope they will continue to flourish with community and government support.

Now, if only something could be done about the disgrace that is the Bank of Ireland Arts Centre in Dublin…!

Facebook campaign for Irish arts workers

Members of Theatre Forum are leading the way to establish a series of Facebook group pages for the various constituencies across the country. The idea was mooted at the recent Theatre Forum annual conference, and so far 26 groups have been formed (a great summary of this year’s lively conference was written by Sara Keating in the Irish Times).

The aim is for the campaign to raise awareness for councillors and TDs of how many arts workers live in their constituencies, and support ongoing initiatives to support the arts.

To sign up to a group in your area, or to launch one in the 43 remaining constituencies, click here.