2023 Artist Mentor Award Recipients Announced

Create is delighted to announce the recipients of the 2023 Artist Mentor Award.  

This new award sits within a suite of offerings under the Artist in the Community (AIC) Scheme. Piloted in 2022, it aims to offer capacity building and arts practice development for collaborative socially engaged artists, and artists who are transitioning into this field.  

Create pairs experienced artist mentors with awardees, to act as a critical friend/guide as mentees develop their projects. Over a six-month period, awardees will engage in dialogue with their mentors towards building key capacities, while interrogating and consolidating their collaborative socially engaged practice.  

Multi-disciplinary artist and creative producer Isabella Catherine Dogliani will work with mentor Aisling Byrne to learn develop new ways to enrich her work with young people and individuals with disabilities.

Visual artist Silvina Sisterna will be mentored by John Conway, in focused critical discussions about her work and how to further develop her collaborative methodologies with the Nepantla Collective.

Artist Maria McSweeney will benefit from Ruairi O’Donnabháin’s mentorship in leadership, project management and decision-making in socially engaged arts practice while advancing two projects.

Multidisciplinary artist and dancer Vithoria Escobar will work with mentor Cathy Coughlan to develop an effective and strategic collaborative skill set and methodologies to enhance her artistic practices, taking her dance practice to a more elevated and effective level.

Visual artist Maria Gasol will explore ethical considerations such as mediating expectations and power dynamics, respecting the voice of collaborators, assessing the needs of the community, and confidentiality, with mentor Kate O’Shea.

All mentors and mentees will explore central elements of collaborative socially engaged practice, including collaborative methodologies, outreach, sustaining relationships with communities, evaluation, and more. Create’s Mentoring Award is funded through the Artist in the Community Scheme (AIC), managed by Create on a devolved basis for the Arts Council.

The panel which awarded this award was chaired by Aine Crowley, and consisted of Jennifer Fitzgibbon, Research and Learning Manager with Create as well as Isabel Lima, Independent Artist and Rosie Lynch, Independent Artist. Grace Wilentz, project coordinator, AIC Scheme development, observed and took minutes.