Summer School on Cultural Diversity and Collaborative Practice

AIC Scheme 2019 Summer School on Cultural Diversity and Collaborative Practice

An initiative of The Arts Council’s Artist in the Community Scheme, managed by Create, the national development agency for collaborative arts. 

The Artist in the Community Scheme (AIC) is funded by the Arts Council and managed by Create. The scheme has a long history in the development of collaborative arts in Ireland. Established in 2002 with the aim to encourage and support meaningful collaboration between artists and communities of place and/or interest, the AIC scheme supports dynamic collaborations across  art forms and context areas across the country. Examples include film making with divers off Malin head, Co. Donegal;  dance in Cape Clear Island, Co. Cork; sound art with Beekeepers in Limerick to visual arts with Migrant Women’s Group in Dublin.

Cultural Diversity and the Arts has always been a priority area for the Arts Council and the AIC Scheme has supported many project initiatives in this area. For a second year, Create and Counterpoints Arts are delighted to offer a Summer School on Cultural Diversity and Collaborative Practice for up to 15 artists, held this year from the 15th to the 19th July in the West of Ireland.

About the summer school

In our consideration of “Cutural Diversity”, we recognise the benefits that many different cultures bring to our society. The concept of ‘cultural diversity’ is often read as abstract, perhaps overly mired in policy and technical language. It’s an oft-repeated term but how does it resonate as an intersectional and dynamic part of everyday life?  What might ‘cultural diversity’ mean in practice: in people’s intimate lives, in neighbourhoods and within communities of place and interest?

How might ‘cultural diversity’ form an intrinsic part of the artistic, socially engaged process and act as a powerful driver for social change? A key aim of the summer school is to create a peer-to-peer space in which to explore the concept of ‘cultural diversity’ and its various applications through the lens of the AIC Scheme which has resulted in rich cultural ecosystems and cross-sector methodologies.

The summer school will be interdisciplinary both in curriculum and composition of participants, presenters and facilitators. The summer school will take the form of a five-day residency enabling a ‘think and do’ collaborative approach, utilizing creative workshops, critical and comparative case studies, one-to-one mentoring, international guest speakers including curators, policymakers and activists.

Directed by: Áine O’Brien – Co-Director Counterpoints Arts

Visiting speakers and facilitators to be announced