AIC Scheme 2021 Round One: Successful Recipients

Congratulations to all successful applicants to the AIC Scheme (Round One) in 2021, who come from a range of art forms and contexts.

Read more about each recipient, and their planned course of work, below.

Research and Development Award

Ashleigh Ellis will work with the Parkowen/ Green Spaces for Health group on the research and development of a Visual arts piece, based in Cork City, aiming to foster and strengthen positive and proactive relationships with nature within localities.

Cindy Cummins intends to collaborate with Danesfort GAA club, Kilkenny, researching and developing through the practice of dance, theatre and visual art, an ambitious, ground-breaking, high-quality arts project with the local community, drawing together two seemingly disparate parts of Irish culture, the GAA and the arts

Andrea Kelly will collaborate with Ballyconnell N.S , local historians, Hidden Heritage Wicklow and other members of the community on the artistic and cultural exploration of the historic landmark of Rathgall hillfort in County Wicklow.

Colette Lewis intends to work with an intergenerational group of Great Island residents (County Cork) to shape a new art project around community-led models of alternative ‘diverse economies’, empowering local communities to imagine and co-create more ethical, just and sustainable futures on the island.

Research and Development Award with Mentoring

Karen Aguiar will work with the Active Hope Network Ireland, to develop a practice which challenges the barriers felt by those from migrant communities in accessing culture in a meaningful way. Karen will receive mentorship by artist Kate O’Shea.

Rosi Leonard, Mud Island Community Garden and North Strand local residents intend to research placemaking of public space through the themes of play and care in the North East Inner City Dublin, an area that has undergone substantial change due to the effects of SDZ planning zones This will be carried out under the mentorship of architect Aideen O’Donovan.

Mcreadwell Sebata will work with Direct Provision residents in Galway, developing and imagining a hybrid documentary project, which uses music, poetry and other forms of artistic expression to tell stories. Macreadwell will be mentored by artist Alice McDowell.

Aindrias Stack intends to work with the Doolin Folklore Group to explore a potential plan which will enhance, nurture and foster the rich storytelling tradition in the wider North Clare community. Artist and folklorist Micheal Forturne will serve as mentor.

Niamh McDonnell will work with residents of Mosney Direct provision centre in Co Meath to explore a dialogue around cultural experiences of food fermentation; describing how it engenders a way of relating to the environment, that optimizes the capacity for adapting to the seasonal availability of locally grown plant-based ingredients. Niamh will be mentored by writer Manchán Mangan.

Sarah Browne plans to engage with patients of the women’s ward in the Central Mental Hospital Dublin, sharing artwork ‘prompts’ by women and minority-gender artists that examine architecture & space, and creating individual and collective work primarily through sensory activities and ‘echolalic’ writing. Mentorship will be provided by Lamis Bayar.

Emily Waszak will collaborate with Embroidery Collective to explore themes of mutual aid, isolation and migration. As part of the research the collaborators will reflect on what isolation looks like for queer migrants and POC (People Of Colour) living in Ireland under Covid and how to create a community of resistance using a mutual aid framework. Emily will be mentored by artist Isabel lima.

Brigid Mulligan will collaborate with Freebirds Motorcycle Club, a community of male motorcyclists from County Longford aged 35-50, to explore how to navigate life and loss as a community of friends, developed from shared personal histories. Brigid will receive mentorship from  Artist Augustine O’ Donoghue.

Monica deBath and Creative Rathangan Meitheal will collaborate through critical reflection on and interrogation of contested terms such as ‘Local’, ‘New Irish’, ‘New Communities’ & others, to examine questions about ownership, and the creation of a poetic or artistic space to support those in Direct Provision. Monica will be mentored by artist William Bock.

Project Realisation Award

Comharchumann Chléire Teoranta will carry out a bilingual socially engaged artistic project facilitated by local artist Ruairí Ó Donnabháin on the topics of island habitability, sustainable housing and climate consciousness, using marine plastic waste washed up locally as a resource material using new technology purchased by the comharchumann to upcycle and create.

Bere Island Women Create and artist Mary Sullivan will use their Project Realisation award to complete work begun in 2020 on a collective quilt project, and the exploration of personal stories and creativity held within quilt-making. This process will be documented throughout, and the group intend to hold an outdoor exhibition of their work.

New Horizon – Athlone Refugee & Asylum Seeker Support Group will collaborate with artist Keith Payne to record, archive, broadcast and publish stories told by Direct Provision residents in Athlone reflecting 15 nationalities from the New Irish community. This programme of work will include a schools’ programme and a community dissemination programme.

Panel

Tara Byrne Arts and Culture Manager and Bealtaine Festival Director at Age & Opportunity
Feidlim Cannon, Brokentalkers
Racquel McKee, Poet, Dramatist and Researcher
Jillian Van Turnhout, Arts Council (Chair)

In attendance

Jane O’Rourke, Create
Áine Crowley, Create
Karen Whelan, Arts Council
Amir Abu Alrob (Observer)