AIC Scheme Bursary Award Recipient (Collaborative Arts and Human Rights): Tobi Balogun

Create and the Irish Council for Civil Liberties are pleased to announce Tobi Balogun as the recipient of the Artist in the Community Scheme Bursary Award 2020: Collaborative Arts and Human Rights.

Tobi is an artist based in Dublin and Carlow, working across Dance, Theatre, Fashion and Design. As a professional member of Dance Ireland and founding member of Human Collective Dance Company, Tobi has co-created many works for stage including FABLE for Dublin Fringe Festival (2018), performed at Project Arts Centre and been nominated for a Best Ensemble Award. He has developed collaborative projects in association with choreographers Cathy Coughlan, Maria Nilsson Waller and with organisations such as South Dublin County Council, Tallaght Community Arts, Dublin City Council and Dance Ireland.

Tobi intends to use the bursary as a time of research and critical reflection into delivering high quality arts engagement to Black-Irish communities and in expanding points of access for young adults who do not identify as professional artists, but have expressed a strong desire to engage with the sector; to examine the barriers for Black communities in establishing meaningful and ongoing engagement with the arts. This will be informed by best practice in Ireland and the UK, as well as a period of discussion with artists and the communities they work with.

The purpose of the AIC Scheme Bursary award is to support and nurture professional arts practice; it is specifically aimed at an artist with a track record of working collaboratively with communities of place or interest in the context of human rights. The bursary of €10,000 provides the selected artist with time and resources to carry out research and to reflect and engage with and reflect on their practice. More particularly, it allows the artist to consider key questions associated with human rights using collaborative methodologies.

The panel which awarded this bursary was chaired by Áine Crowley, Programme Manager Arts and Engagement, and consisted of Aisling Byrne, theatre artist, educator, Artistic Director of Run of the Mill Theatre/ Talking Shop Ensemble; Evgeny Shtorn, LGBT activist, organizer, scholar, poet & Cultural Diversity Researcher, Create; Doireann Ansbro, Senior Research and Policy Officer at the Irish Council for Civil Liberties; Monica Corcoran, Strategic Development Manager, Arts Council. Create staff member Jane O’Rourke observed and took minutes.