Create and hablarenarte International Residency Recipient: Tara Carroll

Create the national development agency for collaborative arts in Ireland and hablarenarte an independent platform based in Madrid, Spain that supports the creation, dissemination and promotion of contemporary arts and culture, are pleased to announce Irish artist Tara Carroll as the recipient of a Residency at Planta Alta in Madrid. Supported through the Arts Council of Ireland’s International Residency Initiatives Scheme, this is a one month fully funded Residency.

Planta Alta is a unique residency programme in Madrid, established by hablarenarte in 2019. It is part of Museo Situado (Situated Museum), itself an active collaborative network of local groups from the Lavapiés neighbourhood, where the Reina Sofía Museum is also engaged in participatory projects. Planta Alta places an emphasis on research, collaborative investigations, generative discourse and community based engagement – with peers, residents and broader networks. hablarenarte has a significant network of artistic and community cultural practitioners in Madrid, which will ensure the Residency can afford Tara a significant degree of peer to peer exchange, networking opportunities and engagement with the different publics that make up the neighbourhood where the residency will be located.

Tara Carroll is a multidisciplinary artist whose collaborative art practice creates meaningful interactions for communities of interest to elevate their voices through artistic expression, infiltrating art spaces many find inaccessible. She strives to use her practice, privilege and position to advocate and alleviate barriers for communities such as the queer and disabled community to access art and spaces. In recent years, Tara has been awarded the Arts Council’s Capacity Building Award; Artist in the Community Scheme Research and Development Award; The Arts Act Grant by Kildare County Council, the Arts Council’s Agility Award and Arts and Disability Ireland Training Connect Award, and the 2019 Emerging Irish Artist Award Residency, Burren College of Art, Clare. 

Tara is excited to participate in this residency for the unique opportunity to interact with hablarenarte’s international peers, expert team, non-art communities and programme to deepen collaborative methodologies, in particular to support generative discussions about similarities and differences between Ireland and Spain’s traditionally Catholic cultures. Tara’s ambition is to invite older women in the area to an artistic workshop to share objects, rituals and folk beliefs of healing, to initiate dialogue and collective healing. This transnational research will benefit more nuanced discussions and enhance engagement with Tara’s community group in Ireland for her Art as Pilgrimage project.

A further ambition is to invite halblarenarte’s network to participate in a discussion group about care and accessibility in navigating cultural institutions to illuminate new ways of reimagining them for communities and artists. And a body workshop playfully decoding and dissolving shame and guilt attached to rest. 

Emma Brassó of hablarenarte says “All the team at hablarenarte is very excited to have Tara in residency with us next March. Her practice, interests and working methodologies are a fantastic match for our own endevours and we are looking forward to share strategies and experiences with her.”

Áine Crowley, Programme Manager Arts and Engagement with Create, says “we are thrilled to have partnered with hablarenarte to offer this international Residency for an Irish artist. This Residency continues Create’s and hablarenarte’s shared practice of offering high quality supports and opportunities to professional artists and communities, and we look forward to supporting Tara and further strengthening our relationship with hablarenarte as an important international peer organisation”. 

Tara Carroll says “I am so delighted and thankful for this incredible opportunity which I feel will be a pivoting point for my practice. The support from Create and hablarenarte will help me nurture areas in my practice that are so important to me. Excited to exchange ideas and art with a new international community, I hope my work will create and strengthen connections”. 

The panel which awarded this residency was chaired by Áine Crowley, Programme Manager Arts and Engagement, and consisted of William Bock, Artist, Damien McGlynn, Director of Create, and Emma Brassó of Hablarenarte. Create staff member Jane O’Rourke observed and took minutes.