We Only Want the Earth

Create is delighted to partner with A4 Sounds to deliver an Exhibition Award and two new Residencies, to be delivered in 2020. These new initiatives form part of A4 Sounds’ 2020 Programme We Only Want The Earth, a partnership between A4 Sounds and Create, Fire Station Artists’ Studios, TENI (Transgender Equality Network Ireland), MASI (Movement of Asylum SeeKers Ireland), MERJ (Migrant and Ethnic Minorities for Reproductive Justice) and Dublin Central Housing Action.

A4 Sounds’ We Only Want the Earth is a 12-month programme of awards, exhibitions, and events that seeks to interrogate the goals and strategies of social change: what kind of society do we want and how should we get there?
We are living through a time of sudden and unpredictable societal change caused by interlinked issues of global warming, the collapse of the neoliberal order, a resurgence of violent misogyny and nationalism, growing inequality, housing and homelessness crises, and the growth of ecofascism. Broad social changes will accelerate over the coming decade. If these changes are to lead to a just society, it is essential that voices that are often ignored, or whose very existence is treated as debatable, are instead prioritised. The arts play a fundamental role in supporting or challenging cultural hegemony, and therefore have a moral obligation to attend to voices that have been silenced.

A4 Sounds and partners including Create have identified four communities whose voices will be given priority: transgender, non-binary and gender non-conforming artists; artists seeking or who have sought asylum in Ireland; migrant and ethnic minority artists, including members of the traveling community; and artists affected by the housing and homelessness crisis. In each case, the priority community does not necessarily define the subject matter of the artwork; rather, the goal is to ensure representation and material support for selected artists from these communities to respond however they see fit to the theme We Only Want the Earth.

During 2020 and 2021 Create will support A4 Sounds to facilitate a programme of socially-engaged arts activities under the theme We Only Want the Earth. We Only Want the Earth is intended as a broad conversation about the goals and strategies of social change: what kind of society do we want and how should we get there?

We Only Want the Earth is kindly supported by The Arts Council’s Art Grant Funding 2020.