Galway International Arts Festival Elevate Bursaries
Project Name
Galway International Arts Festival Elevate Bursaries
Project Partners
Galway International Arts Festival and Galway Culture Company
Role of Galway Culture Company
Funder and Partner
Strategic Aim
This project falls under our second aim;
Support and Develop Place-based Cultural Programming
Project Description
Galway Culture Company and Galway International Arts Festival, through the Elevate programme, hosted two open calls for bursaries to support the development of new work or provide opportunities for the exploration of creative practices. Applications were open to creative collectives, ensembles and professional groups based in Galway who were not otherwise regularly funded.
Submissions across all art forms including digital arts, podcasts and video were encouraged with a view to developing projects that reflect and represent the diversity of contemporary Ireland. The aim was to provide opportunity and support for artists in the region to develop their work through support of their time, research, materials, and mentorship/training.
In round 1, three bursaries of €10,000 each and four of €5,000 each were offered. In round 2, one bursary of €10,000 and four bursaries of €5,000 each were offered.
Project Outcomes – what we expect from this project
Round 1Â
For round 1 of this open call, 30 eligible applications were received, with a total demand for €250,000 from an available fund of €55,000 which has been awarded to seven collectives and companies.
Four bursaries of €10,000 were awarded to:
TaleGate and ArtFarm Collective – Digital Media Voices Unleashed exploring Galway’s Living Bog; Arts Alive and Jane Cassidy – Identity working with artists with intellectual disabilities share their personal stories through an interactive wall; Brú Theatre Company’s Scothscéalta – a site-specific physical theatre, bilingual performance with an Irish language emphasis celebrating Paraic Ó’Conaire’s seminal work; and Project Space’s A Platform for All – a temporary initiative addressing the shortage of venues in Galway.
Three bursaries of €5,000 were awarded to:
Interface’s Sapling which sees artists respond to the planned restoration of an area of Sitka Spruce to native woodland in the surrounding land at Interface, Connemara; Galway Podcast Collective’s Between Every Wave Lies an Ocean – a 12-part podcast exploring modern Ireland through the lens of diversity; and Lara Clifford, Caoimhe Walshe, Beibhinn Delaney and Marie-Caroline Kawa’s Faith in the Future – developing research in the area of environmental sustainability and climate change.
See the round 1 open call here.
Read more about the awardees of round 1 by clicking here.Â
Round 2Â
For round 2 of this open call, a total request of €150,000 in applications were received for this call, from an available fund of €30,000 which has been awarded to five collectives and companies.
One bursary of €10,000 was awarded to:
Dwelling from Leon Butler, Peter Power and Aisling Murray is an XR Dance performance and digital art installation in development which blends the real and the digital worlds, questioning our relationship with technology, immersing the audience in a space where what is onscreen and what is onstage is becoming helplessly intertwined. Using AI tracking to create imperceptible poetic worlds that allow the audience to pass through space, time and memory to experience the lives of others, Dwelling is an audience driven interactive experience and performance, and an ongoing body of work exploring new definitions of space, personal interactivity, and collective memory as we strive to redefine and preserve the most basic nature of human experiences of isolation, loneliness, connection, belonging and catharsis.
Four bursaries of €5,000 were awarded to:
Bernard [Bernie] McDonagh, Winnie Mongan and Winnie Stokes will explore elements of Traveller culture. McDonagh, Mongan and Stokes are three trainee creative producers from a Traveller background who also work for Galway Traveller Movement. Since 2023 they have worked in partnership with the arts organisation Promenade and the Misléor Festival of Nomadic Cultures producing various events, with support from Promenade’s Arts Council funded Creative Production Support Programme. With their Elevate Bursary they will create a public facing project exploring different artforms which have strong tradition within the Traveller community including music, oral storytelling, painting and craft empowering their professional development as creative producers. Many stories from the older Traveller community which are at risk of getting lost will be recorded as part of this project.
Moonfish Theatre will run workshops in creative practices allowing the company time to work with artists from diverse backgrounds who have Irish and other non-English languages. Their ambition for these workshops is to begin exploring the creation of a multi-lingual theatre work that represents the diverse heritages present in Ireland today, foregrounding the Irish language as a pre-colonial language that connects the land and environment to all its current inhabitants. The workshops will experiment with new technologies, as well as song, music, movement and imagery.
Outset Gallery’s Atomic 2025, working with the visual artist Hazel O’Sullivan, is an ambitious, multidisciplinary arts project designed to merge art, music and education into an accessible and engaging two-week mini-series. Building on their growing reputation since opening in 2022, this project will serve as both Outset’s showcase at the Galway International Arts Festival and a transformative cultural experience for the wider Galway community. With the support of the Elevate Award, Atomic 2025 will deliver a high-quality production that integrates innovative creative practices, fosters collaboration, and provides inclusive arts education opportunities.
Fionnuala Doyle Wade, Roberta Ceginskaite, Becky Nà Éallaithe and Peadar-Tom Mercier are a collective of contemporary and traditional musicians and dancers based in Galway City and County. Title explores the textures and physicality of the coast of Galway, seeking to accentuate unique features through highly physical contemporary dance and sound. The artists will develop material and site responsive scores exploring and working onsite at various coastal locations. A short film will be created for documentation purposes. They have previously collaborated on numerous projects including Damhsa na gCoinĂnĂ.
See the round 2 open call here.
Read more about the awardees of round 2 by clicking here.Â
How this project is funded
This project is funded by Galway Culture Company, which is supported by the Government of Ireland under the National Development Plan through the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.
Duration
March 2024 through December 2024.