Join us on Tuesday 27th September for ‘Crossing the Bridge’, a one-day seminar that will look at pathways to developing an international dimension to your artistic practice.
Have you ever thought of touring your work or exhibiting overseas: participating in an international festival, fair or showcase,doing an international residency or research trip, attending a specialist seminar or networking event. These are just some of the international opportunities that you can get support for that can benefit the development of your artistic practice.
The ‘Crossing the Bridge’ seminar stems from Creative Frame network members expressed desire to develop their capacity to work internationally. Following an extensive survey of our network members in 2020 over 60% of artists felt that working internationally was very important to their career progression though felt they lacked the capacity to make it happen.
During the seminar we will look at opportunities and challenges experienced first-hand by an invited panel of artists from a range of disciplines and examine the relevant supports and funding that is currently available to artists from a number of cultural organisations that support Irish artists to work internationally.
In the morning we will hear from a panel of artists who have developed a successful international dimension to their practice. They will discuss the steps and learning that were important to them, the value of the opportunities that they engaged with over the years and the impact it had on their career. Visual artist Aideen Barry, musician John Carty, writer Una Mannion and film producer Roisin Geraghty will map out the various routes that they have taken and how it has informed the development of their artistic practice.
In the afternoon we will explore the funding and supports that exist for artists to present work or participate in international opportunities. We will hear from Culture Ireland, Ireland’s Creative Europe Culture Office, Literature Ireland and the Centre Cultural Irlandais. Each organisation will discuss the various programmes and supports they provide to artists to work in an international context and expand more generally on the opportunities and challenges that come with working internationally. Following the presentations there will be a panel discussion with plenty of opportunity for questions and answers with the audience in both sessions.
We are also delighted to be announcing a new partnership between Leitrim Arts Office and Centre Culturel Irlandais to provide a Leitrim Artist with the opportunity to participate in a month-long residency at the Centre in Paris in 2023/24.
Tuesday September 27th
The Dock Arts Centre Carrick on Shannon
Registration & Coffee: 10.30am
Seminar: 11.00am to 4pm
Morning Session
11am – 1pm
Artists Conversations
Aideen Barry – Visual Artist
Aideen Barry is a practicing Visual Artist based in Ireland but with an international profile. Her means of expression are interchangeable, incorporating performance, sculpture, film and experimental lens-based media. She often employs visual trickery to create a heightened suspension of reality that comments on otherness; collaborating with artists and communities to manifest her multi-diverse socio-political works. Her works are in prestigious national and international collections of Galleries and Museums. In 2020 she was elected to the Royal Hibernian Academy as an ARHA member. She is a member of Aosdána and lectures in several universities and schools of visual art in Ireland, the US and Europe.
Una Mannion – Writer
Una Mannion is a teacher, writer and editor. Her debut novel A Crooked Tree was published in 2021 by Faber in the UK and Ireland and by HarperCollins in the US. It was also published in Germany and Italy. It made the Irish bestseller list and was nominated for the Irish Book Awards, The Dalkey Emerging Writer prize and won the 2022 Kate O’Brien Prize. Una has won numerous prizes including The Hennessy New Irish Writing Poetry Award and the Cúirt International Short Fiction Award. Her stories have been published in journals and anthologies, most recently in The Art of the Glimpse: 100 Irish Short Stories.She is programme chair of the Writing + Literature BA at Atlantic Technological University. Her forthcoming novel, The Blue Hour, will be published in June 2023.
John Carty – Musician
Born in London, fiddle and banjo player John Carty is one of Ireland’s finest traditional musicians. In 2003 he was awarded the coveted title of TG4 Traditional Musician of the Year firmly establishing him among the elite in traditional music. He has recorded extensively and performs worldwide both as a solo player, in duets notably with Matt Molloy and as part of John Carty’s Festival Band, At the Racket
and Patrick Street. John’s latest album releases include The Wavy Bow Collection with his son, James on fiddle. More recently John arranged the traditional music pieces in the highly acclaimed film Brooklyn. For the last 15 years he has also tutored at Limerick University’s World Academy of Music & Dance. In 2019 he was honored to receive the Michael A. Flanagan Award.
Roisin Geraghty – Film Producer/ Programmer
Roisín Geraghty is a film programmer and producer based in the Northwest of Ireland. She has worked as Production Manager on Ireland’s 2018 entry for the Foreign Language Oscar SONG OF GRANITE (2017) and produced the Reel Art-funded feature documentary WE ARE MOVING – MEMORIES OF MISS MORIARTY (2016) and the Screen Ireland funded short TAKE ME SWIMMING (2018) with director Claire Dix, as well as the Irish Film & Television Academy nominated and multi-award winning short film FIVE LETTERS TO THE STRANGER WHO WILL DISSECT MY BRAIN (2018), directed by Oonagh Kearney.
She has worked with various film organisations in Ireland, the UK and the US, including Edinburgh International Film Festival, Belfast Film Festival, GAZE LGBT Film Festival, the Galway Film Fleadh, Guth Gafa, PLASTIK Festival of Artists’ Moving Image, the Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP) and Tribeca Film Festival. She currently works as the Head of Industry and Marketplace for Docs Ireland in Belfast, and serves as Industry Manager and Programmer for Cork International Film Festival.
Afternoon Session
2pm – 4pm
Cultural Conversations
Culture Ireland – Valerie Behan, Director of Programmes
Culture Ireland promotes Irish arts worldwide. They create and support opportunities for Irish artists and companies to present and promote their work at strategic international festivals and venues. They develop platforms to present outstanding Irish work to international audiences, through showcases at key global arts events, including the Edinburgh Festivals and the Venice Biennales. They also offer financial support for Irish artists, arts organisations and cultural practitioners to present and promote their work at key international venues and festivals,
develop new and diverse international audiences and markets and participate in international networking events.
Creative Europe Ireland – Katie Lowry, Head of Creative Europe Ireladn Desk, Arts Council
The Culture Office encourages participation in the Culture and cross-sectoral strands and aims to reach as many organisations, artists and cultural professionals as possible. The Creative Europe Culture Office is based in the Arts Council of Ireland. In order to help Irish arts, culture and heritage sectors access Creative Europe funding they provide practical information, advice and technical assistance to Irish organisations, cultural professionals and artists who wish to apply for Creative Europe funding. They also host information seminars and networking events featuring Case Studies of Irish projects to highlight the benefits of Creative Europe funding, networking and mobility opportunities. They also assist Irish cultural organisations to find European partners and engage in collaborative projects and partnerships in Europe.
Literature Ireland – Sinead Mc Aodh, Director
Literature Ireland brings the finest of Irish literature in the best possible literary translations to readers around the world. It does this by awarding translation grants to publishers, by hosting literary translators in Ireland, and by representing Irish writers at international events, book fairs and festivals. It is funded by Culture Ireland and the Arts Council.Since it was set up in 1995 it has funded the translation of over 2,000 works of Irish literature into 56 languages around the world.
The Centre Culturel Irlandais – Nora Hickey M’Sichili, Director
The Centre Culturel Irlandais is Ireland’s cultural flagship in Europe. It has a distinguished track record of showcasing the Irish arts and a curatorial practice informed by contemporary concerns and is a key foothold in Europe for the promotion of Irish culture to new generations and international audiences. A place of dialogue and debate where critical conversations are facilitated through a programme of exhibitions, concerts and performances to talks, readings and screenings, it also has an extensive international residency programme where up to 40 artists in residence every year make connections in France and devise artwork that goes on to be shared with audiences in Ireland and across the world.
Seminar Chair – Brian Leydan, Writer
Brian Leyden is an Irish novelist, short story writer, memoirist, playwright, screenwriter, librettist,
editor, and publisher with Lepus Print. His most recent novel is Summer of ’63 (2016). Other books include the bestselling memoir, The Home Place (2002/ 2014), the novel, Death and Plenty (1996), the short story collection, Departures (1992) and Selected Stories (2015). He is the co-writer of the feature film, Black Ice, (2013) which has been acquired by Netflix. Other projects include the Hawks Well Theatre Sligo ‘Come Together’ (Writes and Composers, 2020). Creative Ireland Award script commission (2018) for the “Famine Attic”, Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim. ‘The Sheemore Ambush’ for the Decade of Centenaries 2012-2023 Initiative
Seminar Schedule
10.30 Registration & Coffee
11.00 Welcome – Leslie Ryan, Leitrim Arts Office
Artists Conversations
11.05 AIDEEN BARRY, visual artist
11.25 UNA MANNION, writer
11.40 JOHN CARTY, musician
12.00 ROISIN GERAGHTY, film producer/ programmer
12.20 Panel Discussion & Q & A with writer Brian Leydan
LUNCH 1 – 2pm
Cultural Conversations
2.00 VALERIE BEHAN, Director of Programmes, Culture Ireland
2.15 KATIE LOWRY, Head of Creative Europe Desk, Arts Council
2.30 SINEAD MC AODH, Director, Literature Ireland
2.45 NORA HICKEY M’SICHILI, Director The Centre Culturel Irlandais
3.00 Panel Discussion & Q & A with writer Brian Leydan
3.30 Plenary Session – Overview with all seminar participants