Required skills:
This position requires a great deal of skill and knowledge of the requirements of individual professional visual artists, combined with excellent understanding of the visual arts sector, including the leading artists’ organisations and groups. It is essential that applicants are respected by all levels of the visual artists’ community, and are recognised for their knowledge, professionalism and approachability. An excellent knowledge across visual art forms and current art practices is essential.

Visual Artists Ireland is lottery funded by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, and also generates income from services offered within the visual arts sector. The contract is offered for an initial six month period, and is renewable at that stage subject to the above guaranteed income projections.

Description:
Assisting Visual Artists Ireland to achieve its goals and objectives the Northern Ireland Manager (Contract) will work to increase Visual Artists Ireland current levels of service and support. The position will coordinate, mentor, and motivate visual artists and visual arts organisations within the context of Visual Artists’ Ireland’s remit. The person will conduct clinics and site visits to assess conditions and provide information and support. The manager will also do periodic performance evaluations to ensure that the VAI programme is on the right path to achieving set goals. They will also work closely with VAI core staff to support the delivery of services in Northern Ireland.

The responsibilities:
• Visiting local artists groups, studios and exhibitions;
• Working with Visual Artists Ireland’s staff and partners to generate opportunities for professional visual artists;
• Planning and coordinating Visual Artists Ireland events in Northern Ireland;
• Reviewing measures to achieve targets set by Visual Artists Ireland;
• Attending conferences, events and meetings;
• Assessing, Recording and Reporting of achievements of projects and programmes;

Initially, the manager will work for six months on a half time basis. They will work out of their own home with travel to locations across Northern Ireland as well as regular visits to Visual Artists Ireland’s head office in Dublin. The position will include an agreed travel allowance.

To apply, submit a letter of no more than two pages indicating your current understanding of the needs of visual artists in Northern Ireland, the key players and evidence that you possess the key skills outlined above. The letter should be accompanied by an up to date professional resume that indicates clearly your suitability for the position. The letter should also outline any organisations and potential conflict of interests that existing relationships may have with Visual Artists’ Ireland’s work.

As this is for a contract position, the current remuneration level is £22,500 pro rata, and is subject to review based on funding as outlined above. Interviews will take place at the beginning of February for immediate appointment.

Deadline:
Deadline for applications is: Friday, 10th February 2012

Send to:
Noel Kelly FRSA
Chief Executive Officer / Director
Visual Artists Ireland
Central Hotel Chambers,
7/9 Dame Court
Dublin 2

Cost per individual session £20 / £10 (VAI, BX & DAS Members)
@ Belfast Exposed Gallery, Donegall St, Belfast

Available Spaces: 10

*Insurance for Visual Artists with O’Driscoll O’Neill Insurances
Thurs 9 Feb (13.00 – 14.00) Briefing session on range of insurances available and VAI Clinic with Laura Graham & Monica Flynn

FREE EVENT
@ Jury’s Inn, Great Victoria St, Belfast

Available Spaces: 20

More info see: http://www.visualartists-ni.org

Contact:
Monica Flynn / Professional Development Officer, Visual Artists Ireland
T: +353 (0)1 672 9488
E: monica@visualartists.ie
http://www.visualartists.ie

My office hours are part-time and vary week to week so please refer to the information links below and/or contact VAI at the number above.
For full details of our current Professional Development Training for Visual Artists see: http://visualartists.ie/education/
Or follow our facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/VAIProfessionalDevelopment

Deadline for submissions in London: 17 & 18 February, 2012
Entry forms and labels available to download from www.parkerharris.co.uk/downloads

Prizes
First Prize: £15,000
5 Runner Up Prizes each : £1,500

For further information:
http://www.parkerharris.co.uk/artists/awards/index.php?ArticleID=219&subsection=background

All enquiries to the prize organisers:

Parker Harris
T: +44 1372462190
E: lps@parkerharris.co.uk

-Artists name
-Title of work
-Commissioning body
-Date advertised
-Date sited / carried out.
-Budget
-Commission type
-Project Partners
-Brief description of the work

Send your info to Publications Assistant, Lily Power at: lily@visualartists.ie

Sarah Glennie was born in Britain and moved to Ireland in 1995 to work at IMMA, where she curated a number of projects, including solo exhibitions by Olafur Eliasson, and Shirin Neshat and the major public art project GHOST SHIP by Dorothy Cross. In 2001 she moved to The Henry Moore Foundation Contemporary Projects where her curated projects included Paul McCarthy at Tate Modern, and Stopover at the Venice Biennale 2003. In addition, in 2004 she co-curated Romantic Detachment at PS1/MoMA and in 2005 a major new film commission by Tacita Dean for Cork Capital of Culture. She was also the Commissioner of Ireland’s participation at the 51st Venice Biennale 2005. In 2008 she became Director of the IFI, where she oversaw significant development of the Institute’s activities, nationally and internationally.

Commenting on the appointment IMMA’s Chairperson, Eoin McGonigal, said: “Everyone at IMMA is delighted to have secured as the Museum’s new Director someone with such an impressive record of achievement in the arts, more especially the visual arts. I am confident that Sarah is exceptionally well placed to build on the Museum’s very considerable achievements over the past 20 years. It is interesting that Sarah began her distinguished career in the Irish arts sector at IMMA. I believe we can all look forward to the impact her well-known creativity and energy will have on the organisation over the coming years”, he said.

Eoin McGonigal also paid tribute to the outgoing Director, Enrique Juncosa. “Over the past nine years Enrique has transformed virtually every aspect of the Museum’s activities. Through his standing in the international arts community, through his sheer ambition for the Museum and through his faith in what it could achieve, he has increased IMMA’s reputation immeasurably, both at home and abroad”, he said.

Sarah Glennie said: “IMMA makes a vibrant and valuable contribution to contemporary Irish society and I am truly honoured to be given the opportunity to lead this great institution into the next important phase of its development. I look forward to working with the Museum’s excellent team and the wider arts community to build on the extraordinary legacy of the Museum’s first twenty years, and to ensure that Ireland continues to have a modern art museum of distinction and international significance”.

Sarah Glennie will take up the post of Director in April 2012.

www.imma.ie

The week long festival was shared between Desert Camp at Ramah, and the Festival Site at Al-Jahili Fort in the city of Al Ain, where the exhibition was held and hosted by His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage, and the Emirates Falconers Club.

The winning painting ‘Surprise Encounter’ which sold is destined for the USA.
For more information see: www.seamusobyrne.com

Mr Keaveney joined the National Gallery of Ireland as curator in 1979. He was appointed assistant director in 1981 and appointed director in 1988. During his tenure he has overseen many structural interventions to the fabric of the complex on Merrion Square, most notably the complete refurbishment of the Beit Wing (1996); the construction and fit out of the Millennium Wing (2002). More recently he has been responsible for steering the project of the Master Development Programme which involves both the restoration of the historic Dargan Wing (1864) and Milltown Wing (1903) together with plans to construct a new extension to the Gallery directly adjacent to the Beit and Millennium Wings.

Sean Rainbird, who has been director of the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart from 2006, will become the 14th director of the National Gallery of Ireland. He is expected to take up his post from 18 April 2012. Mr Rainbird said: “I would like to congratulate Mr Keaveney on his long and distinguished directorship, and I look forward to working in this great institution, building upon the expertise and experience of the Gallery’s excellent staff and many supporters.”

www.nationalgallery.ie

Media and PR Event at U105
Media and PR Event on 18th January, 9.30am-12.30pm in the U105 studios, Belfast to advise Audiences NI members on best practice when approaching journalists and broadcast media. The session will bring together arts correspondents, critics, radio and print journalists to provide an informative overview of what the press expects from arts organisations when they are submitting a story to the press.

Marketing Essentials
Workshop by marketing and audience development specialist, Kate Sanderson, aimed at arming marketing staff (Officer level and below) with all the knowledge, information and practical tools they need to successfully carry out and evaluate an operational marketing function within their organisations. The training day takes place on 24th January, 9.30am-4.30pm in the Theatre at the Mill, Newtownabbey.

Full details: http://www.audiencesni.com

GALLERY @ NO. SIX features the fine art of Irish painters and sculptors. Twenty-three artists are presently exhibiting, all works are for sale. In addition to established names it is our policy to promote emerging Irish artists, providing them with the opportunity to exhibit and sell their works.

We have also a selection of miniatures, limitted edition prints, etchings and reproduction note cards of several of our gallery artists.

January Opening Hours: 11.30am – 5.30pm Tuesday,Wednesday, Friday, Saturday. Late Opening Thursday 11.30am – 7pm or by appointment

Telephone: 01 6719696   / E-mail: galleryatsix@eircom.net

The inclusion of heirs in this scheme is of huge importance and is a cause for celebration for artists and their families. The Resale Right entitles artists to a royalty payment when their original works of art are resold by art dealers, galleries or auction houses for €3,000 or more. It gives artists an ongoing stake in the value of their work and recognises that work is often sold cheaply at the beginning of an artist’s career, and then substantially increases in value as it moves through the art market. This royalty system has been in place in Ireland for living artists since June 2006 and it has allowed many artists, including young and unestablished artists, to receive royalties for the first time.  Being able to bequeath the resale right to loved ones or to favourite causes is a strong incentive for artists to keep producing work.

The Irish Visual Artists Rights Organisation (IVARO) manages the resale right on behalf of its members. See www.ivaro.ie for more information.

The sculpture replaces a contentious mural of Oliver Cromwell, which had been situated in the estate for several years. Artist Lesley Cherry said, I have built up a good working relationship with the community, having been involved in the first phase of Re-imaging in 2009. Following on from this, I worked on their previous artwork titled, Nothing About Us, Without Us, Is For Us, which was a direct comment on the community’s views regarding the regeneration of the area. With this sculpture, the feelings of the community are again transferred through an artwork, by using strong, positive text. The use of steel references the industrial heritage of the city, and the clean simple lines, add to the positive and clear message that the sculpture conveys. I also recognise the hard work and negotiation that goes on behind the scenes in securing the removal of contentious murals and how the LSCA and the Re-imaging Fund have played a major role in continuing to address the issues surrounding paramilitary murals and slogans in a post conflict society.

The Re-imaging Programme is funded by the Shared Communities Consortium, led by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, and comprising OFMDFM, DSD, DCAL, Community Relations Council, PSNI, SOLACE (Society of Local Authority and Chief Executives), The Department of Justice, International Fund for Ireland and NI Housing Executive. The project was also assisted by Springvale Learning.

Public Art Programme
The Public Art funding programme, which supports the commissioning of new artwork for public places throughout Northern Ireland, is now open for applications. Deadline for applications is 12 January 2012. Click here

Equipment and Minor Refurbishment programme
This programme, which enables organisations to purchase equipment or make minor refurbishments, is currently open for applications. Deadline for applications is 12 January 2012. Click here

Creative Industries Innovation Fund (CIIF)
CIIF reopens on 16 January 2012, inviting applications from all Creative Industries sectors. Deadline for applications is 16 February 2012. Click here

www.artscouncil-ni.org

Mr. Collins has been Chief Commissioner of the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland since August 2005. He is also Chair of the Broadcasting Authority Ireland and was previously employed as Director-General at RTE. He will join the Arts Council Board, along with five other newly appointed board members.

In addition, six new board members have been appointed to serve on the Board: Bob Collins (Chair), David Alderdice, Anna Carragher, Noelle McAlinden, Katherine McCloskey and Paul Mullan

They will be joined by reappointed members: : Damien Coyle, Vice-Chairman, Paul Seawright, Professor Ian Montgomery, David Irvine, Janine Walker and Brian Sore.

Council members have been appointed for four years to the end of November 2015.

Under the title “for Visual Artists in Northern Ireland” the new services include a dedicated new website http://www.visualartists-ni.org which provides information on visual arts events and opportunities in Northern Ireland, other parts of the UK, and internationally.  The site also contains knowledge and support on a variety of legal, financial and career matters that have been developed in partnership with Artquest (London).  It is accompanied by a new Twitter service #4VisArtsNI so that the public can keep up to date on the visual arts.

Also announced today are a series of new initiatives such as affordable insurance for artists, an international studio exchange programme, as well as equipment hire facilities and a professional development programme platform. VAI is pleased to be working with Belfast Exposed and the Digital Artists Studios, Belfast on the project.  Further partner organisations and existing services are contained on the website.

To mark the occasion, Visual Artists Ireland in partnership with the Digital Artists Studios are happy to announce a New Media Residency for Northern Ireland Artists.  Further details of this will be released later in the year in the form of a call for applications.

Wexford Arts Centre, Wexford County Council and the Arts Council are pleased to announce that Galway-based visual artist Cecilia Danell is the recipient of the fifth annual Emerging Visual Artist Award. The initiative supports promising visual artists in Ireland through providing a monetary prize of E5,000 plus a solo exhibition at Wexford Arts Centre. This award is aimed at recognising and supporting the development of committed emerging artists, in kick starting their career and achieving professional recognition. Following a national open competition selection process, Danell, was selected from over eighty submissions received. The submissions were assessed by an independent selection panel, all of which had appropriate expertise in the visual arts.

As the recipient of the award, Danell will be required to create a new body of work during the period of January – November 2012, which will be exhibited at Wexford Arts Centre during December 2012. In Danell’s work, feelings of otherness and longing combine with questions concerning identity and the perception of the Self. Utopian and dystopian landscapes act as stage sets where the boundaries between the universal and the personal, the known and the unknown, reality and fiction become blurred.

For the exhibition at Wexford Arts Centre, Danell will continue her research into the landscape and the built environment as a metaphor for the human condition, with special focus on existentialist philosophy and psychology dealing with disengagement from the Self and out of body experiences. In Danell’s practice several different mediums and methods are used, with special focus on material properties, citing the modernist idea of truth to materials. Danell achieves this modernist transparency through selecting materials according to particular properties and inherent qualities, and intentionally reveals her process in the finished product.

Cecilia Danell is a Swedish artist based in Galway, Ireland. She graduated from GMIT in 2008 with a first class honours degree in painting and was awarded Paint Student of the Year. Since graduating Cecilia has exhibited in Ireland and the USA, including group and two person shows in The Red House Arts Centre in Syracuse NY, The Crow Gallery in Dublin, Galway Arts Centre, Occupy Space in Limerick, 126 Gallery, Tulca Season of Visual Arts and The Claremorris Open. She is a recipient of a 2010 Arts Council of Ireland bursary award and a 2011 Arts Council Project Award for her work Build your own: Scandinavian loneliness. Danell is currently represented by the Talbot Gallery at the RHA National Art Fair.

www.wexfordartscentre.ie / www.wexfordcoco.ie

Grants of up to a maximum of €30,000 have been offered towards the running costs of visual artists’ workspaces. In keeping with the Council’s policy document Visual Artists’ Workspaces in Ireland – A New Approach, this scheme has the aim of assisting artists workspaces throughout the country to provide the best possible environment for working visual artists and, where feasible, to enable a level of subsidy for resident visual artists.

Forty eight applications were received, 30 of which were shortlisted and 22 of which were awarded funding. The total demand figure was €1,002,154, while the demand from shortlisted applications was €648,604.

Full details on the Decisions Database on the Arts Council website

The award aims to support individual professional artists in any artform working in the field of arts and community development. This is the second year that the Arts Council has provided a €10,000 bursary award as part of the Artist in the Community Scheme, which is managed by Create. The bursary’s purpose is to support and nurture professional arts practice, specifically directed at artists who have collaborated and practiced in community development settings and contexts.

The Bursary of €10,000 will provide Ailbhe Murphy with time and resources to reflect, research and reconsider art practice realised in community development contexts. As part of the award, learning arising from the Bursary will be shared with the arts and community development sector.

Ailbhe Murphy’s collaborative art practice has been based primarily within the community development sector in Dublin. Previous projects include Unspoken Truths (1991 -1996), Once is too Much (1996 – 1998) and Tower Songs (2003 – 2006). In 2011 she completed her doctoral degree with the University of Ulster where her research focused on critical co-ordinates for collaborative arts practice within the spatial politics of urban regeneration. In 2007 she co-founded Vagabond Reviews with independent writer and researcher, Ciaran Smyth. Projects include the Cultural Review, a collaborative arts-based research initiative conducted with Fatima Groups United in Rialto, Dublin. More recently Vagabond Reviews developed a research initiative with the Rialto Youth Project called The Arcade Project which sets out to explore principles of practice for an arts-based pedagogy in youth work.

Currently working on a per cent for art commission in Galway City, Vagabond Reviews have just completed delivery of Others and Exiles: Culture, Diversity and Creative Research Practice, a modular course within an M.Soc.Sc programme at the School of Sociology, University College, Dublin. Ailbhe has also published widely and contributed to contemporary discussions on socially engaged art practice, through conference presentations in Ireland and internationally.

The arts too impact on the wider creative industry* contributing €4.7 billion to the economy and supporting 79,000 jobs.

The report, entitled an ‘Assessment of the Economic Impact of the Arts in Ireland’, has been published by the Arts Council. This 2011 report commissioned by the Council from Indecon International Economic Consultants, represents an update on Indecon’s previous independent evaluation of the economic impact of the arts, published in 2009. This update report, which is concerned with the impact of the arts in Ireland in 2010, indicates “that the arts continue to be a major employer and contributor to Irish economic output.”

The report was launched by the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Mr Jimmy Deenihan TD on 16 November last.

The report indicates that the turnover of the organisations supported by the Arts Council determines their ability to purchase goods and services, to employ staff and to undertake programmes of investment. These functions in turn have an impact on the wider economy. Total funding committed by the Arts Council to organisations and individuals amounted to €60.3 million in 2010. The estimated turnover of the Arts Council funded organisations and individuals in 2010 as stated, was €135m.

The Arts Council own grant-in-aid has been reduced by €16.4 million or 20% over the four years, 2008 to 2011; there has been 400 jobs losses since the 2009 report and an associated loss of €13 million of VAT and other taxes to the Exchequer.

Speaking at the launch of the report, Jimmy Deenihan TD, Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht said: “The arts are a significant economic contributor and employer in their own right as this report indicates, but they are also important building blocks for those economic policies the Government has identified as crucial for our economic recovery. The arts underpin policies in attracting foreign direct investment, in the creation of an imaginative labour force, in establishing an innovative environment in which the creative and cultural industries can thrive and in cultural tourism. By focusing on the arts as an element of social and economic renewal, we are playing to our strengths. ”

Pat Moylan, Chairman of the Arts Council added: “Our artists and arts organisations continue to play their part in our national recovery. While the arts should not be evaluated solely on economic grounds, it is clear from this report that the sector is a financially important and labour intensive one. We believe that protecting this investment should be a priority of Government.”

To access the 2011 update report Assessment of the Economic Impact of the Arts in Ireland, see: http://www.artscouncil.ie/Publications/Indecon%20Update%20Report_fin.pdf

The 2009 Indecon Report referenced above is also available in the publications section of the Arts Council’s website.

Dublin City Council Arts Office is delighted to welcome, Alan James Burns to the Red Stables. Alan is the recipient of the Irish Artists’ Residential Studio Award, 2011-2012, in The Red Stables, St Anne’s Park, Dublin 3.

The Irish Artists’ Residential Studio Award is intended to support an emerging visual artist at a crucial stage of their professional practice and includes studio and living accommodation at nominal rent and inclusion in exhibition programme at The LAB, Foley Street, Dublin 1. Alan James Burns will use the coming year to research, develop and produce a new body of work that investigates differences in physical and behavioural traits. He will conduct experiments and make observations on the ability to act, think and feel autonomously.

Alan James Burns is a video, installation, performance artist based in Dublin. He received a BA in Fine Art, from Dublin Institute of Technology, 2008. Solo exhibitions include ‘Till the Cows Come Home’, Cavan County Museum, 2011 and ‘To Walk in a State of Finality than in one of Impermance’, Exchange Gallery, 2010. Forthcoming exhibitions include Claremorris Open, Claremorris, Co Mayo and ‘Gracelands’, Co. Leitrim, 2011.

www.redstablesartists.com / www.alanjamesburns.com

Prior to being a Director in Germany, Mr Rainbird was Curator/Senior Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Tate Gallery, London from 1987 until 2006. He is a Trustee of the Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Charitable Trust, a member of the Kuratorium of the Bucerius Kunst Forum, is a former acquisition advisor to the Verbund collection, Vienna and to Southampton City Art Gallery and a former advisory board member of the Nuremburg Art Academy and Committee Member of the Contemporary Art Society.

Jimmy Deenihan TD, the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht welcomes the appointment of Mr Sean Rainbird, and looks forward to working with him as he builds on the significant achievements of his predecessor, Mr Raymond Keaveney, whom he wishes well in his upcoming retirement after 23 years of exemplary service. Mr Rainbird will start as Director of the National Gallery of Ireland in the first half of 2012.

The National Gallery of Ireland is pleased to have attracted Sean from Germany to Ireland to be our new Director. He has an outstanding track record and has much experience as a curator, as a director, in exhibition programmes, in digitising collections, in overseeing building projects, in fundraising and organisational change, all important skills in these times. I look forward to working with him.”

Statement by Sean Rainbird:
“I am honoured to be appointed as the next Director of the National Gallery of Ireland by the Board of Governors and Guardians. During this period of rebuilding and transition there will be many challenges ahead in these uncertain times. I look forward to working in this great institution, building upon the expertise and experience of the Gallery’s excellent staff and many supporters.”

www.nationalgallery.ie

The Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed in the aftermath of the truce which ended the War of Independence (1919–1921) was regarded by signatory Michael Collins as a stepping stone to freedom. The Treaty was acquired by the National Archives of Ireland from the Department of the Taoiseach in 2002 and has never before been made available for public consultation, either in its original form or online.

The Treaty document that forms the centerpiece of this exhibition is completely unique in that it is the original Irish document. Additional documents will be released on-line, on a daily basis culminating in the Treaty signing of Tuesday 6th December, 1921 mirroring events which took place 90 years ago.

The exhibition also includes footage from British Pathé newsclip of the delegations outside of Buckingham Palace.

www.nationalarchives.ie
www.ahg.gov.ie

Irish Design Shop is moving into the RHA! Following the unprecedented success of the RHA Pop UP Shop during 2011, the Irish Design Shop will be taking up residency in the RHA, launching Wednesday 7 December, 5 – 7pm.

Irish Design Shop launched as an on-line craft and design store in November 2008. Shortly after, in February 2009, they opened their first permanent shop on Bow Lane East, Dublin 2. Specialising in solely Irish designed and made products, they have grown from strength to strength and are now opening their second shop, here in the RHA gallery. The shop intends to act as a gift shop for the RHA, selling gallery publications, as well as a special selection of exciting Irish designed and made products.

Open 7 days a week, you will find wooden lamps with Aran inserts by Cillian Johnston, lampshades and textiles by Sinead Mitchell, laser cut decorations and cards by Snowed, a range of Irish inspired notebooks by Ursula Celano, stationary by Keep Sketch and limited edition books and prints by The Project Twins subject being the A-Z of difficult words. Discover new work by designers you may already know; Jenny Walsh, Product/furniture designer has just developed a range of clocks called ‘time flies’ in laser cut wood.
Andrew Ludicks hand built and decorated ceramics compliment Derek Wilsons porcelain ware. Quercus, a Cork based company who make bird feeders in native oak will sit alongside chopping boards by Little Hill. See Jennifer Slattery’s embroidered Irish linen and work by Placed, a Belfast company who make tea towels, prints and stationary and you will also find 3D printed jewellery by Theresa Burger.

Irish Design Shop will offer a 10% discount to Friends of the RHA, throughout the year.

http://irishdesignshop.com/

Annie said of her appointment: “Everywhere we look and everything we read right now seems to tell us we are at a new juncture. We are at an unprecedented moment of change – whether teetering on the precipice of financial ruin, or witnessing extraordinary new articulations of protest. This year eva International will attempt to tap into this feeling of imminence by understanding how artists define and explain the status quo in relation to global events. What are we on the verge of? How do artists envisage what is to come and what is to be done?”

Founded in 1977, eva International is an artist-centred biennial of visual art that works with acclaimed guest curators to present innovative exhibitions across the city of Limerick, Ireland. Artists’ projects are selected through an international open call for proposals and exhibitions take place in both gallery and non-gallery spaces.

Woodrow Kernohan, Director of eva International said, “eva International is delighted that Annie Fletcher will be the Curator for the 35th edition of Ireland’s biennial of visual art in 2012. We are looking forward to working with her to create an exciting programme of exhibitions and associated events that will animate the city and forge links across Limerick and beyond.”

eva International, Biennial of Visual Art,  will take place in Limerick city from from 19 May–12 August 2012

An international open call for proposals will be launched in early December with the deadline for submissions: 31 January 2012. Please see www.eva.ie or contact info@eva.ie for further information.

eva International is supported by The Arts Council of Ireland, Limerick City Council, Limerick City Gallery of Art and in partnership with Visual Artists Ireland.

The public art programme is funded by Armagh City and District Council, The Arts Council of Northern Ireland and the Department for Social Development.

The new organisation, Community Arts Partnership (CAP), will be headed up by Conor Shields, who takes up the role of Programme Director, after 11 years at New Belfast Community Arts Initiative.

Funded by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, the new organisation will build on the strengths of both CAF and New Belfast, leading the way in stimulating quality arts experiences for communities across Northern Ireland. The new company will provide an enhanced service to the community arts sector, combining the best aspects of CAF and New Belfast to create a leaner, more dynamic organisation.

The newly formed arts organisation will host workshops, activities and events, including dance, drama, craft, sculpture, fashion, verbal arts and digital media for individuals, schools, groups, organisations from all backgrounds and communities across Northern Ireland. Importantly, CAP will also take the lead as advocate and information provider to the community arts sector.

www.comartspartner.org

The new gallery opened on 24 October with a group exhibition of bronze sculpture and a small selection of fine art prints by Andy Warhol (1928–1987), Damien Hirst and Roy Lichenstein. Exhibition continues until 8 November 2011

www.solomonfineart.ie
Open: Monday-Friday, 10am-5.30pm and Saturdays, 10am-1pm

The website story project draws on the Arts Council’s archive which is located in its office at 70 Merrion Square in Dublin. The Arts Council, from its large archive of documentation, has selected a small proportion of its records and the website commences with a first phase of 14 stories from the 1950s. The stories are primarily told by presenting digital copies of documents from the Council’s archive including letters, minutes and photographs. The stories from the 1950s include records that document efforts by the Arts Council to support Ireland’s participation at the Venice Biennale in 1958; subsidise the building of halls in rural areas in 1954, tour paintings in 1955 throughout the country with the Haverty Trust and the difficulties (also in 1955), that prominent visual artists like George Campbell and Gerard Dillon had in making a living from their work. The first meetings of the Arts Council are also presented including attendance in January 1952 by Mr John A Costello SC TD at a Council meeting with the then Taoiseach, Mr Eamon de Valera TD.

Future phases of the site will aim to look at the 1960s and the 1970s. The website is a sub-site of the Council’s main website and is accessible via www.artscouncil.ie or directly at www.archivestories.artscouncil.ie

The semi-finalists have been shortlisted for the big difference they have made with Lottery money, and people in Northern Ireland are being urged to cast a vote, from Tuesday 31 May, to help them make it through to the final.

Details on The Arts Council Northern Ireland website

As the event also received coverage from the media, keep an eye to the main evening news and also to Arena.

I Value the Arts is led by the National Campaign for the Arts (NCA), the independent umbrella body for all the arts in the UK. Industry bodies are lining up to support the promotion of the campaign, including the Society of London Theatre, the Theatrical Management Association, Visual Arts and Galleries Association, the Association of British Orchestras, Equity and Audiences UK. The campaign website and associated technology has been made possible thanks to generous donations of skills, time and resources by industry suppliers. No public money is being used to fund the campaign.

Louise de Winter, Director of the NCA commented: “Three quarters of the adult population attend or participate in arts activities every year and an even higher proportion of young people. At a time of recession, more and more people are turning to the arts and culture. Reduced opportunities to take part in the arts could have a major impact on the quality of people’s lives and the vibrancy of their communities. As the Government is encouraging us all to get engaged and create a ‘Big Society’, we believe it is important for those people who care about the arts to get involved in the decisionmaking about what their communities will look like. This campaign gives everyone who cares a chance to have their voice heard and collectively show that the arts provide a valued public service.

“This is a really simple and straightforward campaign. It will take thirty seconds for someone to visit the www.ivaluethearts.org.uk website to register their email address and postcode, and then we’ll be able to keep them up to date with information about plans for their local area. The website will go live from 9am on Monday, 13 September.

With a wide base of support within the sector, we hope this campaign will gain public momentum and snowball throughout the UK.”

The Arts Council Northern Ireland , in partnership with the British Council, has supported Northern Ireland’s representation at the past three Venice Biennales, with a group exhibition in 2005 and solo exhibitions by Willie Doherty and Susan MacWilliam in 2007 and 2009 respectively.

This difficult and disappointing decision has been reached in light of the reduction to the Arts Council 2010/11 budget of £1.1 million and the Chancellor’s Budget Announcement of 22nd June 2010 which provides a broad indication of how the public spending cuts will be applied to the spending departments in Britain: in real terms, 25% reduction over four years.

At this stage we do not know what part of the cuts will be borne by the devolved administrations and, while we will not know the definitive position until the GB Spending Review is completed and announced on 20th October, this sets the tone and context. Undoubtedly the Arts Council will have further difficult funding decisions and priorities to establish, and consequently cannot commit the funds necessary to deliver an exhibition at next year’s Venice Biennale.

Original Press Release from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland

www.dublincontemporary.com