Connected Horizons Programme – Organisations & Show and Tell: Antrim, Clare, Kilkenny, Kildare, Leitrim (28 August)

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Visual Artists Ireland

Published 26/08/2025 - 2 days ago

Call for Participants: Connected Horizons Programme

Are you an artist based in Antrim, Clare, Kilkenny, Leitrim or Kildare? Join VAI’s Connected Horizons Programme to connect with fellow artists, receive constructive feedback, and engage with leading arts organisations.

Programme Overview

Session 1: Show & Tell with Organisations (Thursday 28 August, Online)Meet key arts organisations (Catalyst Arts, Burren College of Art, Brown Mountain Diamond, Riverbank Arts Centre, Solas Art Gallery) and share your work in a supportive setting.
Session 2: Online Peer Critique (Wednesday 17 September , Online)A structured, moderated critique session for in-depth feedback.
Session 3: In-Person Clinics & Networking (Wednesday 24 September, VAI Dublin)Meet peers and facilitators for networking and one-on-one clinics. Limited to 25 places, first come, first served.

Event 1: Show & Tell with Organisations (Thursday 28 August, Online)

This is the first event in this round of the Connected Horizons Programme, designed to connect artists across Antrim, Clare, Kilkenny, Leitrim, and Kildare. This session introduces key arts organisations (Catalyst Arts, Burren College of Art, Brown Mountain Diamond, Riverbank Arts Centre and Solas Art Gallery), offering insights into opportunities and support available. Artists will then have the chance to present their work in a supportive environment, receiving input from organisations and fellow participants.

Organisations

Catalyst Arts

Founded in 1993, Catalyst Arts is the longest running artist-led space in Northern Ireland. We are a registered charity, and are also registered with Companies House.

For over 30 years, Catalyst Arts has provided exhibition opportunities to hundreds of artists, held workshops within the local community, and supported the arts in various ways, such as through residencies and national and international exchanges. We host Europe’s longest running performance art festival (FIX) biannually in Belfast.

Emma Quin works between an artistic and curatorial practice. As a sociology graduate, Emma’s work assumes a top-down approach, exploring sociological and philosophical theories through conceptualisation, collaboration, material and object. Primarily concerned with the tensions between the individual and the broader socio-political forces that shape the idea of the self, Emma’s work, curatorial or artistic, is inherently political.

Holding this ideological framework, Emma has gravitated towards researching and contributing to artist-led spaces, projects and learning outside of traditional systems. As a Co-Director of the artist-led, voluntary-run space Catalyst Arts, Emma has co-curated a variety of projects as part of a non-hierarchical board. With support from the Jonathan Ruffer curatorial grant, Emma is extending this line of research in Glasgow, where she will meet with other curators and artists involved with artist-led communities. Through Catalyst Arts, Emma and two other directors are part of the hybrid artistic and curatorial exchange; Gluttt with French artist-led space Glassbox North (Paris) & Glassbox South (Montpellier). Catalyst representatives have received funding from Fluxus Art Projects to visit France and host community meals and exhibitions for each respective artist community.

Burren College of Art

Burren College of Art, located in rural North Clare, is an internationally recognized Irish non-profit college specializing in undergraduate, postgraduate and alternative approaches to fine art education with an ecological focus. Our postgraduate programmes are accredited by the University of Galway. Our undergraduate programme is designed for students in North America who wish to study abroad in Ireland for one to two semesters. Our workshops and residency programmes welcome practitioners from all over the world. www.burrencollege.ie

Dr. Lisa Newman joined the Burren College of Art in 2015. She previously held positions in Financial Aid and Admissions at Oregon College of Art & Craft (2001-2009) and Pacific Northwest College of Art (1998-2000) in Portland, Oregon. Lisa is also an artist, curator and writer. She completed a research-based PhD in 2014 at the University of Manchester, UK in performance art history and theory. Lisa also holds an MA in Performance and Cultural Location in Contemporary Europe from Dartington College of Art, and a BS in Fine and Applied Art from the University of Oregon.

Lisa is also an artist, curator and writer. She completed a research-based PhD in 2014 at the University of Manchester, UK in performance art history and theory. Lisa also holds an MA in Performance and Cultural Location in Contemporary Europe from Dartington College of Art, and a BS in Fine and Applied Art from the University of Oregon. As a professional artist, she has exhibited in events and festivals in the US, Canada and across the EU since 1995. She also co-directs the independent arts organization-2 Gyrlz Performative Arts, with her partner, Llewyn Maire. www.2gyrlz.org

Brown Mountain Diamond

Brown Mountain Diamond is an experimental artist-run art space in deep rural Ireland started in 2021. It is homed in a small farm complex with farmhouse, outbuildings, barn, yards and fields. It is an art centre situated in North County Kilkenny and is a facility that supports diverse forms of art making, from visual to sound, through a series of projects, residencies and events. The project is founded, owned and operated by visual artist Carl Giffney. It takes much of its ethos and methodology from previous art projects including The Good Hatchery (co-founder, director / 2007-2016) and Frontiers in Retreat (participant, artist / 2013-2018). Brown Mountain Diamond is many people, and already many things, and it relies on an ongoing stream of input and output. In 2025 BMD launched RURAL LIFE 1.0, a new project funded by Kilkenny County Council. The series hosts five artists—Bog Cottage, Paddy Bloomer, John Byrne, Maria McKinney, and Sharon Phelan—for month-long residencies developed in collaboration with local community groups, culminating in a site-responsive exhibition across the farm’s buildings and fields.

Sara Muthi is an Irish-Romanian curator and writer based in Dublin. She holds positions as the Curator of Visual Art at Brown Mountain Diamond and Curatorial Fellow at IMMA. Independently working as a commissioner, her latest research explores the intersections of Evangelicalism and Western visual culture. Sara is the recipient of Black Church Print Studio Emerging Curator Award 2022 and Pallas Projects Studios / PVA Writer Award 2023.

Riverbank Arts Centre

Riverbank Arts Centre is the county arts centre based in Newbridge, Co. Kildare, funded by The Arts Council and Kildare County Council. Riverbank Arts Centre works in partnership with international, national and local artists to deliver an accessible and consistently high quality arts programme in an intimate environment. We provide a multi-disciplinary programme which includes theatre, cinema, comedy, music, dance, workshops and visual arts.
Riverbank Arts Centre has two gallery spaces:

McKenna Gallery – An enclosed room measuring approx 65 metres sq.
Children’s Gallery – a corridor gallery space

Riverbank Arts Centre hosts solo exhibitions, group exhibitions, and artist residencies at the McKenna Gallery and each exhibition is accompanied by a talks and/or workshop programme. In addition to curating 5-8 exhibitions per year, Riverbank Arts Centre partners with Kildare Arts Service on an ‘Emerging Visual Artist Bursary Award’ each year, which enables the first major solo exhibition in the McKenna Gallery by an emerging artist. Previous recipients include Brenda Kearney, Marta Golubowska, Noel Hensey, Michelle McBride, Isobel Egan, Shane Hynan, Kyn Tracey and Fiyin Oloukun.
The Children’s Gallery is a visual arts space which aims to connect young people with a multi-disciplinary visual arts programme from an early age (primary target audience age 2 – 12 years). The work presented in this space is commissioned and created both for and by children in collaboration with visual artists. Riverbank Arts Centre has commissioned, presented and toured exhibitions for young people by artists including Maeve Clancy, Corrina Askin, Vanya Lambrecht Ward, Caoimhe McGuckin and Ashwin Chacko.

Caroline Williams has worked in the arts for over three decades, as a producer, manager, editor, researcher and writer. She is Venue Director of Riverbank Arts Centre since 2022, with responsibility for artistic programming and strategic development of the organisation. Riverbank Arts Centre provides a multi-disciplinary programme which includes theatre, cinema, comedy, music, dance, workshops and visual arts. With a dedicated children’s gallery and programming of high quality theatre and workshops for younger audiences, Riverbank is also committed to promoting early engagement with and access to the arts.

Martina McDonald is a Kildare based Curator and Project Manager, specialising in visual arts. Having graduated with a BA Hons Degree from NCAD Fine Art Sculpture in 2009, Martina has been in the creative realm for over 14 years. During this time, Martina has worked on a myriad of creative and cultural projects spanning across Ireland, Australia and the Netherlands. At present, Martina is the Curator for Engagement at the Riverbank Arts Centre where she assists the team to create engagement opportunities and activities to connect with key audiences. In addition to this, Martina is also practicing Visual Artist and regularly exhibits on a national level. She is an active member of Kildare Art Collective and Leinster Print Studio, and has received funding from Kildare County Council and the Arts Council in 2023 to develop creative projects for public engagement.

Solas Art Gallery

Solas Art Gallery is an artist-led, not for profit, gallery space in Ballinamore, Co. Leitrim, established in 2007. The main aim of Solas Art Gallery is to promote all genres of visual art to the local and wider community. By making an exhibition space accessible to all emerging and established artists, both full time and part time, it also brings an awareness of art to the public. Solas Art Gallery hosts three group exhibitions a year, a junior exhibition, solo and joint solo exhibitions. Our community-led gallery is run on a membership basis. It gives member artists the opportunity to exhibit in three group shows and also to apply for a solo or joint solo show. The Gallery benefits from funding by LCC Arts Office, Leitrim Development Company and is run on a voluntary basis.

Mariette Baptist-Fruin is the Secretary and artist-member of Ballinamore Community Arts Group/Solas Art Gallery. After being a frequent visitor and supporter of the gallery for many years, Mariette became a member in 2023. Her main medium is poetry and photography, often combined into one artwork. She has fulfilled the role of Secretary of the gallery since the beginning of 2024.

Who Can Join?

Artists in any discipline based in the five listed counties.
Cost: €15 for artists based in Antrim, Clare, Kilkenny, Leitrim or Kildare (€5 per session)
If you would like to present at the show and tell – complete the section of the form to indicate your interest. There is an artists fee of €50 for those selected. Spaces will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.

How to Register

Further Connected Horizons programmes for other counties will be announced soon.

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WEBINARS and ONLINE EVENTS: We use Zoom to host our online events. The following text should be followed and tested before registering for a Cafe or Help Desk Event. Zoom has an excellent Help Desk service if you are experiencing problems.

You will be emailed a link to the event in the confirmation email you receive after you have registered.

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Connectivity: Do you experience connectivity issues when engaging with online VAI events? If so why not search for the nearest BCP (Broadband Connection Point) in your area? To explore your options please visit: https://nbi.ie/bcp-map/

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Venue	Online
Starts	Thu Aug 28 2025, 2:00pm GMT
Ends	Thu Aug 28 2025, 4:30pm GMT