Deadline: 8 January 2024
Hometree is inviting artists from any discipline to apply for one of five immersive residencies in a rural upland farming community on Ireland’s west coast as part of the project Dinnseanchas – Envisioning the Uplands.
Funded by Creative Ireland’s Creative Climate Action Fund, this arts, heritage and community project aims to support upland communities in understanding the radical role they could be playing in mitigating the impacts of climate change. The five successful artists will engage creatively with their focus community, sensitively listen, facilitate workshops and events that explore the issues the uplands face, map solutions, and produce new artwork that helps to communicate a creative vision for upland farming communities in Ireland.
The five artists will be supported by a team of ecology and art mentors to ensure that they are deeply connected with the habitats, cultural and economic practices of their focus region and well able to understand and communicate the complex challenges faced by coastal upland communities.
They are inviting artists to create work that has longevity and can remain on display in the landscape, or within venues, or to be performed repeatedly, so that its eco-cultural message continues to be heard long after its inception.
Funding Information
- A bursary of €8,000 is available per artist for the residency. There is additional budget available for expenses and artists will be supported financially to attend project events, including a payment for attending the immersive workshop, and additional payment for facilitating workshops. They are aware that the creation of certain artforms can incur additional costs, which can be discussed.
- The upland residencies will take place between April and October 2024. While the artists do not need to be present all of that time, they would expect each artist to spend enough time within the community that they are able to really engage, listen, and work towards understanding that community’s context. The 2025 Ardnaculla Summer School will include a final showcase event.
The role of the Artists
- To use creative processes to develop artwork that incorporates the voice of the community/ies in exploring what their own future might look like, thereby facilitating increased empathy between the participant groups that catalyses behavioural change among various communities in Ireland, encouraging all to be more open and understanding of each other’s viewpoints, experiences, and collective roles in facing climate change.
- Participate fully in the residential workshop that will take place in the west of Ireland in spring 2024.
- Engage fully with the ethos of the project, the project team, and the relevant focus community to investigate the roles that upland landscapes and communities could play in mitigating climate change and reversing Ireland’s biodiversity emergency.
- Undertake an uplands residency during 2024 during which time they facilitate community workshop, engagements and events either alone or in partnership with one another. This will require artists to spend time in their focus communities over an extended stay or numerous visits before the end of October 2024.
- Foster close relationships with community representatives and members to ensure that all conversations are respectful and sensitive.
- Participate in and engage with the wider aims of the Dinnseanchas project, particularly the Ardnaculla summer schools in 2024 and 2025.
- Create new artistic work that directly responds to the issues raised and investigated within Dinnseanchas.
Project Audience
- They intend the wider general public, and the specific upland communities, to be the audience for this project and for artwork created. They hope that there will be a wide intergenerational appeal and that many communities across Ireland will see themselves reflected in what is communicated by the completed works.
Project Location
- Each of the five artists will work in a particular focus community on the western seaboard that will be chosen in collaboration with the project team. There will also be scope for artists to work across various communities. The project team will be open to hearing suggestions from applicants in terms of location.
Skills, Knowledge, and Experience Required
- Significant experience of working in community and non-arts contexts, including co-creation and/or community-informed or socially engaged art.
- An ability to communicate with empathy and confidence to articulate complex issues, and to navigate sensitive issues in conversation.
- The capacity to engage with diverse stakeholders, to build rapport, and to gain the trust of the participating community members.
- An interest in the relevant issues (climate change, ecology, agriculture, socio-economic issues) and a desire to learn more.
- Strong evidence of creative and imaginative practices and outputs.
Eligibility Criteria
- They invite artists from any discipline to apply. They hope to include a range of disciplines in the group of selected artists.
For more information, visit Hometree.
