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Announcement of Recipients of the Fingal County Council, Tyrone Guthrie Centre and Bealtaine Festival Residency Award 2023

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Fingal Arts Office in partnership with the Tyrone Guthrie Centre and Age & Opportunity’s Bealtaine Festival are delighted to announce Colette Cullen and James English as the recipients of the Fingal County Council, Tyrone Guthrie Centre and Bealtaine Festival Residency Award. This award aims to celebrate and support older artists at all stages of their careers working in literature and visual arts.

Colette Cullen, a playwright and James English RHA, a painter, will commence their residencies in the coming months at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in the beautiful, tranquil setting of County Monaghan. The award, which comprises of a four-week residency including a travel and materials stipend, will provide an ideal environment for the successful recipients to research and develop new work with the potential to present outcomes during Age & Opportunity’s Bealtaine Festival 2024.

When asked about the award Colette Cullen said, “Receiving the Fingal County Council, Tyrone Guthrie Centre and Bealtaine Festival Residency Award is an incredible boost to my playwriting career as it provides me with the time and space to work on a challenging new project which will have a hugely beneficial impact on my creative practice and my development as an artist.”

James English commented, “I’m delighted and honoured to have received this year’s Fingal Arts Office, Tyrone Guthrie Centre and Bealtaine Festival Residency Award. A residency in such a beautiful place with other creatives is conducive to developing new ideas for my work as a painter. I am so much looking forward to spending time there.”

About the Artists

Colette Cullen is a playwright and theatre director. Her critically acclaimed play WHEN RACHEL MET FIONA finished a run at The New Theatre in April. A UK production premiered at The Space, London in 2021. Her follow-on play NO PROMISES had a rehearsed reading in The New Theatre in July 2022 and was shortlisted (Honorable Mention) ‘Epiphanies New Work Festival 2022’ and the ‘Garry Marshall Theatre New Works Festival 2022’. Her audio play FINGERS CROSSED dropped on Eclectic Full Contact Theatre, Chicago’s ‘Half Hour Radio Hour’ in May. She will direct an Irish production for Near FM in 2023. Her audio play BLIND DATE dropped on Near FM in February. Her play FAMILY TREE, longlisted for the Papatango Prize 2019, had a rehearsed reading at ATC Studios, New Jersey in October 2022. She co-wrote the Chicago-set, prize-winning audio crime drama series DEEP SHADOWS for Eclectic Full Contact Theatre. Her short plays EVERYONE’S SORRY and SHOPPING DAYS continue to be internationally produced.

James English is a member of the Royal Hibernian Academy and is renowned for still life and landscape paintings which respond to his interest in nature and ornithology, often capturingshadow patterns, abstract forms and reflections in water. He served two terms as a Board Member of the RHA School and the RHA Programme Board. He also served as a member of the Board of Governors and Guardians of the National Gallery of Ireland from May 2017 to May 2020 where he was Chair of the Acquisitions and Exhibitions. His work is held in many private and public collection both in Ireland and abroad.

Images courtesy of the artists.

When Rachel Met Fiona, 2022 by Colette Cullen. Directed by Iseult Golden featuring Eilish McLaughlin (left) & Emma Dargan-Reid (right). Photographer: Al Craig

River Sedges, 2023 by James English, Oil on canvas, 75 x 60cm. Photographer Gillian Buckley

For further information please see:
www.fingalarts.ie www.fingal.ie/arts www.tyroneguthrie.ie www.bealtainefestival.ie
www.ageandopportunity.ie

 

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Celebrations mark National Arts in Nursing Homes Day

The artistic and creative potential and talents of nursing home residents are being celebrated in communities across Ireland today, Friday, 19th May 2023. National Arts in Nursing Homes Day will see performances, exhibitions and celebratory events hosted in nursing homes as part of our annual Bealtaine Festival, celebrating the arts and creativity as we age.

National Arts in Nursing Homes Day is once again a partnership between Age and Opportunity and Nursing Homes Ireland.

Events lined up include art and craft exhibitions of resident painting, pottery and knitting creations, and performances. There will be a series of concerts in nursing homes across Co Louth and a resident choir recital in Co Cavan.

In Co Kilkenny, residents of Mooncoin Residential Care Centre will present the fruits of their participation in an arts project If These Hands Could Sing. For successive weeks they have explored the theme of reminiscence through the five senses, with the support of artist musician Liam Merriman. If These Hands Could Sing was the winner of the 2022 National Arts in Nursing Homes Day Award.

“One of the key aims of our work is to ensure that older people have access to the arts no matter where they live in Ireland”, says Tara Byrne, Age & Opportunity Arts Programme Manager. “Our partnership with Nursing Homes Ireland for this special day is a cornerstone of our drive to support meaningful arts making and engagement in our later lives.”

Tadhg Daly, Nursing Homes Ireland CEO says: “Participation in the arts occurs at all ages and fulfils a particularly important role in supporting people in nursing homes. The arts allow nursing home residents to express themselves, to enable their creative talents to flourish, to bond, and enjoy very happy and memorable moments.”

“National Arts in Nursing Homes Day is an occasion to applaud the creative talents of nursing home residents and the role the arts fulfils in supporting them. We are extremely proud to partner with Age and Opportunity for this very special initiative.”

Writer & visual artists receive Age & Opportunity 2023 Arts Awards

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Age & Opportunity’s Arts programme is delighted to announce the recipients of its three Artists awards – the Creative Ageing Writing Bursary goes to Laurence McKeown, the Professional Development Artist Award to Maree Hensey and the Emerging Artist Award to Katie Nolan.

“We hope the awards honour the contribution that these artists are making to the arts in Ireland. We are delighted to be able to support them in developing their work,” said Tara Byrne, Arts Programme Manager. “Like the Bealtaine Festival, the awards serve to remind us of the potential in all of us to sustain and realise our creativity no matter what age we are.”

Creative Ageing Writing Bursary

Launched in 2021, the Age & Opportunity Creative Ageing Writing Bursary aims to generate discussion, debate and knowledge about creative ageing in Ireland. The recipient is charged with writing an essay or reflection that will be useful for people who work with or are thinking of working with older people, including older artists.

This year’s recipient, Laurence McKeown, is a writer and former republican prisoner in the North of Ireland from 1976-1992. During that time, he took part in the protests for the return of political status and spent 70 days on hunger strike in 1981.

On receiving the award Laurence said it would allow him time to reflect upon his practice over the past 30+ years and the changes that have occurred in him and in and what it is he now wants to say. He would “write what I’ve discovered about about myself and other people; about humanity, about the power of words and the opportunity to speak, write, and record words.”

In the later years of his imprisonment Laurence was heavily involved in the development and delivery of the prisoners’ own educational programme.

Since his release Laurence has written extensively about the prison experience – in a doctoral thesis (published in 2002 titled Out of Time), a feature film (H3), a play (The Laughter of our Children), and numerous articles and book chapters. His recent prison memoir, Time Shadows (2021), covers the first five years of his imprisonment detailing his experiences on the blanket protest and hunger strike.

In December 2018 Salmon Poetry published Laurence’s debut collection of poetry titled Threads.

Over the past 15 years Laurence has collaborated with Kabosh Theatre, Belfast who have produced several of his plays including Green And Blue, which is based on an oral archive of serving RUC and An Garda Síochána officers.

Professional Development Artist Award

First awarded in 2022, the Professional Development Artist Award aims to celebrate lifelong learning by encouraging and supporting professional older artists who wish to further develop their career and practice.

This year’s awardee, Maree Hensey, is a visual artist whose practice encompasses drawing, print sculpture, installation and collaboration. She appreciates the value and intrinsic importance of her practice, its authenticity and genuine benefits, as she gets older.

“I believe I have a something to say and am always seeking new visual languages to express this. The Professional Development Artist Award will support the development of my art practice. It will validate the point to where I have got to and where to go next.”

Her practice increases her visibility. It ignites her interest and passion to broaden her skills. Material is an integral component in her practice. She uses materials that are rich in associations and investigates ways to transform them, often projecting new identities and layers of meaning onto the work in doing so.

Maree has completed several Public Art Commissions, Site Specific Installations, Artist in Residence programmes and Community Based Participatory Art projects. She has exhibited nationally and internationally, including group shows in Roscommon Arts Centre; the Hamilton Gallery, Co. Sligo; Drawing Box International, Athens School of Fine Arts, Greece; Script III, Envision Art Show, USA; and Drawing Box International, Galerie Abstract Project, Paris, France.

Emerging Artist Bursary

The Age & Opportunity Emerging Artist Bursary, also inaugurated in 2022, aims to encourage and support older artists who are at an early stage in their career. It celebrates the determination and achievements of someone in the second half of their life who has embarked on a full-time artistic path with a view to becoming a professional artist.

This year’s recipient, Katie Nolan, returned to education aged 50. As someone in the early stages of her professional career, she says the award will be “pivotal in giving me the time, confidence and funds to delve deeper into my current explorations into historical practices of wool production in Ireland, the associated impacts on social, cultural and economic development”.

Katie completed her BA in Visual Art on Sherkin Island and in 2022 graduated with first class honours from TU Dublin’s MA Art & Environment. She aims to create opportunities for the development of reflective expression that can bring humanity’s desensitised relationship to the planet to a broader aesthetic awareness.

Katie’s practice is research based and she has an ardent interest in the relationship between humanity and technology. Her work has explored the entropic nature of our digital culture and the resulting impacts on the wider environment. Using performative processes of creative engagement, her current practice also engages with video, sound, sculptural form and site-specific installation.

Work with us! Arts Programme Administrator

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We have an opportunity for a candidate with a strong administration background to join our Arts Programme team as our Arts Programme Administrator. This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to the area of arts and ageing, working in a very rewarding and diverse role.

Position: Full-time, 37.5 hours per week

Contract: Permanent

Salary: €32,000 per annum

Reporting to: Arts Programme Manager (and Arts Programme Assistant Manager in her absence).

Location: Hybrid. This will involve a mixture of working from home and a requirement to attend our offices / events in Dublin for a certain portion of the week. The employee may also be required to travel nationally for a number of Bealtaine events (usually between 2 and 3 events).

A full job description and person specification can be found here:  Arts Programme Adminstrator

To apply:

Please send your CV and cover letter, outlining how you match the criteria, by email to margaret.roe@ageandopportunity.ie by 5pm on Friday the 12th of May 2023.

Interviews will be held on Tuesday the 23rd of May.

Age & Opportunity is an equal opportunities employer.

 

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Our Bealtaine Festival 2023 programme launches today

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We are delighted to launch the Bealtaine Festival programme 2023. Bealtaine is Ireland’s national celebration of the arts and creativity as we age, funded by the Arts Council and the HSE, and supported by communities nationwide and a vast and accomplished array of local and national bodies.

Throughout May, across a comprehensive and distinguished programme, Bealtaine 2023, champions generational interdependence and diversity.

This year’s programme features Bealtaine on Screen, which includes Lorna Fitzsimon’s Dance Till Dán, Jacek Snochowski’s Rhizome,  Fatima Groups United’s LGBTQ+ history film, Holding Our History and Shaun Dunne and Jessica Kennedy’s Over/Pass, a Bealtaine commissioned dance film that considers care, loyalty and intimacy. In addition, Bealtaine teams up once again with access>CINEMA and Wild Strawberries, the Irish Film Institute’s film club for over 55s, for a number of special film screenings.

Digging, an exciting regional programme of literature events at this year’s festival, in partnership with The Dock in Leitrim, Laois Arts Office and Wexford Arts Office, includes public readings by award winning debut writers Carmel McMahon and Alice Kinsella. Former Rooney Prize for Literature winner, Claire Keegan will perform a reading and conduct a Q&A session at Wexford Arts Centre and Eileen Casey will conduct a number of memoir writing workshops.

A remarkable inclusion in this year’s festival is The Poetry Line where people are invited to sign up to receive a phone call from a roster of acclaimed poets, including Thomas McCarthy, Jane Clarke, Mícheál McCann, Rachael Hegarty and Molly Twomey. While Standing on the Shoulders of Giants presents Niamh Mulvey and Joseph O’Connor in conversation.

Music highlights include Beside the Sea – an innovative staged work for violinists by composer Ian Wilson and Bealtaine Voices with Mike Hanrahan of Stockton’s Wing showcasing local choirs from different communities, including Ukraine. While at The Sugar Club on Leeson Street, Tom Dunne, Jerry Fish and Alan Connor, through music and conversation, explore some of their favourite songs of the 1970s & 1980s.

Bealtaine is excited to announce nationwide street performances by The Grannies, an acrobatic and comedic tour de force that must be seen, as must the Holy Show Party Piece, a cabaret show that includes performers John Spillane, Little John Nee and Lisa McInerney.

Unshrinking Violets celebrates 50 years of Lesbian Activism with a dedicated exhibition of activist/protest ephemera and a screening of Sonya Mulligan’s documentary Outitude charting the Irish Lesbian Community from the 1970s to the 2015 marriage referendum.

Bealtaine also includes a dedicated schedule of workshops including Art Writing, Botanical Drawing, Creative Writing for Beginners, as well as Comedy and Circus Workshops. Elsewhere Roots & Shoots is an exciting nationwide programme of Visual Arts. While the Bealtaine Online Discussion Series concentrates on intergenerational relationships with an emphasis on ageing masculine identities, with panelists including Director of the Dublin International Film Festival, Grainne Humphreys, film-maker Ken Wardrop and author Michael Harding.

In addition to the programme of events above, which is curated directly by Age & Opportunity, Bealtaine includes hundreds of community events nationwide. Artists, arts organisations, community groups and individual organisers are invited to register their events on bealtaine.ie.

See bealtaine.ie  for further programme and booking details

 

Invitation to Tender for Facilitator for Artists Care Exchange (ACE)

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Age & Opportunity is seeking tenders from key individuals with an interest and background in the arts and older people in a care context, to act as facilitator of the Artists Care Exchange (ACE). This is the second iteration of this initiative, which aims to support artists working with older people in care settings by increasing their knowledge, building connections, and offering mentorship. We wish to appoint a facilitator from September to December 2023, with some additional work in the recruitment of participants in June/July.

ACE will offer professional artists who work in care settings and/or with older people an opportunity to exchange information, advice, and experiences in a group situation, whilst also learning from a range of experts in the social, medical, and arts fields. The initiative comprises of 6 online and 1 in person session, as well as mentorship from an experienced artist.

The purpose of the facilitator is to work with the Age & Opportunity team to plan, manage, and host the seven facilitated sessions and devise mentoring sessions for a group of artists between October and December 2023.

For a full description of the role, requirements, and how to apply, please click here. 

Closing date for receipt of tenders: Friday 21st April, at 5pm.

Please submit your tenders to: arts@ageandopportunity.ie

Invitation to Tender for Literature & Visual Arts Programming Services for Bealtaine Festival 2024 – 2026

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Bealtaine is expanding its programme and audiences and we are seeking tenders from key individuals or organisations for two exciting programming opportunities to work on Bealtaine 2024 – 2026. We wish to appoint both a Literature and a Visual Arts Programmer from June 2023 – June 2026.

The purpose of this process is to recruit two Programmers who will work with the Artistic Director of the festival to select, develop, manage and promote the literature and visual arts programme of the Bealtaine Festival 2024- 2026.

Literature Programmer: For a full description of requirements, fees, budget, and how to apply please click here.

Visual Arts Programmer: For a full description of requirements, fees, budget, and how to apply please click here.

Closing date for receipt of tenders for both roles is 5pm on Thurs 6th April.

Please submit your tender to: Margaret Roe, HR Manager, at margaret.roe@ageandopportunity.ie

Late applications will not be accepted.

NANHD

National Arts in Nursing Homes Day Award Recipients 2023 announced

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Age & Opportunity and Nursing Homes Ireland are delighted to announce three award recipients for this year’s National Arts in Nursing Homes Day Award – Mooncoin Residential Care Centre, Co Kilkenny; Borris Lodge Nursing Home, Co Carlow; and Highfield Healthcare, Whitehall, Dublin.

Now in its third year, National Arts in Nursing Homes Day takes place on the third Friday of May as part of Bealtaine Festival, Ireland’s national celebration of the arts and creativity as we age. It showcases the wonderful but often hidden creative activity taking place with residents of nursing homes and in day care centres. Three innovative arts projects were selected from entries received from nursing homes and care centres across the country. They are creatively engaging nursing home residents in projects that will be unveiled on National Arts in Nursing Homes Day, 19th May.

An award of €1000 is going to Mooncoin Residential Care Centre, Co Kilkenny for an exciting song-writing project that is being led by musician Liam Merriman. A multi artform approach is being undertaken to bring residents’ creativity to the fore. The project will culminate with the creation of a piece of music encompassing lyrics captured from reminiscence sessions with residents. The recording with residents and a short documentary of the project will be screened at a celebratory event on National Arts in Nursing Homes Day.

The winners of two €500 awards are:

  • Borris Lodge Nursing Home, Co Carlow, who will stage an exhibition of their work as part of their dynamic Borris Lace Exchange Project;
  • Highfield Healthcare, Whitehall, Dublin, who will engage a local artist to facilitate AZURE – slow, art-looking – sessions with residents living with dementia.

Over the coming weeks, nursing homes across the country will be preparing art-themed celebrations for National Arts in Nursing Homes Day, 19th May, and the Bealtaine Festival. In 2022 around 100 nursing homes across the country hosted celebrations, with 2023 looking to build upon previous years’ successes. Nursing home staff, residents, members of day care centres and their families and visitors will participate in celebrations.

Tara Byrne, Arts Programme Manager in Age & Opportunity said: “We want to support, encourage and celebrate everyday arts and creativity as an integral and vital part of the activities of the care settings around Ireland. The NANHD award does this by encouraging nursing homes and day care centres to think deeply about their residents’ interests and most importantly, potential.”

Tadhg Daly, CEO of Nursing Homes Ireland said: “National Arts in Nursing Homes Day is a very special celebration taking place in communities across Ireland recognising the creativity of people in our nursing homes and the integral role the arts fulfils in supporting them. The Award provides NHI and Age & Opportunity with opportunity to support innovative artistic projects with residents. We are delighted to support the creativity exemplified by the winning entries this year.”  

NANHD Information webinar – Thursday 30th March, 2-3.30pm

Activity co-ordinators and any staff of nursing home or day centre who are interested in organising and registering an event to celebrate the day are invited to a free information webinar on Thursday 30th March, 2-3.30pm.

It will include handy resources, ideas and tips for devising and planning an event.

The webinar will also be made available as a recording for those who cannot attend on the day.

Register for the webinar here.

For further information all +353 (0)1 805 7713

 

 

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Fingal County Council, Tyrone Guthrie Centre and Bealtaine Festival Residency Award 2023

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Age & Opportunity’s Bealtaine Festival, in association with Fingal County Council and The Tyrone Guthrie Centre, is pleased to announce two, month-long, residencies at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre. These residences aim to celebrate and support older artists at all stages of their careers working in literature and visual arts.

The residencies will offer a professional visual artist and a professional writer the opportunity to research or develop new work and, if desired, to present work during Bealtaine 2024. The award is open to writers and visual artists working in all disciplines. Bealtaine Festival, Fingal Arts Office, and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre welcome and encourage applications from writers and visual artists from diverse cultural or minority backgrounds.

These residencies support the Bealtaine Festival’s aim of celebrating creative ageing, and representation in the arts of and by older people. Similarly, they address Fingal Arts goals, through its Arts Plan 2020 – 2025, of: connecting people and ideas; enabling excellence and fostering experimentation and risk taking.   This initiative also supports the three organisations’ aim to foster the professional development of artists in their ongoing practice.

The residency at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, located in the beautiful, tranquil setting of County Monaghan will provide an ideal environment to focus on research or the development of new work.  Applicants have the option to apply for a one-month long residency or two separate 2-week long residencies between June and December 2023 at a date to be agreed with the successful candidates.

The Residency will include:
 · En Suite accommodation and full board in the Big House at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre will be provided for a professional writer on agreed selected dates from June – December and includes quiet writing space.
· En Suite accommodation and full board in the Big House at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre will be provided for a visual artist on agreed selected dates from June – December 2023.
· Use of a visual art studio or a print studio (for artists working in print).
· A stipend of €960 for travel and material costs.

Eligibility

  • Applicants must have been born, have studied, or currently reside in the Fingal administrative area.
    · Applicants must be aged 50+.
    · The successful applicants must be able to commit to their agreed chosen dates for the residency.

For further information on Fingal County Council and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre please see www.fingal.ie and www.tryoneguthrie.ie

Closing date for receipt of applications: Mon 27th March at 4pm

For further information on the award and to apply please visit www.fingalarts.ie/news or www.fingal.ie/arts

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Artist awards now open for applications

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Age & Opportunity’s Arts programme invites applications for three awards intended to support the development of older artists in Ireland and to increase the knowledge around the arts and ageing in general: the Creative Ageing Writing Bursary, Professional Development Artist Award and Emerging Artist Award. 

The deadline for all three awards is 5pm, Friday March 24th 2023.

Applications and queries can be submitted to the Arts Programme Administrator at arts@ageandopportunity.ie.

To get a sense of the work these awards support, you can read about the 2022 award winners here.

 

Creative Ageing Writing Bursary 2023

Launched in 2021, the Age & Opportunity Creative Ageing Writing Bursary aims to generate discussion, debate and knowledge about the growing arts and ageing sector in Ireland. The recipient of this bursary is required to write an essay reflecting on their practice as an artist, writer, or arts worker; their experiences working with older people in the arts; or other ideas relating to the arts and ageing that influence their work, thinking and research (please note by writer we do not necessarily mean literary writer).

This essay will be published on the Age & Opportunity and Bealtaine websites, and shared widely amongst the arts and ageing sector.

It is hoped that through offering time and space for an artist to reflect on these ideas, the resulting essay will become a useful resource for people who work with or are thinking of working with older people (including older artists), while generating discussion and debate about this area of work.

In the coming years, we hope to contribute to this growing body of knowledge of the arts and ageing in Ireland as we continue to offer this award.

One award of €1000 will be made to the successful applicant.

Please read the guidelines here before submitting your application form.

Deadline: 5pm, Friday March 24th 2023.

 

Professional Development Artist Award 2023

Developing as an artist is a lifelong commitment, and Age & Opportunity Arts is particularly committed to supporting new opportunities for older artists as they continue to hone their creative practice or develop expertise in other artforms.

The Professional Development Artist Award was launched in 2022 in order to support the development needs of older artists. Through this award, older artists are encouraged to seek out further learning, training, research, or other activities that benefit their career and practice.

One award of €1000 will be made to the successful applicant.

Please read the guidelines here before submitting your application form.

Deadline: 5pm, Friday March 24th 2023.

 

Emerging Artist Award 2023

As part of continuing work to support older artists at every stage of their career, Age & Opportunity launched the Emerging Artist Bursary in 2022 to encourage those at an early stage in their career. There can be many barriers preventing people to take up artistic practice at a younger age, and Age & Opportunity recognises that there is no age limit on ‘emerging’. This award is also important in how it promotes the concept of lifelong learning and the ability we all have to grow at any age.

Through this award Age & Opportunity Arts would like to celebrate an exciting, up-and-coming artist aged 50+ who shows dedication and determination as they embark on a new path to becoming a professional artist. This award can be put towards activities that develop their practice further or the creation of new work.

One award of €1000 will be made to the successful applicant.

Please read the guidelines here before submitting your application form.

Deadline: 5pm, Friday March 24th 2023.

 

Please note that Age & Opportunity welcomes applications from all communities, and particularly encourages artists from underrepresented communities to apply.

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