Ground Up Artists invite you to an online roundtable discussion on community, identity, hospitality, and culture, from the Tar Isteach project, a Bealtaine / Age & Opportunity Commission 2020, in association with Clare, Galway and Roscommon County Councils, as well as the Irish Museum of Modern Art.
Friday 27 November 2020, 10:00 AM – 12:30 PM
Live Zoom Discussion Event
To register click here
Full schedule and speaker biographies here
This event is the second in a pair of conversations book-ending the Tar Isteach Commission.
The first roundtable took place last October 2019 at IMMA as a closed research and knowledge-gathering event. This reconvened Roundtable will be a public facing event via Zoom that aims to share and disseminate insights and learning from the Tar Isteach project which engaged with ‘New Irish’ residents and citizens in Salthill, Galway City, Lisdoonvarna Co. Clare and Ballaghaderreen, Co. Roscommon through via a series of encounters, meetings and workshops.
As the project reaches its conclusion, the artists now wish to revisit their original questions, informed by the research of their practice.
– Who speaks? Who gains? Who has leverage?
– Can creating a poetic space support wellbeing for some?
– How can artists remain ‘apart from’ as opposed to ‘part of’ the current system of provision?
Contributing speakers will include: the artists Maeve Collins; Monica De Bath; Julie Griffiths; commissioning partners – Bealtaine / Age & Opportunity Clare, Galway City and Roscommon County Councils, local authority Arts Officers, IMMA and returning invited contributors with experience of the Direct Provision system.
We welcome artists and cultural workers, those working to further cultural equality and diversity, human rights and social activists, New Irish residents and citizens to attend.
Background
Between May 2019 and Nov 2020. Ground Up was supported in developing Tar Isteach through a residency at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in partnership Age & Opportunity and the associated Arts Offices: Clare, Galway and Roscommon County Councils. Much of the planned outputs from the commission have had to be postponed or cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In 2019 three members of Ground Up Artists Collective Meave Collins, Monica de Bath and Julie Griffiths began research work within IMMA as part of a Bealtaine / Age and Opportunity Commission on the theme of hospitality. They were asked to work with diverse communities on issues of identity and culture. Key to beginning this research was a round table ‘Fold and Rise’ discussion, drawing on the experiences of three people who have sought asylum in Ireland, enduring the Direct Provision services, along with representatives from arts institutions, local authorities, and national organisations.
The event was hosted by IMMA and led out by Tar Isteach artists. The artists have spent the last 12 months engaging creatively with refugees and those seeking asylum in Counties Clare, Roscommon and Galway City.
Chair: Ronit Lentin
Keynote Speaker: Tania Cañas, Arts Director, RISE Refugee, Australia
Ground Up Artist’s Collective artists: Maeve Collins, Monica de Bath and Julie Griffiths.
Hosted by: Bealtaine Festival Age & Opportunity
Co-Hosted by: Commission Partners, Clare County Council, Galway City Council & Roscommon County Council Arts Services.
Roundtable Guests:
Tara Byrne, Artistic Director, Bealtaine Festival / Age & Opportunity
Áine Crowley, Programme Manager, Arts & Engagement, CREATE
James Harrold Arts Officer, Galway City Council
Ellie Kisyombe founder, Our Table
Salome Mbugua, Head of Operations and Strategy, AkiDwA
Rhona McGrath, Arts Officer, Roscommon County Council.
Siobhan, Mulcahy Arts Officer, Clare County Council
Vukašin Nedeljkoviić, Artist & Researcher
Evgeny Shtorn, Create Cultural Diversity Researcher, Writer and LGBTQ Activist
Helene O’Donoghue, Senior Curator, Head of Engagement & Learning, IMMA
Event Manager: Monica Flynn, Visual Art Curator / Bealtaine Festival
