Arts Service
A busy 2004 saw the Sligo Arts Office on target towards achieving the full implementation of the County Sligo Arts Plan 2002-2005 “The Brightening Air”.
In the service area Information & Resourcing work commenced on the development of www.sligoarts.ie – a web-based arts information project – and the office introduced a regular Arts E-Bulletin, a current and informative monthly email to artists, arts organisations, local authority staff, the media and members of the public who have requested to be part of this database, also made available on the Arts page of www.sligococo.ie. Sligo Events Quarterly continued to promote a growing number of events in Sligo.
The successful Arts Advisory Mentoring Schemes in Creative Writing, Drama and Visual Art, which saw the Arts Office enter into partnership with the Yeats Society, the Hawk’s Well Theatre and Sligo Art Gallery continued to work with the voluntary and amateur sector in workshop, programme and organisational development and established a new resource for writers/readers in the quarterly Writing Notes. The Arts Office was happy to respond positively to the Advisor/Mentors’ reports and recommendations for direct intervention and supportive programming to continue for groups into 2005.
Grants and Awards by Sligo Local Authorities to organisations and individuals in 2004 totalled €235,000 including Contribution to the Arts for established arts events and organisations, the Community Arts Act Grants Scheme which encourages arts activity at community level and annual bursary awards to individual artists.
In Programming & Development a wide variety of projects continued in partnership with the NWHB, which included Intergenerational Arts Projects, such as Maugherow and Abbeyquarter, The Creative Opportunities Programme, which covers a broad range of activities including the St. Anne’s Project and the county wide May Bealtaine Festival for Older People, the Gallagher House Project in Tubbercurry and the General Hospital Art Exhibition Project. Many of these community groups took part in the visual art and performance programmes for Sligo Day of Welcomes on May Day.
Opportunities for artists continued through the Artists in Context programme Phase 2, delivered in collaboration with the Sligo Leader Partnership Company Ltd and the Arts in New Technologies Project Phase 2, delivered in conjunction with Kids Own Publishing Partnership.
Ongoing opportunities for young people to participate in quality arts programmes through County Sligo Youth Theatre were extended to include 12-14 year olds. This organisation for the youth of the county aged between 12 and 21 has developed considerably in recent times and now has its own office and employs a leader in the Factory Performance Space. In 2004, CSYT were informed of their successful application to Peace II for capital funding to carry out refurbishment on their space. The Youth Theatre presented a number of their own productions as well as taking part in other community initiatives. In 2004 CSYT presented two main productions including ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in February 04 at the Youth Theatre Space – directed by past members of the Youth Theatre - and ‘The Raven’ by Edgar Allen Poe in July 04 in The Factory Performance Space – which included film training. Members also had the opportunity to perform at Markree Castle as part of their Arts Programme. In April some members participated in a youth encounter in Germany. Members also participated in the St Patrick’s Day Festival, in Sligo Day of Welcomes, as part of the Blue Raincoat Theatre Company’s Summer Festival, Cairde, and in a Regional Youth Theatre Encounter in Sligo.
Music development in County Sligo received a very special boost through the residency programme of the Vogler Quartet in Sligo, which ended in June 2004. A Celebratory Programme of Events from March to June marked the end of this successful programme including Teen Theme & Variations at the Hawk’s Well in which the Vogler Quartet performed alongside secondary school students in an interactive concert combining dance, rap, drama, improvisation and composition; Quartet – a new play by John Kavanagh featuring the Vogler Quartet; Magical Musical Minds Primary Schools Showcase at the Hawk’s Well - an interactive presentation of dance, visual arts, new compositions and traditional music performances by 120 children from 17 primary schools with the Vogler Quartet, delivered with Artists in Residence Elaine Agnew, composer, Imelda Peppard, artist, Katie Wilson, dancer, Colm O’Donnell, traditional musician and directed by Padraig Meehan; and Mini Quartets – a concert by the Vogler Quartet and students of Sligo Academy of Music who had worked as ensembles under the tuition of the Quartet since 2000. Two publications also celebrated the 5-year residency – The Power in the Feet an interview by Dermot Healy with Mary McAuliffe and Celebrating Vogler Quartet in Sligo 1999-2004.
The Arts Office commenced work on the post-residency programme with the three originating partners The Sligo Local Authorities, The Arts Council and Music Network who in July 2004 established the Vogler Partners Steering Group. The originating partners have been joined by Mary Immaculate College Limerick and received a research grant from the Department of Education & Science to engage a professional researcher who, working with the steering group and in consultation with local partners, will present the findings in the form of a final report.
Based on the successful model of the Vogler Music Education Programme at Primary Level, the Arts Office collaborated with well-known traditional musician Colm O’Donnell to broaden the music genre in the application of this model. Guth, a Traditional Music Education Programme was delivered in 8 National Schools over the 2003-2004 school year, concluding with a performance as part of the Vogler Quartet Primary School Showcase Concert in the Hawk’s Well in June.
In Infrastructure and Linkages the Public Art Officer oversaw the commencement of four new commissions in 2004 and the publication of Sligo’s Public Art Plan 2004 - 2006. Working with the NWHB and a number of local artists the Arts Office facilitated the beginnings of the Sligo Arts & Health Partnership building on and extending existing project initiatives.
On Saturday 1st May 2004, Sligo welcomed Hungary as Sligo Local Authorities responded to an invitation to take part in the Day of Welcomes, a countrywide celebration of the enlargement of Europe. Sligo was honoured to be chosen as one of the ten towns and cities in Ireland to welcome ten new member states into the EU. A day-long programme of activities was presented by the Arts Office, in conjunction with the Cultural Programme of Ireland’s Presidency of the EU under the Department of Arts, Sports & Tourism. Some of Sligo’s and Hungary’s top artists joined the people of Sligo in celebrating the vibrancy of both cultures through a European fair, a Hungarian food and wine marquee, a live music stage in Stephen’s Street car park, concerts, theatre, readings and exhibitions. A highlight of the day was the spectacular Kresendo Carnival, co-ordinated by a group who, following on from the success of the day, have since become the West Coast Carnival Co-op.
