COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
MEETING OF TALLAGHT AREA COMMITTEE
Monday, March 25, 2024
HEADED ITEM NO. 14
HEADED ITEM: L. & Arts
Application for Arts Grants
REPLY:
South Dublin County Arts Office
IN CONTEXT South Dublin County Council’s Public art programme 2023 – 25 under the Percent for Art Scheme. These commissions are part of IN CONTEXT Public Art Programme(1998-2025). It is in its fifth phase of commissioning public art.
Two projects were awarded in the Tallaght are:
Under the Sea – Freshly Ground Theatre
Age group: 2-6 years of age
Area: St. Aidans Brookfield
Freshly Ground Theatre (FGT) are a young Tallaght Theatre group based, in Mountain Park Learning Centre. They work with early years, children and young people. For this commission, FGT will create an immersive playful and multi-disciplinary art experience in collaboration with children in the locality of St Aidan’s Brookfield. The concept is to develop a creative space that will exist as an open interactive exhibition where children and their guardians will be invited to play and discover together on their own initiative. This project will explore the beauty and wonder of life under the sea and the importance of maritime stewardship. There will be a series of participatory theatre performances that involve visual and musical storytelling, shadow puppetry, theatrical mediation and tactile sensory play.
FGT will work with Barnardos Lorien, Startbright Brookview and Creative Places MacUilliam.
Feel the Land – Sophie Van Maltzon
Age group: 7 – 12 years old
Area: Kilininny
Sophie Van Maltzan is a socially engaged artist, educator and landscape architect. Her commission will develop a site specific, meaningful, interactive and playful events and installations with the local children, 7 – 12 years of age. They will activate he open space around their houses and apartments, forming a temporary outdoor ‘ community centre’ and, in this way, encourage people of all ages to engage with the landscape and nature that surrounds the houses. A phased series of workshops, in which the children will engage with invited artists or experts to conduct their own research into the setting, making artworks and constructing life-size but temporary and environmentally- conscious additions to the site will culminate in a one day art festival for the wider community.
Partners: The Park Community Centre, SDCC Community Development Officer,
THE NIGHT BELONGS TO US
In 2023, the arts office was received a grant from Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media's Night-Time Economy Pilot Youth initiative.
South Dublin Arts Office, NOISE Music (a youth music programme initiated by SDCC arts office that operates in South Dublin County) and Alternative Entertainment (a community arts organisation based in Tallaght, with an emphasis on music-based projects) ran a series of open mic nights, DJ workshops and sets and singer / songwriter nights taking place in 5 venues across South Dublin County, working with youth organisations, Crosscare and Foroige. Two of the venues were located in Tallaght; Killinarden Community Centre and Tallaght Library – The Loft. The programme was an overwhelming success with over 19 events taking place from September – December. Because of it’s success, it is continuing in 2024, in Killinarden and in Tallaght Library, along with a new venue, Brookfield Community Centre
Artist Residency with Startbright Brookview and artists Michelle Henry and Bronwen Barrett
This project will engage with a pre-school in a creative story making program. The program is an immersive, theatrical exploration, fully participant led. It is designed for children aged 3-4 in early years settings with aims to support children to recognise themselves as artists and empower them. The project suits formal and informal settings with a scalable model. It targets areas with socio-economic disadvantages to provide a meaningful, impactful creative experience to children who might not get the opportunity otherwise.
This project takes form in weekly workshops for children, working with their educators to create a play-based, rich learning space.
The programme of work also aims to empower the Startbright educators to lead arts programming in their childcare settings. This will take the form of CPD workshops, where educators from the other Startbright venues can join in.