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Sligo Arts Service
OPERATION OF ARTS PROGRAMME
Sligo Arts Service and Programme 2021
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The Sligo Arts Plan 2020-2025 was adopted by Council in October 2020. One of the key priorities of the Plan is to support the artist which will be all the more important in 2021.
The focus in 2020, as will be in 2021, was to ensure the ongoing viability of the arts sector. This will be achieved through an increased number of bursaries awarded to artists and grants to organisations.
Children and Young People
County Sligo Youth Theatre will continue to deliver weekly workshops to young people in three age groups. A full programme of productions, including a drama on The Battle of the Books, is planned to ensure that all members experience performance in all aspects. Public health guidelines will be strictly adhered to. Additional workshop and performance space has been kindly provided by the Blue Raincoat Theatre Company.
The Primary Colours visual arts programme for Primary schools has been adapted to be delivered by artists in a flexible manner, depending on the requirements of the participating schools. Print and online art materials developed by Sligo artists in 2020 will be distributed to schools.
Arts and Health and Older People
Sligo Arts Service was successful in its application to the Healthy Ireland Fund to create a very special remote project for older people which will support them to combat isolation by connecting through storytelling, conversation and stimulating their imagination. The project will create a sense of shared experience and connection with others in their community and County.
Community Arts and Artists
The Arts Service provides continual professional development to artists to work in the community and to adapt working practices due to the pandemic. The Arts Service Artists Panel was expanded in 2020 and represents a broad range of artistic practices and forms which the Service can call upon to deliver its programmes.
There will be enhanced funding opportunities for artists in the areas of exhibitions, projects, awards, commissions and bursaries.
Culture Night
Culture Nights is delivered by Sligo Arts Service in partnership with key arts venues and stakeholders and is funded by Sligo County Council and the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.
Susan O’Keefe (Yeats Society Sligo, Ireland), Diarmuid Woods (Sligo Youth Theatre), Marie O’Byrne (Hawk's Well Theatre, Sligo), Bettina T. Gigante (Blue Raincoat Theatre Company), and Mary McDonagh (Sligo Arts Office, Sligo County Council) gather ahead of opening up for Culture Night 2020
Music
The 21st Sligo International Chamber Music Festival in 2020 did not go ahead due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, we are hopeful that the Festival will continue in 2021 with the same 2020 programme which would have celebrated the 250th birthday of Beethoven. Funding from 2020 was used to commission three new works for Irish musicians performing in the Festival in 2021.
In the event that there is an international travel ban in place in May 2021, we would be able to stage a lovely scaled back festival with the Irish musicians and premiering the new works.
Film
2020 was a significant year for film production in Sligo. The success of Normal People put Sligo on the map for international film companies. Sligo Arts Service is the Council’s point of contact for film companies and receives numerous enquiries and requests for assistance. The County Council plays an important role in film-making in the County and the region.
Sligo County Council is a member of the Western Region Audio-visual Producers Fund (WRAP) which is a Regional Fund committed to strategic investment on commercial terms that generates economic impact, supports local talent, creates sustainable employment, builds the audio-visual infrastructure and contributes to the culture and language of the West of Ireland.
SLR Film is a partnership initiative of Sligo, Leitrim and Roscommon Arts Services. SLR Film is a partner in the successful bid to the Regional Enterprise Development Fund for the Creative Heartlands initiative. This project is designed to elevate enterprise and entrepreneurship within the Sligo, Leitrim, and Roscommon Creative SME base.
For Yeats Day on June 13th, the poet's 155th birthday was celebrated at home.
Art funding for the commissioning of public art is available through the Per Cent for Art Scheme on all capital projects. Sligo County Council has an adopted policy on the ongoing application of the Per Cent for Art Scheme since 2002.
A Public Art Project Manager was recruited in 2020. This role will involve establishing a Public Art Steering Group and supporting the Group in developing and delivering a Public Art Commissions Plan for the next 3-5 years.
In 2021 the Steering Group will appoint selectors who will select artists by assessing their artwork proposals. The Steering Group will approve the contracting of curators or mediators, should they be required for specific projects. The Public Art Commission’s Plan will set out how the Per Cent for Art Scheme funding will be allocated and identify the number and type of commissions.
The Project Manager will implement the Commission’s Plan by managing the roll-out of projects over the next 2-3 years. The Plan and projects timeline will be presented to the SPC 3 in due course.
