News

Golden Fleece Awards 2023

The Trustees of the Golden Fleece Award are thrilled to announce artist and designer Richard Malone, who divides his time between Wexford and London, as the recipient of the 2023 Golden Fleece Award. He receives the main award, worth €15,000. Two Golden Fleece Special Awards worth €10,000 each are also being granted to ceramicist Cathy Burke, from Wicklow, and Laois-based woodturner Alan Meredith.

Aisling O’Beirn (installation / mixed media), Barbara Knežević (sculpture / installation / video), Clodagh Emoe (participatory events / mixed media), and Pierce Healy (metalwork / jewellery) were also shortlisted for the 2023 Award.

The 2023 Golden Fleece Award Ceremony took place at the Roy-

al Hibernian Academy, Dublin on Wednesday 22 March. This year, the award attracted a record 320 applications from artists living on or originally from the island of Ireland – over 100 applications more than were submitted for the 2022 Award. The 2023 prize fund worth a total of €35,000 makes the Golden Fleece Award the most generous art prize open to both visual artists and craft practitioners/makers in Ireland.

Now in its twenty-second year, the Golden Fleece Award was established through a bequest by Dublin-born artist, educator and researcher Lillias Mitchell (1915-2000). In her Letter of Wishes to her Trustees she stated her desire that the Award should "give artists a 'boost' in times of particular need."

Richard Malone, installation view, Figures, Ormston House, Limerick, 2022, featuring knight ii (despair) untitled (twirl i) and form, limit, gestures; image courtesy of the Golden Fleece Award,

Mary Conlon New Director of The Dock

The Dock recently announced the appointment of Mary Conlon as the new Director. Mary will step down from her current position as Artistic Director of Ormston House in Limerick to take up the new role in Leitrim in May 2023. Mary will take over from the outgoing Director, Sarah Searson, who has led The Dock since 2015 in enhancing the organisational structure, artistic quality, visitor and audience experience, and national reach and reputation of the centre.

Commenting on the appointment, The Dock Chairman, Seamus Newcombe said:

“The Board of The Dock are thrilled to welcome Mary Conlon as its new Director. Mary comes to us with an exceptional track record of achievement in her previous role as Director of Ormston House in Limerick. I have no doubt that the same enthusiasm, innovation and ideas that she brought to Ormston will help shape the ongoing strategic development of The Dock and its impact on communities and audiences in the coming years. We wish to sincerely thank our outgoing Director, Sarah Searson, for her artistic vision and commitment to the organisation, particularly during the challenging years of the pandemic, when she led with an ethos of care to reassure staff, artists, and audiences alike.”

Commenting on her new appointment, Mary Conlon said:

“I am delighted to be appointed Director of The Dock. It is an honour to be entrusted to lead the next phase in growing this key resource for artists and communities in Leitrim and the wider region. I look forward to working with the team on developing a new strategic framework and multidisciplinary programme of national importance, rooted in local conversations and place. At the same time, I am excited to expand the international connectivity of the centre, particularly in relation to the role of the arts in climate action, social cohesion, and well-being in rural contexts. I would like to thank Sarah Searson for her exceptional leadership over the past eight years and for the legacy of artistic excellence she has built throughout her tenure. I wish her every success in the future.”

IMMA New Senior Management Team

IMMA (Irish Museum of Modern Art) announced on 2 March 2023 the appointment of two new members to the Senior Management team – Sheena Barrett as Head of Research & Learning, and Mary Cremin as Head of Programming.

Welcoming the appointments IMMA Director Annie Fletcher said “The future for IMMA feels really bright with these two appointments. I couldn’t think of a more dynamic addition of intelligence, energy, and strategic thinking to our already brilliant and passionate team. In their individual ways both Mary and Sheena have proven through incredible careers and innovative practices how art is pivotal to our society, and we can’t wait to work with them in imagining an even bigger and more ambitious Irish Museum of Modern Art.”

Sheena Barrett joined Dublin City Council in 2006 as Assistant Arts Officer and Curator to lead the development of the LAB Gallery as a critical platform for emerging arts practice in Ireland. Having previously held roles at Breaking Ground Public Art Commissioning Programme, Temple Bar Gallery & Studios, the National Gallery of Ireland, and the National Museum of Ireland, she has extensive curatorial experience, supporting artists and audiences through ambitious public programmes and commissioning. Barrett is part of the curatorial team for Living Canvas, Europe’s largest digital screen for cultural use developed by IPUT in partnership with Dublin City Council. She is a founding member of MONTO Arts and Dublin Placemaking Network and part of the programme team for MA Art Research Collaboration at IADT, Dun Laoghaire.

Mary Cremin has been Director of Void Gallery, Derry since 2017, where she has supported artists to produce and present ground-breaking new works, including commissioning Helen Cammock’s Turner Prize-winning film, The Long Note (2018). Cremin was the Commissioner and Curator of the Irish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale with artist Eva Rothschild in 2019. Working with organisations such as the Afghan Visual Arts & History Collective and Beirut Art Residency, her programme focusses on revealing new narratives and

histories that address and challenge the disparities that exist within Western culture. Her areas of research are embedded in ecology, ethics and are informed by politically and socially engaged practice. She is a co-founder of the North South Visual Art network, an advocacy group for the visual arts sector encompassing both north and south of Ireland. She is currently chair of Ormston House, Limerick.

Crawford Art Gallery Redevelopment

Catherine Martin, Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media has welcomed the decision by Cork City Council to grant planning permission for the redevelopment of Crawford Art Gallery. The project, which is being funded by the Minister’s Department, has been designed by an interdisciplinary design team, led by award-winning Grafton Architects, and is being delivered by the Office of Public Works and Crawford Art Gallery.

The project will expand and modernise Crawford in line with international museum standards, providing new exhibition spaces and a Learn and Explore facility to engage new audiences, as well as a new public gallery providing panoramic views of Cork city. The redevelopment will also address long-standing challenges with the fabric of the historic building, providing fitfor-purpose storage spaces for the National Collection, and will significantly enhance the sustainability of the building. Critically, the project will create a new entrance onto Emmet Place, opening Crawford onto a new urban plaza at the heart of the cultural life of the city. The gallery will remain open to visitors until the Autumn of 2024, after which time the redevelopment will commence on-site.

The redevelopment of Crawford Art Gallery is a flagship project in the Minister’s programme of investments under the National Development Plan, which will see many of the much-loved National Cultural Institutions restored, renewed and futureproofed for generations to come.

Chair of the Crawford Art Gallery, Rose McHugh, said: “It is an exciting time for Crawford Art Gallery and this ambitious and well considered plan will ensure Crawford remains at the core of Cork and

Ireland’s cultural life into the future.” She thanked the team involved and the OPW and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media for their collaboration on all elements of the project.

CCI Residencies 2023/2024 Awardees

CCI Paris are delighted to announce the recipients of Artist Residencies for their 2023-2024 programme:

Film – John Connors, Alan Holly (in association with Cartoon Saloon), Deirdre Mulrooney (Limerick Arts Office), Atoosa Pour Hosseini

Literature – Moya Cannon (in association with DLR Arts Office), Luke Cassidy, Madeleine D’Arcy, Nidhi Eipe (Literature Ireland), Karl Geary, Eva Griffin (Poet- ry Ireland / Éigse Éireann), Ingrid Lyons, Tadhg Mac Dhonnagáin, Michael Magee, Oisín McKenna (Meath County Council), Eimear Ryan (Literature Ireland)

Music – SÍOMHA Brock (in association with Music Network), Irene Buckley (The Contemporary Music Centre), Shaun Davey, John Francis Flynn, Morgana, Anselm McDonnell (The Contemporary Music Centre), Fiona Monbet, Méabh Ní Bheaglaoich (Irish Traditional Music Archive / Taisce Cheol Dúchais Éireann), Lisa O’Neill

Performing Arts – Tobi Balogun, Eoghan Carrick (in association with Abbey Theatre – International Residency for Theatre makers), Emma Martin, Phillip McMahon, Dominic Montague, Mónica Muñoz Marín (Draiocht Blanchardstown), Donal O’Kelly (Leitrim County Council), James Riordan (Ealaín na Gaeltachta)

Visual Arts & Design – Vaari Claffey, Avril Corroon (in association with Tomi Ungerer Residency), Susan Hughes, Clare Langan, Sharon Lee (Graphic Studio Gallery), Christine Mackey (Visual Artists Ireland), Richard Malone, MASER, Rudi-Lee McCarthy (Visual Artists Ireland), Tara McGinn (Wexford Arts Centre/ County Wexford Arts Department), Pádraic E. Moore (DLR Arts Office), Eilis O’Connell, Shane O’Driscoll (Print Network Ireland), Julia Pallone (Cork County Council)