Major cash boost for projects at ‘art' of the community

BY EMMA CONNOLLY 

A MULTIMEDIA project involving the women of Bandon – past and present – is among a number of projects awarded grant funding by Cork County Council. 

Another funded project will see the 220 people living on Bere Island photographed and interviewed for a new book. 

The Bandon project, by artist Laura Rae McKinley, will involve her interviewing women from new communities, ethnic minorities, older people and children. It will also involve photography, video and aural recordings, with a public event to take place in the town’s Skylight gallery. 

Laura, through West Cork Development Partnership, has been awarded €7,000 as one of 13 projects to get a cash injection from the Cork County Municipal Districts Creative Communities Scheme. 

Other West Cork projects to benefit include Bere Island Projects who have been given €5,000 for a project called The Bere Island Project 2017.

This will see artist Ed Godsell interview and photograph the island’s 220 inhabitants for a 220-page book. Awarded a sum of €5,000, he will also create a photo montage which will be installed on the island. 

Dunmanway Family Resource Centre has been given €3,750 for a year-long project using the life of Sam Maguire as the basis for a variety of activities including a community play with the local Foróige group. Its long term aim is to develop a youth theatre. 

West Cork Arts Centre in Skibbereen has been given €5,000 for a project called ‘110 Skibbereen Girls’ which looks at the story of 110 local girls who went to Australia around 1850, with a large exhibition planned for 2018. 

Meanwhile, Galley Cove Partnership in Goleen has been awarded €5,000 for the project Tombolo 2018 to create an outdoor sculptural response to the natural environment of Brow Head.

County Mayor Declan Hurley said: ‘The Creative Communities Scheme is designed to help local groups and artists, to come up with imaginative projects that will involve people of all ages in the art and celebrate local cultural identity.’

The Council’s arts officer Ian McDonagh added: ‘The proposals this year were ambitious and imaginative and will have terrific impact on the creative and community life in local Municipal Districts.’