Two Mayo Arts & Disability projects shortlisted for LAMA awards

Mayo County Council Arts Office was delighted that two flagship Arts and Disability projects were shortlisted for this year’s Local Authority Management Association(LAMA) Council and community Awards.

This is the first time two Mayo-based Arts and Disability initiatives were shortlisted in the Access and Inclusion category of the LAMA Awards. On Saturday 4th February, Cllr Damien Ryan and Cllr Michael Loftus, representatives from Mayo County Council’s Arts Office, Luisne Art Group, Crann Mór Resource Centre and Ridgepool Training Centre attended the LAMA awards event at the Crowne Plaza hotel, Dublin, hosted by RTÉ’s Marty Morrissey.

The projects are:

The Luisne Art Group, a hugely successful visual arts initiative developed over the past ten years for artists with disabilities based at the Crann Mór Centre, Ballinrobe. This group meet weekly for facilitated workshops at TACÚ Family Resource Centre, Ballinrobe. Mayo artist Breda Murphy facilitates the workshops. Seventeen artists in total have taken part in the project so far and their art experiences include dance, print-making, film-making, drawing, creative writing and stained glass. They have exhibited widely in county Mayo, Galway and worked with KCAT artists in Kilkenny.

The Mayo Ignite Commission, Silent Moves, a film by internationally renowned Irish artist Aideen Barry and Western Care’s Ridgepool Training Centre and Scannán Technologies, Ballina. Silent Moves was made possible through an award to Ballina Arts Centre who hosted and managed the Mayo IGNITE project. Successfully premiered in 2014, the film completed a successful national tour in 2015, visiting Galway, Dublin & Cork before coming home to Mayo Movie World in Castlebar. Ignite is managed by a unique partnership involving the Arts Council, Arts & Disability Ireland (ADI), Mayo County Council, Galway City & County Councils and Cork City Council.

For further information contact Damien O’Connor, Disability Arts Co-ordinator, Mayo County Council Arts Office: doconnor@mayococo.ie