Arts Council and Arts & Disability Ireland announce Arts + Disability Connect recipients 2015

2015 is the second year of the pilot scheme and the panel have awarded €25,000 to nine artists under its three strands : New Work, Mentoring and Training.

Arts and Disability Connect is a new scheme designed to support artists with disabilities to make new and ambitious work.

Dancer Danny Ahern and visual artist Ruth Le Gear have received New Work awards.

This year five Mentoring awards were received by: Niamh O’Doherty, Mary Ryan, Roderick Forde, Stephen Kennedy and James O’Connell. These artists work across visual arts, literature, theatre and dance.

And two Training awards were made to Damien O’Connor and Róisín Power Hackett.

The ADC scheme is funded by the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon and managed by Arts & Disability Ireland on a pilot basis in 2015. It offers artists the opportunity to connect with other practitioners or venues, make a change in their practice, ‘step up’ in terms of scope and scale, reach new audiences and to engage in mentoring and training. It has been created in response to the changing needs of the sector in the Republic of Ireland and in line with Arts Council commitments outlined in its “Arts and Disability Policy 2012 – 2016”. The scheme succeeds the Arts Council’s previous support to the all-island Arts and Disability Awards Ireland.