Arts and Disability Connect Funding announcement for Opportunity One 2023

The Arts Council and Arts & Disability Ireland announce the awarded artists for Opportunity One of the Arts and Disability Connect scheme 2023.

The Arts and Disability Connect scheme is designed to support artists with disabilities to be ambitious, to develop their practice and to connect with arts organisations and arts professionals in Ireland.

The Arts Council and Arts & Disability Ireland are delighted to announce that €37,000 has been awarded to 13 artists through Mentoring awards and Training awards as part of Opportunity One in 2023

“Since its inception in 2014, the Arts and Disability Connect funding scheme has awarded 157 artists a total of €517,436.  Now in its 10th year, artists continue to use the scheme to develop and push the boundaries of their professional arts practice, bringing their unique voice to Irish cultural life”
-Pádraig Naughton, Executive Director of Arts & Disability Ireland.

Mentoring Award
Mentoring awards give artists the resources to develop a mentoring relationship with a more established arts professional. Artists work on an element of their practice with their mentor. In Opportunity One, 12 artists received Mentoring awards.

Aishling Muller is a photographer and performance artist based in Co. Westmeath. She will work with mentor Laurie Legrand from the Laboratory of Living Arts and The Learning Garden School to develop a hand crafted photography book.

Aisling Walsh is a writer based in Co. Clare. She will work with her mentor Gavin McCrea who will give her critical feedback on her work ‘True Lavender’ a work of queer historical fiction. For the mentorship Aisling will focus on the transition from short story writing to a longer form novel.

Amy Q Redmond is a playwright based in Dublin. Amy will develop her play ‘The Midas Touch’ with dramaturg Jessica Traynor who will offer structured time and ongoing critique. Through this process Amy hopes to have a draft ready for submission to new work departments in various production companies.

Anna Duffy is a Dublin based visual artist. She will develop her skills in encaustic painting with her mentor Isabelle Gaborit. Anna will do a series of sessions where she will work with Isabelle on various themes and techniques to expand her capabilities.

Helen O’Flynn is a writer based in Cork. She will work with author Kevin Doyle who will give her feedback in relation to scene structure, dialogue, setting, narrative arcs and character flaws in the novel she’s currently developing, entitled ‘Laherdane’.

Jane Hackett is a musician based in Co. Dublin who wants to further explore sound production, theory and online processes in relation to violin playing and her own compositions. She will develop these skills over mentoring sessions with sound technician Adrian Hart.

Jan Michelle Mahon is a visual artist based in Co. Kilkenny. Jan will work with her mentor Etaoin Holahan to develop her portrait painting and explore future exhibition possibilities including research through museum and gallery visits.

Jennifer Cunningham is a visual artist based in Galway. They will work with their mentor Eilís Murphy to explore and test out ideas for creating a hand-made artist book. Through this process Jennifer will develop skills in book binding, printing, paper engineering and other techniques.

Jill Kenny is a writer based in Co. Offaly. She will work with her mentor Joanna Walsh to develop her auto fiction work ‘Animal’. Joanna will work with Jill on developing her manuscript, focusing on structure, chapter layout and editing.

Karolina Grudniewska is a Dublin based visual artist, ceramicist, and illustrator. She will work with Lisa Marie Griffith, a researcher and writer, to develop an outline for a book combining photography, word, and illustration that will tell the story of the Irish ceramic scene from the point of view of a studio dog named Leeloo.

Orla Casey is a virtual reality (VR) artist based in Co. Sligo. With her mentor Daniel Staine from Algorithm Productions, Orla will further develop her knowledge of VR art techniques and concepts to expand her skills in interactive art. This mentorship will also provide an opportunity for feedback on her current VR art.

Rose Servitova is a writer based in Co. Limerick. She will develop ‘Their Silent Course’, her Irish historical fiction novel with author Niamh Boyce who will give guidance and feedback on the pacing and narrative devices.

Training Award
Training awards give artists the resources to learn skills through courses, workshops and masterclasses facilitated by arts organisations, artists and arts professionals. In Opportunity One, one artists received a Training award.

Anthony Cullen is a Dublin based visual artist. He will do a screen-printing course at Damn Fine Print in Dublin. From this course he will develop the skills to print a comic book format.

Congratulations to all of the awarded artists!

For more information about the Arts and Disability Connect scheme see www.adiarts.ie/connect

Image: Interspace, (2021), augmented reality collage, created as part of a project with Western Care, Co. Mayo. Image courtesy of the artist Orla Casey