Cultural Education in local areas

with particular reference to County Laois

Presented by Muireann Ni Chonaill, Arts Officer, Laois County Council

Gdansk November 5th 2009

Counties Map of Ireland

Population Density - 2006

The Key Players

Chronology

Laois Arts Strategy

Laois County Arts Plan 2006 – 11

1. The Arts Service2. Artists3. Public Art & the Percent for Art Scheme4. Education: Young People & Children5. Active Participation: Community & Amateur Arts6. Venues & Other Spaces7. Plan Free Zone

The Arts Service

Grants Ceremony

Electric Picnic Rock Fest

Publication

Book Launch

Artists

Public Art

Education

Laois School of Music

Artists in Schools

Active Participation

Laois Youth Theatre

Socially Engaged Arts Projects

Training in Arts Forms

Creative Writing

Venues & Other Spaces

Abbeyleix Library

Dunamaise Arts Centre

Civic Plaza

Plan Free Zone

Some Key National & Local Associates

• Arts Council• Music Network• National Association for Youth Drama• CREATE• Visual Arts Ireland• Rural Arts Network• Partnership Groups

Arts Council

• Funding

• Advice & Support

• Aosdána (Artist Support)

• Lobbying

Music Network

• Established by the Arts Council in 1986• Makes live classical, jazz and traditional Irish

music of the highest quality available and accessible

• Business training for young musicians• Lobby for National System for Music

Education in local areas• U2 - Major Philanthropic Gift for Music

Music Network

National Association for Youth Drama

The development organisation for youth theatre and youth drama

Supports youth drama in practice and policy & sustained development

Advocates the value between young people and theatre as an artform

Raise the artistic standards of youth theatre across the country

National Youth Theatre, festivals of youth theatres, new writing, publications, resources & training

Membership of over 50 youth theatres countrywide in partnership with local authorities, youth services, theatres and arts centres

Involved in developing Drama in Education in Ireland

National Youth Theatre

CREATE• National development agency for collaborative arts. • Mission: to provide advice and support services to artists and arts

organisations working collaboratively with communities of place and/or interest.

• Supports artists across all artforms who work collaboratively with communities, be they communities of place or communities brought together by interest.

• Seeks to promote collaborative arts as a dynamic and contemporary form of arts practice.

• Manages the Artist in the Community Scheme on behalf of the Arts Council of Ireland.

• Since 2001 the Artist in the Community Scheme has funded more than 100 artists across different artforms to work with many communities in urban and rural areas to produce contemporary art.

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A Cosmopolitan Cosmology 2009

Midland Collaboration

• Established 2006• Laois, Offaly, Longford and Westmeath• Midlands Arts Magazine- 3 per year• Midland Master Classes• Midlands Orchestra

Midlands Arts & Culture Magazine

Challenges Going Forward

• National Economic Policy • Access to Funding• Local Expectations• Tourism Share Low• Loss of People to Dublin and Increasing

Participation in the Commuter Workforce• Social Inclusion – Access & Affordable• Staffing Embargo

Positive Opportunities

• Investment in Infra-structure – Levies• Arts Networking• Artists Choosing Laois as Home• Arts in Education/ School of Music/Youth

Theatre & Artists in Schools Programme• Confidence to try new things• E U Funding – Leader, INTER-REG etc• Credibility Locally & Nationally

Polish Artists in Laois

Edyta Szymanska and Krzysztof Piekarz