Trad bands get culture Ireland boost

The bands have been supported to tour North America, having made a strong impact during Culture Ireland’s promotional mission to New York earlier this year.

Téada will be performing at the Edmonton Folk Festival in Alberta, Canada, while the other grantees, Slide, Líadan and the David Munnelly Band, will play at various music festivals across the United States.

“The strong demand for emerging traditional groups during our promotion at the APAP arts market in New York has translated into a strong list of festival and touring engagements," said Eugene Downes, Chief Executive of Culture Ireland at the announcement of funding today. "More generally, we are also seeing a gradual move towards a collaborative and co-production model with international partners, which is a more sustainable long-term model for presenting work abroad.”

Over €400,000 was awarded by Culture Ireland to 80 arts projects across Europe, USA, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Australia.

The single biggest grant went to the Irish Architecture Foundation, who will be presenting Ireland's exhibition at the 2008 Venice Architecture Biennale. Next in line, with an award of €80,000, were Rough Magic Theatre Company, who will be performing their award winning production of Improbable Frequency by Arthur Riordan at the 59E59 Theatre, New York from the December 8, 2008 - January 4, 2009.

A significant focus on the visual arts is evident, with 18 artists awarded funding to exhibit abroad, including Nick Miller (€6,000 towards his solo exhibition at the New York Studio School Gallery), Clare Langan (€5,000 towards her participation in the Singapore Biennale), Cló Ceardlann na gCnoc in Donegal (€10,000 for participation in the Art Caucasus exhibition in Tbilisi), and ongoing support for galleries to promote Irish artists at leading international art fairs.

Pan Pan Theatre Company, whose recent European, American and Asian tour of Oedipus Loves You was widely acclaimed, has been awarded €50,000 to present their next work, On a Scale of One to Ten (Crumb Trail), at leading theatres in Berlin and Dusseldorf.

Culture Ireland have continued their strong cultural outreach to Asia, awarding €35,000 to the Royal Irish Academy of Music Chamber Orchestra for their tour to China, Japan and Korea, and €5,000 to Sirius Art Centre for an exhibition of three Irish photographers at the Pingyao Photographic Festival in China. Filmmaker Tamara Anghie received €3,000 to show her award-winning short film New Boy at a film festival in Tokyo, while €6,000 was awarded to present the work of young Irish filmmakers at the Seoul International Youth Film Festival.

John O’Conor, Director of the Royal Irish Academy of Music, said: “Culture Ireland’s support of our first visit to the East will enable our gifted young musicians to act as cultural ambassadors in China, Japan and Korea, whilst at the same time highlighting the talents of some of Ireland’s finest emerging musicians. We are delighted to embark on this exciting adventure in our 160th anniversary year.”

Culture Ireland’s Autumn 2008 call for projects taking place from November onwards has a 15 August deadline for receipt of applications, with decisions in September.

For full detail of the awards, click here