Arts Office

Four years ago, the members of Sligo County Council and Sligo Borough Council appointed the county’s first Arts Officer and established the Arts Office. The major task of this new office was to build on the existing creativity in the county and complement it by identifying gaps in arts provision.

It was decided that a strategic, planned approach to arts development was necessary; thus Placing Art 1998-2001, the county’s first arts development programme, was adopted.

First located first in County Hall, the increase in staff necessitated a move by the Arts Office to larger office space in Market Yard in Autumn 2000. Staff have been employed by Sligo County Council as follows:
Mary McAuliffe, Arts Officer – 1997
Rhona Feely, Assistant Arts Officer – April 2000 Sligo was one of the first local authorities to appoint an Assistant Arts Officer.
Mary McDonagh, Public Art Co-ordinator – July 1999. Sligo was the first county to appoint a Public Art Co-ordinator.
Ann O’Connor, Project Co-ordinator – October 2000

The Arts programme is funded primarily by Sligo County Council, Sligo Borough Council and the Arts Council of Ireland. All projects are co-ordinated by the Arts Office and in each programme area partnerships have been developed with agencies and community groups, and additional funding accessed from sources relevant to the area of activity.

Placing Art 1998 - 2001
The concluding Placing Art 1998-2001 was adopted by the members as a means of enhancing existing arts provision and making a contribution to other areas of identified need.

The programme consisted of a strategic, planned approach to arts development over a three year period, designed and delivered by the Arts Office on behalf of the local authority members. It had three primary goals - Access and Opportunity, Sustainability, and Quality.

The first of these goals, Access and Opportunity, relates to the fundamental premise of the Placing Art programme – that artistic activity be inclusive of all citizens of the county. Therefore, the programme aimed to ensure that as many people as possible had access to an expanded range of artistic activity and had the opportunity, if they so wished, to participate in this activity. In providing Access and Opportunity, the members of the Sligo local authorities felt it necessary to ensure that all arts activity put in place would provide a solid foundation for long-term arts development. As a result, the focus of Placing Art was planned and policy-driven and all projects were commissioned according to the programme’s second goal, Sustainability.

It was also recognised that this artistic activity must be of the highest calibre if it were to have sufficient appeal and stand the test of time. And so, the third goal of Placing Art was to ensure that projects undertaken would be adequately resourced, original, innovative and, ultimately of Quality.

These three goals were supported by the following objectives:
Research and Development; Investment in Evaluation and Review; Targeting Resources, and Formulating Arts Policies. Goals and objectives were delivered through a series of pilot projects in four target areas.

Today, four years on, the programme has reached completion and the Arts Office has successfully achieved a first, significant step in fostering and promoting a thriving arts environment for all citizens of the county.

Partners
Partnerships were developed with a number of community groups and agencies during the implementation of various programme initiatives. The partnerships were with the following: Music Network; Hawk’s Well Theatre; Blue Raincoat Theatre Company; National Association for Youth Drama; St Patrick’s National School; Model Arts & Niland Gallery; North Western Health Board.

The success of Placing Art, which has now reached completion, is reflected in the following facts:

• More people are participating in the arts and new audiences have been developed – 11,000 people directly participated in the Placing Art 1998-2001 programme.
• Housing of the arts has greatly improved with the development of a number of public arts spaces of quality and distinction – The Model Arts and Niland Gallery, Ceoláras Coleman, and the Factory Performance Space.
• The local authorities have long been active supporters of local arts groups under the 1973 Arts Act but this support was expanded and built upon with additional funding. Seventeen local arts organisations and groups were supported with funding, while thirty-one community groups received grants.

Next Steps
A context for arts development has been created as a result of Placing Art and the arts are now firmly established as an essential area of service provision by the Sligo Local Authorities. It is now time for a new structure which will ensure continued delivery and ongoing development in the county and this will be done in the context of the County Sligo Arts Plan 2002 – 2005. This Arts Plan is currently being prepared by the Arts Office as a more comprehensive and sophisticated response to the Arts in County Sligo. A core requirement is that the plan will set the ground for an arts service that can accommodate ongoing arts work as well as develop policy for the future.

County Sligo Youth Theatre
”To me County Sligo Youth Theatre is the only place on a Saturday where I can go and be completely happy and relaxed. I look forward to it every week, it is where I can learn and take part in something that I enjoy, without any stresses or strains. Being able to share my ideas with others has built my confidence, as now I am more open with people I talk to, not being afraid to take part. Being able to have a say in what goes on behind the scenes in productions was something I had an interest in before joining the Youth Theatre, and now I am having the chance to pursue this interest.” Youth theatre member 2001/2002

Sligo County Council, Sligo Borough Council and the Hawk’s Well Theatre, with assistance from the National Association for Youth Drama, established County Sligo Youth Theatre in 1998. The Blue Raincoat Theatre Company joined as a partner in 1999. CSYT was established to meet a perceived gap in access to theatre for young people.

Since then, up to 100 County Sligo people aged 15-22 have participated in weekly drama workshops and presented annual, well-received performances at local theatres. Productions staged to date in the Hawk’s Well and the Factory Performance Space have been: Broken Plastic Chairs,, 1999; The Visit, 2000, The Shadow of the Glen, 2000; Iph, 2001

In August 2001, a new board of directors and a dedicated Youth Theatre Leader/Administrator was appointed. The new board has taken over responsibility from the Arts Office for overseeing the transition of the youth theatre to an independent entity and is responsible for all aspects of managing the organisation.

The Maugherow Project
”Some people say that older people are boring, but not these ones, they are the complete opposite!”Young participant, The Maugherow Project

This year, from August 31st – September 16th, a display of some of the artwork was presented in a successful public exhibition, entitled Séideán Sí at the Model Arts and Niland Gallery.

In conjunction with the exhibition, a one-day seminar, Unwrapping Creativity: An Intergenerational Approach, was organised by the Maugherow Project. It highlighted the philosophy, methodology, successes and challenges of the project and promoted reflection and debate about the wider issues of arts in health and arts in education.

Originally operating as a partnership between Sligo County Council and St Patrick’s National School, the Arts Office then invited the North Western Health Board to join as a partner in order to examine the merits of replicating the project in other rural areas of County Sligo. Together with the Maugherow Project Leader, the partners are exploring, evaluating and documenting the potential of using arts-based activity in a rural primary school as a resource for promoting social inclusion in rural communities, with a particular emphasis on older members of the community.

This arts initiative brought young and old people together in a rural area in North Sligo to explore their creativity using a variety of art forms. It was established at St Patrick’s National School in Maugherow in 1998. 12 older people from the local area and 33 fifth and sixth class students have worked with eight artists on the project.

”Being involved with the children seems to energise us.” Older participant, The Maugherow Project

Vogler Quartet in Sligo
The appointment of the Vogler String Quartet as Sligo’s quartet in residence in May 1999 marked the commencement of a visionary three year music development programme centred on performance, music education and tuition – all aimed at making classical music accessible to a wider range of participants and audiences. At its inception it was hailed by The Irish Times in a leader article as one which ”will surely stand as a milestone in Ireland’s musical life.”

Individuals and groups of all ages have worked directly with the Voglers. They range from children as young as four years old at the Sligo Academy of Music to teachers and students at primary, secondary and third level, leaders and groups from St Anne’s Youth & Community Centre, local music promoters Con Brio, local musicians Sligo Early Music Ensemble and the Model Arts and Niland Gallery.

Vogler Quartet in Sligo is taking place due to a unique collaboration between Sligo County Council, Sligo Borough Council, Music Network and the Arts Council, with additional support from ESB, sponsors of the ESB Music Education Programme and the ESB Vogler Spring Festival, the IRMA Trust, sponsors of the Sligo Music Instrument Bank, and the In-Career Development Unit of the Department of Education & Science.

”The ESB Vogler Spring Festival is an annual celebration of the extraordinary phenomenon that is the residency of the Vogler Quartet in Sligo.” Michael Dervan, Music Critic, The Irish Times, 9th May 2001

Vogler Quartet in Sligo 2001 activities

• 1st February: Beethoven & Webern
  Part of Sligo Music Series 2000/2001 presented by Con Brio with Vogler Quartet & Friends The Vogler Quartet in Sligo residency programme works closely with and provides substantial funding to local music promoters Con Brio.
  5th April: Double Quartet: Vogler Quartet & Callino Quartet Part of Sligo Music Series 2000/2001 presented by Con Brio with Vogler Quartet & Friends
• 3rd – 6th May: ESB Vogler Spring Festival, St Columba's Church, Drumcliffe. Second annual chamber music festival which takes place over the May Bank Holiday Weekend with the Vogler Quartet and guest Irish and International artists.
• 4th – 10th July: Sligo Academy of Music Vogler Quartet Chamber Music Masterclasses, Institute of Technology, Sligo
• 28th September: Music of Three Centuries Part of Sligo Music Series 2001/2002 presented by Con Brio with Vogler Quartet & Friends
• ESB Music Education Programme at 1st, 2nd and 3rd Level (ongoing) This is one of the largest elements of the Vogler residency, which aims to raise the level of awareness and appreciation of classical music and provide County Sligo with long-term sustainable structures which will benefit schools and teachers.
• Sligo Academy of Music - Instrumental tuition by Vogler Quartet (ongoing). The Vogler Quartet in Sligo residency works closely with and provides substantial funding to Sligo Academy of Music to provide tuition in string instruments to young children.
  ”We see the children in the school talk about the quartet and talk about the instruments, they take it as second nature. They have learned a lot, basically through fun and they’re not aware of the fact that they are learning the information.” Teacher, Vogler Music Education Programme 2001

Arts - Public Art, Funding and Development
”It could be said that the canvas of ideas and thoughts of a unique partnership of artistic perceptions and local understanding and insights has become a reality through the fulfilment of the Knoxspark Project“ Cathaoirleach, Tony McLoughlin speaking on the occasion of the celebration of the Knoxspark Regeneration Project in September 2001

Public Art and the Per Cent for Art Schemes
The Placing Art public art programme was the first joint local authority initiative funded by the Department of Environment Per Cent for Art Scheme. It aimed to promote quality in the built environment through the visual arts by commissioning public art in a new way. Also new was the way in which the artists engaged the public in their projects. There were 276 core participants in the programme.

Practical structures and ways of commissioning were explored so that ongoing commissioning opportunities would be available to artists working locally, nationally and internationally in building a quality collection of art works for the county. In 1999, Ireland’s first Public Art Co-ordinator was appointed to the Arts Office.

A comprehensive evaluation of the pilot was carried out that involved all of the participants. The result was a detailed evaluation report and series of recommendations that paved the way for the Sligo local authorities to take a strategic and policy driven approach to the Department of Environment and Local Government’s Per Cent for Art Scheme for the future.

Arts Building and Resource Programme
Since the establishment of the Arts Office in 1997, the members of Sligo County Council and Sligo Borough Council have actively supported the development of a number of arts building projects including the Model Arts and Niland Gallery, Blue Raincoat Theatre Company and Ceoláras Coleman. This has ensured that the housing of the arts in the county, and the environment in which artists work and audiences experience this work, has greatly improved, as has the quality of life for all people in County Sligo who support, access and participate in the arts. Importantly, too, the cultural profile of County Sligo at local, national and international level has been significantly strengthened, with Sligo arts venues now regarded as some of the best in the country.

Grants and Awards
Grant awards have supported children’s art workshops, drawing workshops, video recording, music events, creative writing workshops, community publications, dance performance, drama workshops, puppet making and band performances.

In 2001 the Sligo local authorities in conjunction with the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, Annaghmakerrig, County Monaghan introduced the individual artists bursary scheme for artists born or living in Sligo. To date four artists have been supported through the scheme.

Arts Organisations and Groups Supported with Funding through Contribution to the Arts 1998 - 2001
Hawk’s Well Theatre: Sligo International Choral Festival: Blue Raincoat Theatre Company: South Sligo Summer School: Coleman Traditional Festival: James Morrison Traditional Music Festival: Ballintogher Traditional Music Festival: Feis Shligigh: Connacht Fleadh: County Sligo Fleadh

Community Groups Supported through Community Arts Act Grant Scheme 1999 - 2001
O’Hara Carriages Museum Project: Dha Ean Theatre Company: The Caisleach Writers: West Sligo Women’s Art Group: Apple Loft Gallery: Sligo Active Retirement Writers: The Warriors Festival: Women Together: Maugherow Community Entertainment Group: Live & Original Community Arts Club: Sligo Concert Band: Jolly Tots Community Playgroup: Phoenix Players: Ballymote Youth Steering Group: Sligo Feis Ceoil: Ballinacarrow School Band: C.L.A.S.P.: Calry Show: Aclare Development Committee: Grange Art Workshops: Ballyrush Feis Scoil Naisiunta Naomh Eoin: Skreen & Dromard Community Council: Kilmactigue/Tourlestrane Parish Millennium Group: Carran Hill Arts Club: Sligo Orpheus Choir: Killavil NS: Kiernan Avenue Resident’s Association: Cos-Cos: Easkey Art Project: Killaraght Dramatic Society

Organisations supported through the Programme 1998 - 2001
Con Brio: Sligo Academy of Music: St Anne’s Youth & Community Centre: Storm Dance Company: Sligo Early Music Ensemble.

In 2001, funding in the sum of £140,150 was awarded by Sligo County Council to arts organisations and events.