TULCA Festival of Visual Arts and Galway 2020 European Capital of Culture present:
TULCA Festival of Visual Arts
Galway 2020 European Capital of Culture
February - April 2021
Galway City and County
TULCA Festival of Visual Arts and Galway 2020 European Capital of Culture present Create Dangerously; an arts education programme that empowers learners and teachers through exploring creative thinking and creative making using a blend of art and philosophy.
Three Galway schools Clontuskert NS, Ballinasloe, Cregmore NS, Cregmore and Coláiste Iognáid (The ‘Jes’), Galway, have been selected for this stage of the pilot programme. This week each classroom will receive a new art film commissioned by TULCA especially for the project. They will respond to this work through structured dialogues, and art making activities to create their own own ‘creativity manifesto’ and an exhibition that they’ll share with their school community and post online. Editions of these works will become permanent parts of the Create Dangerously programme which opens to schools nationally after this pilot.
TULCA education partner Curo, who designed this project, will facilitate sessions in school and provide CPD to the participating teachers. Students will experiment with creative expression, explore why creativity is important and articulate what being creative means to them. Active mentoring and CPD workshops will empower participating teachers to integrate elements of the project into their teaching practice.
New artworks, A March in March, by Donal McConnon, I Got Power, by Maeve Clancy and My Island by Emma Zukovic will premier in schools this week with participating classes kicking off their creative responses after the Easter holidays.
Artist Maeve Clancy said “This project offers the unusual opportunity to see how a piece of my work is interpreted and presented to children in a school setting. Being able to talk with the teacher and members of Curo as they develop the learning is an absolute treat for an artist. The project is much more far reaching than I originally understood. I’m really delighted to be involved and flattered to be asked to contribute.”
Jo Vahey of TULCA Festival said: "TULCA is thrilled to be piloting Create Dangerously, a project that will enhance the creative lives of young people and one that will make a lasting impact on the schools, teachers and learners it connects with at a time when connection is more important than ever."
Create Dangerously is presented as part of UnSelfing, a programme of visual art created by TULCA for the Galway 2020 European Capital of Culture year. Marilyn Gaughan Reddan, Head of Programme said “We are delighted to be back working in schools and Create Dangerously offers children and teachers a real opportunity for meaningful interactions and engagement with the artist. The TULCA education programme is exceptional and we are really looking forward to the impact that this will have both in the school community and indeed within the overall programme.”
This project is facilitated by TULCA education partner Curo, who focus building thinking skills through philosophical dialogues and creative activities.
More information and updates on the project are available here.
Donal McConnon (aka T h e C u r l y O r g a n) is a kind of artist/composer/producer who has for one month successfully merged his everyday experiences with record production (4 EPs (2017), who regularly has conversations with strangers through a non-verbal musical binary (Do You Speak Bell? (2018/2019) and has developed an all-encompassing live performance making use of hand-drawn visuals and guided meditations. During Lockdown II, Donal turned his attention to podcast production. Weaving together Whatsapp voice messages from people in his community and the recorded music of local artists, the result was three wholly unique sonic meditations on topics such as Fear and Enlightenment.
Image: Donal McConnon, A March in March, 2021. Still from HD video
Maeve Clancy creates work for children and adults using cut paper, pop up, story and drawings. She has worked on music videos for singer Lisa Hannigan, mounted solo exhibitions and writes both fictional, documentary and historical comics. Past commissions include a pop up book for the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 international advertising campaign, a large scale installation at a National Trust property in Somerset, UK and a solo exhibition at Corte Eremo, Mantova, Italy.
She was an invited artist at Dublin WorldCon 2019, a large international science fiction convention and designed 'Sruth na Teanga', an immersive theatre experience as part of Galway 2020 City of Culture. Recent commissions include a graphic novel about Michael Davitt, a series of animations for Cruinniú na nÓg 2020 shown on RTE and a cut paper installation for An Táin Arts Centre, Dundalk in December 2020. Current ongoing work involves telling the story of Rouba and Noura Merzah, two recent refugees from Syria now living in Ireland.
Image: Maeve Clancy, I Got Power, 2021. Still from animation
UnSelfing is a programme of visual art exhibitions, performances and encounters commissioned by TULCA Festival of Visual Arts for Galway 2020 European Capital of Culture. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic the remainder of the programme has been further reimagined and repositioned with projects taking place in April 2021.
For more information and updates visit: www.tulca.ie
UnSelfing is a programme of visual art exhibitions, performances and encounters commissioned by TULCA Festival of Visual Arts for Galway 2020 European Capital of Culture. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic the remainder of the programme has been further reimagined and repositioned with projects taking place in April 2021.
For more information and updates visit: www.tulca.ie
Image: Donal McConnon, A March in March, 2021. Still from HD video