Five upstanding Upstart projects
MAYO County Council’s arts service has been leading, supporting and developing arts and disability programmes throughout the county and in 2010 initiated a support scheme through the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.
Entitled Upstart, the scheme provides support for arts projects or events in Mayo designed to provide access to quality arts experiences for people with disabilities in their own locality.
This year, five projects received funding through the scheme and many of them come to fruition today (December 3) - the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.
The arts service is nationally recognised for its arts and disability work. Under the Upstart scheme alone, 24 partnership projects have been supported, employing 59 artists/facilitators working with over 330 disabled participants in 205 workshops to create 39 exhibitions/performances, attracting over 1,300 audience members.
At Áras Inis Gluaire in Belmullet, Debbie Beirne from Rúach Rhythms community music service has been working with service users from the Western Care Association, Erris, on a series of percussion workshops which will culminate in a newly devised piece to be performed at the venue today.
“Participants are enjoying this rhythmic experience enormously and are looking forward to sharing their work with the public to celebrate International Day of Persons with disabilities,” said Carmel Hanley, Western Care, Erris. For further information, contact Brendan Murray on (097) 81079 or b.murray@arasinisgluaire.ie.
At TACU Family Resource Centre, Ballinrobe, the Luisne Art Group have come together with the Scannán Tecnologies group, Ballina, to experience each other's work, share skills and make an animated iStop Motion film via a series of visual arts and film workshops facilitated by artist/facilitators Breda Murphy and Silke Kauther.
Over the last three months, the artists have exchanged knowledge and ideas around their own unique work practice. Luisne artists have demonstrated how they paint, draw and create their art works, and Scannan artists have shown how they use a camera and demonstrated the process of making an iStop Motion film. The workshops culminates in an art exhibition - The Gift - in the café and the audio room at the Museum of Country Life, Turlough Park, Castlebar, today. For further information, contact Breda Mayock on (087) 7850344 or bredamayock@artluisne.co
The Linenhall Arts Centre in Castlebar will present an Irish Sign Language-interpreted performance of The Days of Surprise by renowned Irish poet Paul Durcan this evening. For this reading/performance, Irish Sign Language interpreter and Louisburgh native Mairéad Hegarty has been working with the poet and a group of Mayo-based Irish Sign Language users, both deaf and hearing, to collaborate on developing interpretations and a group signing of Durcan's poems, such as 'Earthquake Off Mayo' and 'The Laughing Receptionist in the GP's Surgery', which will be performed tonight.
“It's a wonderful opportunity for us to raise awareness of Irish Sign Language, a beautiful visual language which often doesn't get the recognition it deserves,” said Mairéad. For more information, contact Orla Henihan on (094) 9023733 or linenhall@anu.ie.
Six participants from Carrowbeg Enterprises, Westport, are currently participating in a series of workshops facilitated by ceramicist Roger Harley at the Custom House Studios, Westport. They are in the process of creating ceramic objects and developing their own designs using glazes in order to create a body of work. Imagery and processes are based on drawings and printmaking developed throughout the workshops.
The participants will be invited to display their work during the annual end of year winter exhibition with other artists at the Custom House Studios. For further information, contact John McHugh on (098) 28735 or customhouse@eircom.net.
Finally, at St. Bríd's School in Castlebar, musician Mary Curran from the WhistleBlast Quartet has been facilitating a series of creative music workshops to participants aged from five to 17 years. Participants have been working towards the creation of a new piece with tuned and un-tuned percussion instruments which will be performed to parents and friends on December 11. For further information, contact Mary Curran at mary@whistleblastquartet.com or see www.whistleblastquartet.com.
For further details on Mayo County Council’s arts and disability programme or Upstart, contact Damien O’Connor, disability arts co-ordinator, at Mayo County Council's arts office on (094) 9047551 or mayoarts@mayococo.ie.