Community Arts, when delivered with commitment and in a meaningful way, can be transformative. It can empower both people and communities. For us in the NEIC, delivering Community Arts is about defying expectations. In other words yes, it has to listen to narratives, and yes it has to reflect them, but it also needs to create new ones.
In the NEIC, Community Arts is understood in the context of community development. Community Arts in an area that faces the level of poverty and marginalisation experienced by the NEIC, needs to operate within a principle of Empowerment. We see Community Arts as an integral part of social inclusion, social justice and equality.
The NEIC has been actively working to support the Community Arts sector in the Northeast Inner City over the past five years. Working with a range of local stakeholders, the NEIC formalised its commitment to Community Arts in 2021 by the appointment of a Community Arts Coordinator. The Community Arts Coordinator reports to the NEIC Community Arts Steering Group, a dedicated group of volunteers who represent a range of voluntary Community, Youth and Arts Organisations in the area .
Upon her appointment in August 2021, the NEIC Community Arts Coordinator, Irma Grothuis, met with many local stakeholders and developed a Community Arts Plan – Joining the Dots. This plan ran until the end of 2022. In 2023 the Community Arts Programme delivered a Consolidation Plan that further built upon the foundations laid over the previous twelve months. The NEIC Community Arts Programme is currently in consultation with local community groups and will launch its Strategic Plan for 2024 – 2027 in January 2024.
:format(webp)?_w=3840)
The programmes currently being delivered by the NEIC Community Arts Programme are as follows:
High Expectations - The NEIC Early Years Arts Programme:
We began this programme in Spring 2022, five skilled Early Years Artists worked across five Early Years Settings in the NEIC: Little Treasures, North Wall, CASPR, Ozanam House, Holy Child School, Rutland Street and Hill Street FRC.
Since then, the programme has increased in scope and longevity and programming is delivering its early years work with community pre-schools across the NEIC in partnership with The Hugh Lane Gallery, The National Concert Hall, The Gate Theatre, Fighting Words and of course artists, who are skilled in delivering Early Years Arts and have honed and developed their practice over many years.
NEIC Community Arts Development Grant:
The intention of this grant, is to provide an opportunity for groups to deepen their experience of the arts in a way that is meaningful to participants. In 2023 the Community Arts Development Grant has supported the following groups: DALC, The Five Lamps, The Hay Project, Hill Street Family Resource Centre, Holy Child Pre-School Rutland St., Inter-Cultural Language Services, St. Laurence O’Tooles CBS, LYCS, Ma Samba, Mud Island, Docklands Boxing Club, Dublin Regional Touring Company, Mud Island, Rutland St. National School, The Saol Project, St. Vincents Girls School and Swan Youth Service.
Applications for this grant will reopen in Spring 2024.
:format(webp)?_w=1920)
Work in Community Housing Complexes:
Magic in the Mansions is a Visual Arts Residency for children that is being delivered with a number of skilled artists in partnership with the NEIC, Cluid Housing and the residents of Mary’s Mansions. The programme takes place in the Community Housing Complex of Mary’s Mansions, Dublin 1.
During 2023 and 2024 the NEIC Community Arts Programme will be expanding this programme to work with other housing complexes in the NEIC.
The Try It Out Programme:
A programme for any group in the Northeast Inner City who would like to explore a specific art form and needs guidance and support to begin. The programme is also open to groups who would like to augment their existing arts programme, by working with new or different artists or art forms.
In Spring 2023, the Try It Out Programme worked with six artists and 360 participants across the art forms of Music, Drama and Visual Art.
Try It Out will be delivered again in Spring 2024.
Residencies:
In 2023 the Community Arts Programme delivered a number of residencies that emerged from the 2022 Try It Out Programme. These include a Visual Arts with 4th and 5th class in St. Laurences CBS, a music residency with children who may have additional needs, attending the ASD class in St. Laurence O‘Tooles CBS and a drama residency in Scoil Chaoimhín.
Work with older people:
Ozanam House Active Retirement Group: In Spring and Autumn 2023 this group are working Drama Practitioner Margaret Callan Bergin to explore their own stories and ideas.
Ballybough Women’s Group: the artist Bethan Parkes is working with this group during Spring and Autumn 2023.
Development of an NEIC Community Arts Strategic Plan:
This year we have been meeting with local stakeholders to discuss to the development of an NEIC Community Arts Strategic Plan 2024- 2027. This plan will be launched in Spring 2024.
For further information the NEIC Community arts Programme please contact: communityartsneic@gmail.com
:format(webp)?_w=1920)