Partnerships and Connections

Creative Places Tuam is build on partnerships and connections, nationally and internationally. We strive to connect Tuam to other similar communities across Ireland, Europe, the United States and more. We do this by welcoming guest artists and speakers to Ireland as part of regaular workshops, conferences and residencies, as well as by creating partnerships with media and other arts organisations. Here is just a selection of this work that we have implemnted since 2020.

Creative Places National Programme

Creative Places Tuam was the pilot pogramme for the national Creative Places programme, begun in 2020 by the Arts Council.

Since the successful inception of the pilot programme in Tuam, the Arts Council has expanded the programme (June 2021 – June 2024). Now, more than 100,000 people in rural Ireland have access to the arts in their own communities for the first time. Tuam is connected to each of these Creative Places now through the programme, and we have been able to support and learn from, our peers in the programme.

Culture Night

We support Culture night each year through supporting artists and community members, as well as sharing news about what’s going on. We are always happy to throw open the doors to the Town Hall and welcome the town and visitors in.

Dispatches from the Blue Door

Part of Creative Places Tuam’s role is to highlight the incredible art and cultural work going on in Tuam and the local area.

Each month we share our “Dispatches from the Blue Door” in the Tuam Herald. Here, we keep you updated on what’s going on in the project, and how you can get involved. We also feature a Tuam-based artist each month, in our “Artist Spotlight”. This is our chance to show the huge breadth of art and creativity in Tuam and the hinterlands. So keep an eye on the paper!

We wish to thank the Tuam Herald for featuring our Dispatches each month.

Partnership with Galway Arts Centre and Create

In 2022, we partnered with Galway Arts Centre and Create to offer a residency for a collaborative socially engaged artist from a minority ethnic background, with first-hand experience of displacement and/or histories of intergenerational migration. This was awarded to Pavithra Kannan, who used the time and support afforded by the residency to address specific environmental, social aesthetic and economic concerns within a located context involving aspects of time and space. Partnerships such as this are key to Creative Places Tuam, as they allow us to offer additional expertise and support to artists.

Places Matter

In 2022, we were pleased to partner with Create on a workshop (Making Community, Creating Place) on making communities and creating place, as part of the Arts Council and Local Government Ireland’s Places Matter conference. This session included Creative Places Tuam and Network Services Coordinator and panel chair, Carolann Courtney, Tuam-based artists Joanna McGlynn, filmmaker David McDonagh, Tuam resident and community advocate Patricia King Callaghan with Dr Grainne Coughlan.

Traveller Collection

Travellercollection.ie is a website which grew out of a collaborative process with artist Seamus Nolan, cultural practitioners, Traveller activists and collectors. It aims to create a central database of Traveller history and culture. As the website states, “Traveller history and culture is a diverse and complex subject, there is not one story to define Traveller identity, but many”.  Traveller Collection brings together collections, and clarifies information on what exists, where it exists and how it can be accessed. www.travellercollection.ie is open to submission by the public. Visitors to the site can view featured collections and search by category.

We are delighted that Creative Places Tuam’s Ory’Sta 3 with Oein De Bhairdúin, Megs Morley and Owenie Ward, as well as Oein De Bhardúin’s Walking Whid, is now featured on TravellerCollection.ie.