Phase 1: The Pilot, 2020 – 2023
Creative Places Tuam – Phase 1, the Pilot – launched in 2020 and marks a new approach to funding by the Arts Council. Since then we have supported artists and community members through community seeding funds, artist bursaries and residencies, public conversation series, workshops and training opportunities as well as an incredible two-day community weekend event, The West’s Awake. We have welcomed all of Tuam to be part of this by making space for new ideas and new collaborations. This is the space for gathering together with new ideas, and make great art. This is the space to think globally, to act locally, to make together.
We launched on the 21st of January 2020, in the Ard Rí hotel. Little John Nee was invited to create a response to this pilot, and in his performance, he said: “you picked the right spot, the train you’re bringing into town, this train is bound for glory”. As the Creative Places Tuam team, we believe he was very right.
Very quickly after we began, Covid 19 restrictions meant we had to cease work on the ground. We had six weeks on site, a combined total of 15 days, and then spent the next twenty-two months working remotely. One of the pivots in those early days of Covid was the training of how to use the digital space as a space to engage people. And the other one was to give artists a Bursary award to allow them to reflect on their practice, and to use this as an opportunity to reflect on where they’ve been and where they want to go as a result of the pandemic. This Bursary award, entitled Community Solidarity through Collaborative Practices was awarded to Jennifer Cunningham, Jacqueline Glynn, and Jojo Hynes and Midie Corcoran, each of whom have journeyed with us as Creative Places Tuam has grown and developed.
Alongside the artists’ fees and support, we wanted to also support the community, because community groups and volunteer groups and everything in between were all pivoting to stay open and relevant and needed within Covid. We offered Community Seeding and Taking Root funds, supporting 33 local community groups and collectives to keep up their vital work.
We began our Ory’Sta conversation series, virtually by Padraig Steven’s fireside, and have gone on to deliver six of these conversations, in person and online, with artists, activists, community members, and more.
We grew our on the ground Creative Team, welcoming Rachel Varden, James Ryan, David McDonagh and Jennifer Cunningham to the fold, and later we added Megan DeBurca who manages our social media and other projects. We shared eighteen Discpatches from the Blue Door in the Tuam Herald, each month spotlighting the work of a local artist.
Tuam was selected for development funding as part of the Reimagine Hometown Architect initiative 2023.The Hometown Architect project is part of the Irish Architecture Foundation’s Reimagine programme, which aims to connect communities with architects to co-design and improve their local built environment. We were delighted to support this work.
We welcomed guest artists to Tuam, to work with local artists and communities, sharing knowledge and engaging with the local. Aoife Barrett and Kate O’Shea established the One Stop Shop Print Club, Isabel Lima worked with Tuam locals to begin the Tuam Assembly, and artist Mark Storor collaborated with residents of Gilmartin Road as part of the For Our Grand(m)Others residency.
Tuam based artist Pavithra Kannan was awarded the Creative Places Tuam, Create and Galway Arts Centre residency, and local artists Jojo Hynes and Midie Corcoran were awarded The Match Factory residency.
We were thrilled to host The West’s Awake community weekend, which invited local community groups, creatives and artists of all forms to be part of a showcase of Tuam’s creativity and talent.
Maureen Kennelly, Director of the Arts Council, spoke in an Ory’Sta in 2022, acknowledging that where you’re from impacts where you’re going to go. We firmly believe that each artist and practitioner deserves the right to learn and grow and work in their own community.
At the end of Phase 1 – the pilot – we look forward to a bridging phase, a time of transition, in handing the work of Creative Places Tuam over to the town and its residents more fully.