In December, 2019 the Centre for Creative Arts Research ran a call for Cultural Arts Projects, with the aim of providing funding in support of activities that are relevant to Galway 2020 and its themes of Language, Landscape and Migration. Projects address aspects of European culture, identity and creative cities that connect with the University and its wider communities. Applications were invited under three categories: Large Projects (awards of up to €10,000), Small Projects (awards of up to €2,000) and  Visiting Fellowships (awards of €2,000).

Seventy-six applications were received from across the University. The applications were evaluated by a committee chaired by John Concannon, NUI Galway’s VP for Development, which resulted in 23 projects receiving awards, with a combined value of over €62,000.

The successful projects were:

Large Project Awards

Awardee Project Amount Awarded
Andrea Fitzpatrick The ‘Reclaiming’ project aims to create a space, which allows TED Fellow Rachel Armstrong and artist Carol Anne Connolly, to explore the unique landscape of Inis Oírr through their respective creative practices. €4000
Sheila Garrity Spaces and Traces: Exploration and Meaning Making from the Outside In’. This proposed project is inspired by the Eramus+ funded BRIC Project: Young Children, Public Spaces and Democracy Project (2017) which sought to promote young children’s presence and visibility in public spaces as community stakeholders and to inform and enhance pedagogical practice in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) settings. €4600
Kate Harvey ‘Our Stories: Storytelling from Galway’s Diverse Communities’ a collaboration between NUI Galway, the Westside Youth Project (Youth Work Ireland), and Galway City Museum. This project will bring together third level students and young people in migrant and Traveller groups in Galway through storytelling and community engagement. €5550
Lillis Ó Laoire Exhibition on the works of Professor Tomás Ó Máille, first professor of Modern Irish at UCG, 1909-1938 €9650
Lindsay Ann Reid Early modern studies in the global classroom’ in collaboration with Dr Agnès Lafont of Paul Valéry University of Montpellier. €4500
Lorna Shaughnessy The Migrant Word: Translating Cultures. Public events on: Translating the Neighbourhood; Translating Song. Migrant Songs Workshop; Translating Performance. Story-telling and Encounters; Translating Food. Intercultural Dialogue in the Kitchen; Translating Landscapes. Eco-Poetry Workshop and anthology. €5000

 

Small Project Awards

Awardee Project Amount Awarded
Stanislava Antonijevic 3rd Biannual International Conference Bi-SLI 2020. The aims of the conference include provision of better support for life in multilingual societies primarily across Europe, but also across the world. It will also promote Galway as culturally and linguistically the most diverse city in Ireland, in which traditional Irish culture and language combine with the diverse culture and languages of newcomers. It will further promote NUI Galway as an inclusive university that supports international staff and students while at the same time being a bilingual university with resources designated to support Irish language and culture. Promoting multilingualism and supporting multilingual communities is highly relevant in the context of modern Ireland, as well as in Europe, due to migration in recent times resulting in multilingual and multicultural contexts. €500
Sarah Corrigan Ancient Classics in Galway’. A series of four public events that dovetail the artistic, popular, and academic perspectives of ancient works and cultures and address their relevance to a modern Irish audience. €1935
Nessa Cronin “”Island Futures”” explores the history and future of Ireland’s western islands in relation to the Climate Emergency, focusing on the Aran Islands as the site of enquiry.
As an interdisciplinary, bilingual, STEAM project, it brings a range of expertise and experiences together, from artists, scientists, community leaders and cultural commentators, to think of fresh new ways as to how we might address the climate challenge by 2030.		 €1970
John Cunningham Hardiman’s Town: The Arts and Culture in Galway 1820-2020′. The centrepiece of the project is a scholarly volume, co-edited by Dr John Cunningham (History) and Dr Ciaran McDonough, which is due from Arden (the new Irish-British division of Australian Scholarly Publishing) in April 2020. The proposal here is concerned (a) with the dissemination of the scholarship in the volume, which has thirty contributors, most of them connected with the University; (b) marking the bicentenary of the publication of James Hardiman’s classic History of Galway. €1500
Lucy Elvis Annual World Philosophy Day’. The first of an annual public world philosophy day event that engages first, second and third level learners in philosophical inquiry and critical thinking activities. €2000
Kieran Fitzpatrick This project will use Galway’s European Capital of Culture designation as a launchpad for long-term discussions concerning the relationship between medical science and society, both at NUI Galway, in Galway city and county, and in national and international contexts. This central aim is supported by two objectives: firstly, to invite interested members of the general public to reflect on the historical relationships between society, culture and medicine; secondly, to promote an awareness of the history of their discipline to trainee surgeons, so that they might better understand the origins of their art and the nature of its evolution over time. In order to achieve these core aims and objectives, the project proposes to host an evening of lectures and short-talks for the general public, and a masterclass to students of surgery. €1500
Fionnuala Gallagher and Anne Byrne NUI Galway Art Collection contains over 500 works of art, many of which respond to the theme of Galway 2020, Language, Landscape and Migration. The aim of the project is to introduce NUI Galway’s Art Collection to the public through a seminar/workshop/lecture format throughout the year. Each public event will be hosted by an artist, art historian, collector, art lover, dealer, curator, member of the public as well as representatives of the disciplines of the University (e.g. geologists, archaeologists, Irish Studies and humanities scholars, historians, oceanographers, astronomers, sociologists, human and natural scientists). The ‘host’ will choose an artwork(s) from their unique and expert vantage point opening up the story of painting, sculpture, installation and the NUI art collection to visitors and locals alike. €2000
Kieran Hoare 33rd biennial Irish Conference of Historians. The conference will address the issue of borders and boundaries. The historical perspective on the myriad of issues (political, economic, social and cultural) is crucial to the provision of context and understanding. The three day conference with 55 speakers to be held at NUI Galway between the May 2021. This will include keynote speakers from Europe, the UK and Ireland, as well as a range of speakers from across the world. €1000
Mary Jo Lavelle and Dr Lisa Pursell International Conference ‘Promoting health and wellbeing: creating a more equitable and sustainable environment’. This international Health Promotion conference is hosted in conjunction with the Department of Health, Health Service Executive and Association for Health Promotion Ireland. €1500
Tina-Karen Pusse Europe’s Woodlands: Between Cultural Imagination and Sustainable Forestry’. Aim of this project is to seed-fund a research network within the environmental humanities that collaborates and co-publishes in the areas:
the forest in the classroom, pedagogy and cultural/biodiversity awareness; Ireland’s colonial past, European future and its effects on its landscape: deforestation/reforestation; -the cultural history of the forest; forest economies, felling, hunting, gathering; tourism and its discontents; sustainable forestry as cultural practice, rewilding.		 €1000
Natalie Walsh Lauch and promotion event assciated with the development of a Galway 2020 Board Game Challenge. The overall winners of the challenge will have their board game manufactured (50 units) and sold with profits being donated to Domestic Violence Response, an SU Charity of the Year recipient. €2000
Owen Patrick Ward Minceirs Access to University’. This event will take place on campus to welcome and encourage Irish Travellers into higher education at NUI Galway. Its purpose is to build a stronger relationship between staff and students at NUI Galway with Irish Travelers across the West of Ireland. The event will also promote the rich cultural heritage of the travelling community and create partnerships between NUI Galway, Minceirs Whiden Society (Traveller student society), Access Centre, Galway Traveller Movement, Sligo Traveller Support Group, Western Traveller & Intercultural Development Centre Tuam, Youth Reach Tuam as well as post primary and primary schools across Galway city and county. €2000

Visting Fellow Awards

Awardee Project Amount Awarded
Paolo Bartoloni Visiting Fellow: Internationally renowned visual culture scholar Professor W. J. T. Mitchell (University of Chicago) €2000
Easkey Britton Visiting Fellow: Dr. Persis Karim (San Francisco) – Poet in Residence ‘Water, Words, and Connections’ €2000
Frances McCormack Visiting Fellow: Artist Carol Wade of Wilson’s Hospital School, Westmeath (Art of the Wake – artofthewake.com) €2000
Andrew Ó Baoill Visiting Fellow: Dr. Nivea Bona, Communications Expert based in the US €2000
Claire Riordan Visiting Fellows: Award winning artists Anne Cleary and Denis Connolly (based in Paris) €2000