(L-R) Sinead Dowling (Carlow County Council Arts Officer), Jenny Sherwin
(Wicklow County Council Arts officer), Monica Corcoran (Arts Council Strategic
development Manager), Pat Delaney (Head of Finance: Finance, Information Systems, Arts and Culture), Moira Murrell (CCMA / Chief Executive, Kerry
County Council), Cllr. Fintan Phelan (Cathaoirleach, Carlow County Council),
Fearghus Ó Conchúir (Choreographer and Dance Artist), Catherine Martin TD
(Minister of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sports & Media), Maureen
Kennelly (Director of the Arts Council) and Paula Phelan (Interim CEO and
Artistic Director of VISUAL, Carlow) Image Credit: Hannah Jane Photography
The Arts Council and Local Government
jointly hosted its third biennial conference, Places Matter, on 24 and 25 March
2022 in VISUAL, Carlow.
Over the past few years, opportunities
to invest in and consider the development of towns, cities, villages and rural
places in public realm place making, cultural and digital hubs or place based
arts development has increased. The conference investigated the role of the
arts sector in place based topics such as planning, spatial justice, social
cohesion and environment.
Delegates were welcomed by Maureen
Kennelly (Director of the Arts Council), Moira Murrell (CCMA) and Cllr. Fintan
Phelan, Cathaoirleach, Carlow County Council.
The Arts Council Spatial Policy, Place,
Space and People was launched by Catherine Martin TD, Minister of Tourism,
Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media. This new policy is an emphatic shift
in Arts Council policy to the notion of a people and place-centered approach
and towards achieving better socio spatial equity.
The keynote speakers were Emmanuel
Pratt of the Sweet
Water Foundation in Chicago and Valerie Mulvin, architect (McCullough
Mulvin Architects) and author of Approximate Formality, the Morphology
of Irish Towns.
There were discursive sessions with
panels including playwrights, planners, activists, architects, artists and
academics which explored a depth and variety of content and contributions.
The Arts Council together with our
local government partners would like to thank all the contributors and
delegates for attending in person and online and providing us with rich though
provoking content to inspire the work we do in the places that are important to
us.
To view sessions please click here
Download the digital programme here.
For more information please contact
the Local, Place and Public Art
Team placesmatter@artscouncil.ie