DDF News — 1 Feb 2022
DDF Selected for ESB Brighter Future Arts Fund
Dublin Dance Festival is delighted to be selected as part of the ESB Brighter Future Arts Fund.
ESB, in partnership with Business to Arts, has announced five projects spanning theatre, poetry, music, dance, sculpture, gardening, visual arts and soundscapes, that have been selected to receive funding from the ESB Brighter Future Arts Fund. The €250,000 fund was established in 2021 to support artists and arts organisations to deliver creative projects that will promote awareness of climate change and inspire positive action.
Dublin Dance Festival and specialist Irish lighting / technology company Lightscape (www.lightscape.ie) will explore the themes of sustainability and human connection. It is a multidisciplinary, interactive and performance art project that brings together light, technology, and dance by three different choreographers for live performances in or adjacent to ESB’s new Head Office at 27 Fitzwilliam Street in Dublin as part of the 2023 Dublin Dance Festival. In creating the performance, the artists will invite the public to reflect on the themes of sustainability and human connection. Moving Futures is part of DDF’s ‘Pulse in the City’ initiative which will see DDF bringing dance outside of theatres into the public realm between 2022 and 2024.
Here is some information about the projects that will be developed alongside DDF:
Future Limerick
A multidisciplinary arts collaboration between Sunday’s Child Theatre Company and the Lime Tree Theatre |Bell Table in Limerick. This project will see the creation of an arts and climate festival in Limerick which will engage the public in discussions around climate change and examine what a more sustainable future looks like through the medium of a range of art forms including poetry, music, and theatre. Taking place in May 2022, the organisers aim to specifically involve marginalised and disadvantaged communities in Limerick through workshops and other outreach initiatives.
Theatre Royal Biodiversity Garden Waterford
A partnership between Theatre Royal and Waterford County Council, which will see a pollinator friendly willow structure by artist Elaine McDonagh installed in a biodiversity garden adjacent to the Theatre Royal. The sculpture and garden will be the first step in Theatre Royal’s transformational ‘green journey’ under the Green Arts Initiative in Ireland and aligns with Waterford Council’s Climate Change Adaption Strategy and ambitions to become Ireland’s first decarbonised city by 2040. Work on the project will commence in March 2022 with the goal of being completed by October 2022 when the Theatre Royal will begin sustained outreach programmes within the community, engaging school children, theatre goers and artists in workshops and through educational tours around biodiversity and protecting the environment.
Future Light from Distant Stars, Carlow
A partnership between Artist David Beattie and the Visual Centre of Contemporary Art in Carlow and involves the installation of a colourful greenhouse with solar panels, which emits light when it is dark. The objective is to create a public focal point to engage people around climate change, environmental care, and sustainable practices. It will engage with a range of local stakeholders including IT Carlow, Carlow Collect, Carlow County Council and Carlow Environmental Network and build on Carlow’s history as one of the first towns in Ireland to have electricity and as the birthplace of John Tyndall.
Almanac for a Walled City, Derry
A partnership between sound artist Christopher Steenson and Nerve Centre, Derry to explore solutions to the climate crisis by looking at Ireland’s unique relationship with the weather. Nerve Centre will work on an intergenerational engagement project to collect the thoughts, predictions and innovative climate solutions of Derry Citizens and imagine what the city will look like in 400 years and how this will be shaped by weather. This will be turned into an immersive site-specific sound artwork designed for Derry’s historic city walls. Work on the project will commence in summer 2022 with the artwork due to be launched in the summer of 2023.
For more on ESB Brighter Future Arts Fund, click here.