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Creative Europe Culture - Irish Funding Success 2021 to 2022

Culture Results July 23 v2

Congratulations to the 21 Irish organisations who have received Creative Europe Culture funding of over €2.2 million from the Cooperation projects strand!

Two Irish companies – Music for Galway and IAC – are also Lead Partners in their respective projects. The funding supports a wide range of art forms and arts organisations.

The Cooperation Projects funding strand supports transnational projects involving cultural and creative organisations from different countries taking part in the Creative Europe programme. The funding gives cultural organisations of all sizes the possibility to co-produce, cooperate, experiment, innovate, be mobile and learn from each other.

Commenting on the Irish results, Katie Lowry and Aoife Tunney from Creative Europe Desk Ireland – Culture Desk, said:

‘We in the Culture Office offer our sincere congratulations to all the Irish recipients who were successful under Creative Europe’s 2021 and 2022 funding calls. These results represent a commendable achievement for each of the selected organisations in what is a very competitive pan-European funding environment. The successful projects represent a wide range of art forms from a variety of cultural sectors in Ireland. These Cooperation projects will have a transformative effect on the organisations involved and will offer exciting new opportunities for both established and emerging artists in Ireland and Europe. Audiences across Ireland can look forward to seeing these high quality European cultural projects in action over the next number of years.’ Katie Lowry & Aoife Tunney, Creative Europe Desk Ireland – Culture Desk

Since the 2021 – 2027 Creative Europe programme began, over €10 million has been awarded to Irish companies and organisations under Culture, MEDIA and Cross Sector strands.

Download our Creative Europe Desk Ireland - Irish Results May 2023 booklet to find out more.

Below are the projects and their respective Irish partners as well as quotes from some of the successful Irish organisations on what the Creative Europe funding means to them.

Cooperation Projects 2021 – 2022 | Irish Partners

  • Songs of Travel (2022) - Irish Lead Partner: Music for Galway
  • The Syncromesh Project (2022) - Irish Lead Partner: International Arts & Communications, Dublin
  • SHELeaders VR (2021) - Irish Partner: NOHO, Dublin
  • Independent Radio Exchange Network 2.0 (IndieRe 2.0), 2021 - Irish Partner: Near FM, Dublin
  • BELEM (Boosting European Lyrics via Entrepreneurial Monetisation) (2021) - Irish Partner: Bardis Music Company, Dublin
  • Opera Vision Next Generation (2021) - Irish Partner: Irish National Opera, Dublin
  • Ulysses: A European Odyssey (2021) - Irish Partners: Arts Over Borders, Donegal; Museum of Irish Literature Ireland Dublin
  • Jeune Theatre Europeen Jeunes Publics (2021) - Irish Partner: National University of Ireland Galway
  • Phōnē - Giving Minority Languages a Voice (2021) - Irish Partner: Fíbín Teo, Galway
  • BABEL or The Art of Listening in Theatre for Young Audiences (2021) – Irish Partner: Baboró International Arts Festival for Children, Galway
  • Zero Waste Design (2021) – Irish Partner: Design & Crafts Council Of Ireland, Kilkenny
  • Algo-Rhythms (2022) - Irish Partner: AIM Ireland, Dublin
  • Better Live (2022) – Irish Partner: Improvised Music Company, Dublin
  • Revelland (2022) – Irish Partner: CWB Productions
  • Tech 4 Heritage (2022) - Irish Partner: CARARE (Connecting Archaeology And Architecture In Europe), Dublin
  • Tradition in Action (2022) - Irish Partners: St Angela's College Sligo in association with the University of Galway
  • The Museum of the Commons ( 2022) - Irish Partners: NCAD; IMMA (associate partner) Dublin
  • Open House Europe (2022) - Irish Partner: Irish Architecture Foundation, Dublin

WHAT DOES CREATIVE EUROPE CULTURE FUNDING AWARD MEAN TO YOU?  

We asked the successful Irish companies to tell us how their Creative Europe funding awards will impact their companies, give us a short preview of their projects, and their new European partners.

Irish Lead Partner Music for Galway | Songs of Travel

‘The Creative Europe funding scheme has been transformative for Music for Galway. We are now working with our four European partners on our project Songs of Travel (SOT). Since we have begun developing the project, SOT has proven to be exciting artistically, and increasingly of great importance socially. The aim of SOT is to co-commission music with other festivals and present this music in such a way as to increase the empathy towards the environment and the plight of those who are forced to migrate. Four festivals are working together (Cellissimo (MfG – Galway; 18-26 May 2024), Fairplay Chamber Music (Sweden), Valdres Sommersymphoni (Norway), Piano Biennale (The Netherlands). In order to disseminate the music/ideas further, a game development company, Causa Creations (Austria), will use one of the commissions in a new game. Aiming to be sustainable, we held the only in-person meeting of the project in February in Hamburg. The project is progressing well. Causa have identified the five people, whose migration stories we will discover in the game. This month, the first of five commissions, this one inspired through work with refugees in Norway, was finished and the SOT website is about to be launched. Through this Creative Europe Collaboration project MfG is growing in experience, in size, and all of us are growing as human beings.’ Anna Lardi, CEO Music for Galway.

AIM Ireland | Algo-Rhythms project

‘In the realm of transformative initiatives, the timely infusion of Creative Europe funding within the first 18 months of AIM Ireland's establishment stands as an essential cornerstone. This invaluable support not only nurtures our organisation, but it fosters boundless possibilities for our members, while offering remarkable avenues for growth as a dynamic trade association. At this pivotal juncture, the project Algo-Rhythms, which AIM Ireland are partners on, woven with themes of AI and leveraging big data for audience expansion in the arts, resonates with profound relevance. The confluence of cutting-edge technologies and artistic expression is poised to redefine the creative landscape, and this funding empowers us to be at the forefront of this revolutionary shift. AIM Ireland's partnership with Creative Europe is not simply about financial support, but a testament to the shared vision of a thriving creative ecosystem. It heralds an era of collaboration, knowledge exchange, and collective growth, positioning us as a catalyst for innovation and progress.’ Gill Dooley, CEO, AIM Ireland.
‘We’re delighted with the award from Creative Europe as we wouldn't otherwise have been able to embark on this incredible multi-disciplinary journey with our 18 European partners through James Joyce’s Ulysses, involving 18 cities in 16 countries. Since conceiving the project in 2019, it has already been a mammoth experience of development for our organisation through exploring the contemporary relevance of Joyce's landmark novel looking at a range of issues affecting Europe today as well as supporting new opportunities for 30 young and emerging creative talent and 18 writers commissioned from across Europe. UEO is a three-year cultural programme running until the end of 2024 and will leave a legacy through a new ULYSSES book and a new 'chARTer 309' for the future relationship between arts and society.’ Seán Doran & Liam Browne from ARTS OVER BORDERS Ireland.

International Arts & Communication | The Synchromesh EU

‘With the support of Creative Europe, the Synchromesh project is launching a game-changing programme in the world of European audio drama. This is the first professional development programme of its kind, specifically intended to help early career professionals move into audio drama and internationalise their practice. We are working with partners from Georgia, Ukraine, Italy, Albania, Hungary and greatly looking forward to our first summer school to be held in Timisoara in Romania at the end of August.  For us as a team, this is the start of a very ambitious three years. Having just completed an EU funded youth audio drama project as a participating partners, we are very excited by the prospect of the adventure ahead as IAC takes the lead to raise the profile of this most versatile of art forms across Europe.’   The IAC Team, Dublin.

Fíbín Teo | Phōnē Project

‘Tá Fíbín fíorbhródúil as a bheith páirteach agus an deis a fháil a bheith ag obair ar "Phōnē Project", Togra ina bhfuil tábhacht na mionteangacha ar fud na hEorpa á léiriú trí dhrámaíocht. Tugann an togra seo léargas dúinn ar an saibhreas cultúir atá againn mar Eorpaigh agus an tábhacht a bhaineann leis.’ \ Translation: ‘Fíbín are honoured to be part of this really important European project which is highlighting minority languages from around Europe through the use of theatre. Thus far it's been an eye-opening experience to learn of the richness in all our various cultures which makes us Europeans.’ Darach Ó Tuairisg, Fíbín Teo.
‘Baboró is thrilled to be a partner in our 4th Creative Europe large scale cooperation project. Babel will support 8 Irish artists to attend weeklong residencies exploring intercultural dialogue at arts festivals across Europe. Baboró is also excited to host our European colleagues in October 2024 and 2025. Babel will enliven and enrich the performing arts for children sector in Ireland and across Europe whilst promoting the rights of children to full cultural citizenship.’ Aislinn Ó hEocha, Executive Artistic Director, Baboró, Galway.

Irish dancer and choreographer, Orlaith Ní Chearra, attended a weeklong workshop in Breda, Netherlands at the BRIK Festival in June 2023 as part of Creative Europe's BABEL (pictured above):

'The Breda workshop was a very inspiring and creatively fulfilling week. I have made some incredible connections with artists from all across Europe.' Orlaith Ní Chearra, BABEL participant

Irish-based theatre maker, Maisie Lee, attended a weeklong workshop in Vilnius, Lithuania at the Kitoks Festival in January 2023 as part of Creative Europe's BABEL. (Maisie, pictured above wearing striped hat and Peanuts t-shirt).

'Babel was such an inspiring and invigorating experience for me. Particularly post Covid, getting to play, discover and form friendships in a room with artists from all over the world was really special, and has informed a lot of my recent thinking in relation to making work.' Maisie Lee, BABEL participant

Maisie and Orlaith will participate in one more festival workshop each in 2023. Another six Irish-based artists will participate in international workshops across Europe over the next two years, with Baboró hosting workshops in 2024 and 2025.

'It was a huge win for our team at CWB to be a partner on the second Creative Europe funded Revelland Project. We are on a two-year journey in which 7 European partners – Possibilize, CWB, Live DMA, Maria’s World, Signmark, KeepON and EASPD – will develop a new way of experiencing the dimension of live music. Together with key Festivals (Sziget Festival, Cooltural Almeria, Colours of Ostrava, ESNS, Roskilde Festival and KeepOn LIVE FEST) and of course the musicians, music experts, bands and our Inclusion Board, we plan to transform live performances to immersive, sensory and accessible experiences.' Joe Clarke, Director CWB

The next call for Cooperation Projects will open in the fourth quarter 2023 with the deadline expected in early 2024. European Platforms, European Networks and Pan-Cultural Entities are also expected to open in the fourth quarter of 2023 as are Culture Moves Europe calls. For more information please contact the Culture Office.

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