creative communities midwest (CCM)
In 2021, with support from the Arts Council's Capacity Support funding scheme, The GAFF established a professionally-resourced network, Creative Communities Midwest (CCM), to connect arts organisations and community stakeholders whose regular modes of connection had been interrupted due to COVID-19.
The aim of the network was to further embed community engagement and develop new ways for artists and communities to network, particularly during the pandemic.
Since the beginning of 2021, we have engaged online and face-to-face with the arts and community sectors here in the Midwest with meetings and events, including a pilot event called Tiny Little Histories, which expanded throughout 2022 and 2023.
CCM has built on work achieved by the existing network, Creative Communities Limerick. It has also seen The GAFF strategically review its work practice to examine new ways to reconnect with existing stakeholders in Limerick City and County, as well as in border areas within Clare and Tipperary.
TRANSITIONS
The GAFF, through CCM, has hosted the conference series TRANSITIONS since 2020 as a platform for artists and communities to explore different ways of creating work.
2025
TRANSITIONS 6 explored how Artists’ collectives survive and function in contemporary times. It was curated by Maeve McGrath, Mary Nunan, Mary Wycherly, Carey Long and Monica Spencer. The event featured a range of collectives:
* The Parsley Collective is five Limerick-based dance artists. Movement research is at the heart of what they do. As part of this research, members are refining an approach to improvisation and performance called z(ero)ing. They are currently Artists-in-Residence in Dance Limerick.
* Concept Null is a Limerick-based, grassroots collective dedicated to establishing new-media as a recognised art form in Ireland. It aims to nurture a thriving community of artists, technologists and enthusiasts with capacity to produce thoughtful and engaging new media and digital art in an ecosystem from which all can benefit.
* Eyebright Collective is a Limerick-based, multi-disciplinary group of artists who formed as a reaction to their collective concern around climate crisis, their relationship to screens and social media and the role of independent art in the modern world.
* The Guesthouse is a visual arts initiative that emerged out of the Capital of Culture in 2005 and established the first international artists' residency space in Cork. This domestic setting is a meeting point for creative practitioners to show work, dialogue, experiment and collaborate.
You can read a summary of the conference here.
2024
TRANSITIONS 5 took place at The GAFF on 15th December 2024. As in previous years, TRANSITIONS brought together artists and community activists:
* A short film screening of Who do you think we are?, an animated film about identity and personal rights. The film was created by Ana Colomer, who joined the conference for a conversation around collaborative arts practice. Who do you think we are was developed in collaboration with Corlann, an Ennis-based group for people with intellectual disabilities, with support from the Local Creative Youth Partnership.
* The launch of MidART, a publication that shines a light on ten artists working in collaborative practice in Limerick and Clare.
* An audio installation arising from our ongoing project Voices Across Borders. Limerick artists Helena Enright, Eoin '40' Maguire and Shannen Slattery joined us in conversation with direct provision residents Michael Minassie, Yahye Nuur and Yasmin Sharif. Voices Beyond Borders is supported by Creative Ireland, Made in Limerick through Limerick Arts Office.
You can read MidART here.
2023
TRANSITIONS 4 was designed as an arts community conversation around the artistic landscape of the Mid-West.
The conference featured An Sean Reilig, a Tiny Little History curated by Maeve McGrath and Lowri Evans, remembering St. Michael's Graveyard in Limerick City through audio, poetry, and visual art.
The TRANSITIONS 4 panel were:
* Panel chair, Jo Mangan is a multi-disciplinary artist, and programmer. As an independent practitioner and Artistic Director of The Performance Corporation she focuses on the creation of Theatre, Opera, and Immersive Tech experiences as well as developing artists residencies such as SPACE Programme, at the Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris.
* John Lillis is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Liscannor. His practise includes music, recording, curation and community arts, and his work is influenced by themes such as imagination, landscape, depth psychology and esoterica.
* Joanne Ryan is an award-winning Limerick-based theatre artist, playwright and performer. She is currently an Artist-in-Residence in Ormston House. She was Theatre Artist in Residence in Lime Tree Theatre | Belltable in 2022/23, Limerick’s PLATFORM 31 artist in 2022 and was a Six-in-the-Attic artist at Irish Theatre Institute in 2021.
* Gillian Kenny Shinnors is a visual artist based in Limerick, with a socially engaged practice. She has twenty years’ experience of facilitating workshops in a wide variety of settings such as the Artist in Prison Scheme, Ballymun Regeneration Programme, Youth and Community settings and in Museum outreach programmes, she has also worked extensively in formal education settings.
*Michael Fortune is many things to many people. Some people know him as an artist and filmmaker, more as an educator, more as a collector of folklore and more as a lover of traditional song. In 2016 he began using social media as a tool to share and research content and built up a huge following on his page folklore.ie where he shares content on a daily basis.
2022
TRANSITIONS 3 was held online on January 27th 2022 with speakers from the arts and the community arts sector:
* Artist, Lowri Evans talked about her work across the arts communities in Manchester and around the world.
* Director, Tony Fegan from Tallaght Community Arts talked about their ethos and current community projects.
* Ann Marie Shields, director at Minding Creative Minds talked about this really important service for creatives across the Irish arts sector.
The new programme of events and projects for The GAFF 2022 was launched as we worked with artist and rapper Wilzee on MVP and we agreed to grow our Tiny Little Histories project where artists and communities come together and capture a layer of oral history that too often disappears with the passing of generations.
Creative Communities Midwest (CCM) is a professionally-resourced, network led by The GAFF to connect arts organisations and community stakeholders. The aim of the network is to further embed community engagement and develop new ways for creative communities to network.
2021
TRANSITIONS 2 was a presentation on funding applications in the community arts sector.
CCM Project Manager Maeve McGrath joined Monica Spencer of The GAFF to go through the basic applications for community arts. The discussion covered how to register with The Arts Council of Ireland and other funding bodies, and the panellists encouraged connections between artists and communities.
The GAFF graciously acknowledges support from The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíonn and Limerick Arts Office in the delivery of its work.
