An Táin Arts Centre have opened a second space in Dundalk

An Táin Arts Centre said it is thrilled to announce the opening of their second space, An Táin Arts Centre Jocelyn Street.

2023 is turning out to be a very exciting year at An Táin Arts Centre as they continue to support local artists and creatives in the professional development of their careers.

As part of this the expansion will also see artist studios Bó Studios expand to house eight practicing professional artists.

Bó Studios is currently made up of ceramicists Etaoin O’ Reilly and Olivia Hill, textile and print artist Bláthnaid McClean and mixed media artist David Callan.

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They will be joined by mixed media artists, John Connolly, Stephen Hurley, artist, printmaker and illustrator Linda McConville and video artist and musician James Mackin.

An Tain Art Centre’s Director Paul Hayes said: “Each member will be provided with subsidized studio space until the end of the year and they will be afforded the opportunity to join a collective of multi-disciplinary artists making exciting new work and the chance to collaborate, support and exchange skills.

“We are very grateful for the support of our funders The Arts Council of Ireland and Create Louth.”

In addition to this An Táin Arts Centre is delighted to be able to support three local artists who have been awarded financial support from the Arts Council of Ireland for 2023.

Dara McCluskey, An Táin Arts Centre’s Writer in Residence 2021, has been awarded the Theatre Project Grant from The Arts Council of Ireland and will be working with An Táin Arts Centre for 12 weeks, with dramaturgical support from Director, Paul Hayes, ending with a rehearsed reading by four professional actors.

Dara McCluskey is an award-winning filmmaker based in Cooley.

Dara has worked extensively with school and community groups and in many experimental forms involving visual artists, musicians, dancers, disabled and marginalised groups.

His work has been exhibited in international festivals in Dublin, Cork, Cardiff, Monte Carlo, Milan and New York.

An Táin Arts Centre will also support ELS + DECLAN.

Els Borghart and Declan Kelly work as an independent artistic and curatorial duo since 2009 in a local, national and international context while based in Drogheda.

They recently were commissioned as part of An Táin Arts Centre’s Louth Culture Quest and have just received an Arts Council bursary award to develop their practice as theatre artists.

ELS + DECLAN will have dedicated time and space in An Táin Arts Centre to experiment with the projection end of set design and liaise with visiting mentors.

They have been involved in set design for several An Táin Arts Centre productions to date, including Ig & The Imaginaries, and two of the three The Remembrance Trilogy plays, Women of Independence and Legacies: Stories from the Civil War.

“There are no words for how incredibly thrilled we are to be recipients of The Arts Council of Ireland's Bursary Award for Theatre”, they said.

“This award will allow us to spend dedicated time on intensive research and development in set design theory and technology to advance the quality and scope of future productions.

“We are so incredibly grateful to be given support by the Arts Council of Ireland and to An Táin Arts Centre for partnering with us on this year-long development programme.”