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invited to be developed by international delegates. There isn’t always an immediate response, but this year we are happy to say we found they were immediately engaging.” The Dublin Theatre Festival also saw


delegates from all over the world – Europe, the US, Asia, but with that main focus on Britain – invited to experience


the


Building Towards Success


“Two principal architects in Grafton Architects – Shelley McNamara and Yvonne Farrell – have been selected to curate the Venice Biennale, the world platform for architecture globally, in 2018. This is a massive honour. In 40 years, this is the first time an Irish architect has been selected. They develop a theme for the Biennale and get to present the exhibition and select architects from all over the world who they feel will work within the theme and platform.


“Culture Ireland supports Ireland’s representation each year at the event. Grafton Architects were selected three years ago to do a project and we supported their travel and transport costs. Their ethos and style was already developing an international reputation, designing the UTEC university campus in Lima, Peru, and School of Economics in Milan among others. They have become a great success story.


“It’s great to see two women working in such a male-dominated profession doing so well, and I think it says a lot about Ireland that we have two women achieving such great success in an area of the arts such as architecture.”


again at the end of August in Edinburgh. Remarking that the woman must have been exhausted travelling back and forth between Ireland, Australia and then Scotland in such a short period of time, Christine got


the


reply: “Oh I stayed in Ireland until now. How could I leave?” The Dublin Fringe


Festival, which


finished in late September, saw more interest than ever before. “We had around 40 delegates,” says Christine, “and we also supported pitching initiatives where people developing shows get


to pitch to


international delegates who can come on as co-producers, so there is a double-edged benefit to that work. “A number of shows have already been


performances. Culture Ireland also enabled those delegates to see performances from last year, in case they missed them, and theatre companies to pitch those shows potential co-producers.


to more


a choreographer who used to run Fabulous Beast,


now Teac Damsa, has an


international reputation and is currently touring Swan Lake. Their work has toured the US, Europe, Australia and Hong Kong, with the last show touring for more than two years.” That recent mention by Taoiseach Leo


Varadkar of doubling our global footprint by 2025 will place a large emphasis on our promoting


and showcasing our culture


worldwide, which could mean interesting times ahead for Culture Ireland.


“Irish culture itself has an international recognition. We supported 450 projects in 60 countries in 2016.”


Irish artists at major cultural events in other countries around the


The organisation also continues to support world, from


international dance platform Tanzmesse in Dusseldorf to world music expo WOMEX in Katowice, to the Frankfurt and London Book Fairs and the Toronto International Film Festival. This support has led to some inspirational


success stories. “In terms of touring opportunities and full-time jobs, We Banjo 3 have been an outstanding success,” Christine says. “Also, Mike Keegan-Dolan,


“We feel this can be achieved through


organising and working with all of the Irish cultural centres worldwide – in New York, San Francisco, Paris, China, Russia – and getting them to work together as part of a network,” says Christine. “Harnessing this together would be something that we should try to do more of to increase our global reach.” Extending our global reach through such


an initiative will certainly bring the talent of Irish artists to the world stage. First stop: Britain. cultureireland.ie


The Artists’ Perspective Galway band We Banjo 3, on being championed by Culture Ireland.


“Culture Ireland financially supported our first American festival appearance in 2012,” Enda Scahill reveals. “We would have been unable to attend Milwaukee Irish Festival without the financial assistance toward travel they provided. Milwaukee Irish Festival is the largest Irish music festival in the world, and the runaway success that weekend proved life-changing for the band. In five years, we have ascended to the top headlining slot at all the major Irish festivals in the US, reaching Billboard #1 along the way with our 2016 album String Theory, and with continued Culture Ireland assistance, have begun making exciting inroads into the wildly burgeoning Americana and bluegrass markets in the US. Our success and the rise of We Banjo 3 in the US is squarely down to the support structures offered by Culture Ireland.”


55 ISSUE 13


Shelley McNamara and Yvonne Farrell of Grafton Architects with Paolo Baratta, President of La Biennale di Venezia. (Image Andrea Avezzu, courtesy of La Biennale di Venezia)


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