Arts Council of Northern Ireland commissions six new works by Derry-Londonderry arts organisations,

The funding is part of the Arts Council’s National Lottery Commissioning Programme,a scheme which aims to offer arts organisations, across all artforms, the opportunity to create new works of high artistic quality by providing vital funding from The National Lottery.

These new works will either be presented, exhibited, performed, broadcast, recorded and /or disseminated to audiences in Northern Ireland and internationally (where applicable), either live or online.

Noirin McKinney, Joint Director of Arts Development, Arts Council of Northern Ireland said, “This announcement is welcome news and I congratulate all the organisations set to benefit from this support.

"Thanks to The National Lottery players, this programme will support the creation of twenty-four exciting new works that otherwise may have been unattainable. The Arts Council’s Commissioning Programme reflects the Arts Council’s commitment to supporting our arts organisations in creating high-quality, innovative works and I look forward to experiencing these new projects as they develop.”

Among those offered National Lottery Commissioning Programme funding in the Derry area are:

Northern Lights Project

Funding amount offered: £5,000.

Project title: A commissioning programme for new electroacoustic music by four women composers.

Northern Lights Project, based in Derry, will commission four prominent composers to create a new work for Northern Lights Project’s electroacoustic ensemble, Electric Circus.

The completed works will be programmed in Northern Lights Project’s series of regular concerts in Derry and Belfast in late 2024-early 2025. #

The composers include Amble Skuse (Scotland), Ailís Ní Ríain (Ireland), Brona Martin (Ireland) and Linda O’Keefe (Ireland). All four composers are internationally renowned, and have a distinctive artist voice, with a range of interests including found sounds, music-installations, acoustic ecology, innovative uses of digital technology and the synthesis of voices.

In Your Space Circus

Funding amount offered:£6,750.

Project title: Children’s Theatre Christmas Show.

In Your Space Circus (IYSC), based in Derry, will commission actor and theatre maker, Michael Johnston and director, Andrew Stanford, to develop a new festive children’s circus theatre show, to be toured in 2024.

The finished piece will be an immersive show aimed at children and young people of varying ages and ability levels, with a positive mental wellbeing message embedded within the narrative. The new show will be developed in close collaboration with IYSC’s creative director and local actors.

Abridged

Funding amount offered: £4,000.

Project title:The Tower, The Moon, The Gun.

The 'The Tower, The Moon, The Gun' will be an online project featuring poets Annemarie Ní Churreáin, Kathleen McCracken, Simon Costello and Fran Lock plus artists David Copeland, Conor McFeely, Fiona Ni Mhalior, Zoe Murdoch.

The artists will reflect on issues of control, the need to predict the future and belief in myths and conspiracies. The artists will then each create a series of ten Abridged 'Tarot' cards that reflect the present rather than predict the future.

An Gaelaras

Funding amount offered: £6,000.

Project title: Open call for an Irish language writer in the Ulster dialect to produce a new piece of work.

An Gaelaras will put out a call for a writer in the Ulster dialect of Irish to produce a new piece of work. The intention is that the writer will already have a track record, with several publications to their name but may not necessarily have published a major piece of work or a collection. The aim of the commission is to support the development of the skills of one writer who is writing in Ulster Irish and to increase the visibility of Irish language writing in Derry and across Northern Ireland more broadly.

North West Play Resource Centre (The Playhouse)

Funding amount offered: £9,176.

Project title: "Dangerous Play"

Dangerous Play explores the lives of four women footballers, from different eras, different backgrounds and different countries and the social change they inspire. The musical play will uncover the struggles and triumphs of Northern Ireland's Molly Seaton, England’s Lily Parr, Denmark’s Suzanne Augustesen and Spain’s Jenni Hermosos from the First World War right through to that night in 2023 when, on the global stage, a newly crowned women’s world champion was kissed against her will by the president of Spanish football, Luis Rubiales.

Verbal Arts Centre

Funding amount offered: £8,000.

Project title:D.R.A.W. (Draw, Read Aloud, and Wellbeing for Neurodiverse Children)

Using a co-design & co-production model Verbal Arts Centre will commission two writer-illustrators to work with their inhouse psychologists to develop two illustrated story-based resources for Neurodiverse children on the autism spectrum aged 4 – 11 years to support their mental & emotional wellbeing. The artists will collaborate with children and their families in the creation of stories based on themes of building resilience, managing emotions and healthy relationships. These stories will be piloted in eight schools and then rolled out across the entire primary school network to be read in class on a regular basis as well as on a one-to one basis.

To view a list of all those offered funding under the Commissioning Programme visit https://artscouncil-ni.s3-assets.com/ACNI-23-24-Commissioning-Awards.pdf