This week’s episode of Inside Culture was recorded at Cruinniú na Cásca which was a Creative Ireland initiative presented by RTÉ on Easter Monday.
An enormous array of concerts, talks and family events took place around Dublin – and, indeed, around places all over Ireland.
Tonight we bring you some of the people who gathered to discuss life in Ireland as an artist – what it means to be an artist in contemporary society, how you identify as Irish – if you do, how you earn a living and how being an artist at home compares to being one abroad.
Fionn Davenport was in George’s Hall in Dublin Castle and, before a live audience, he spoke to writer Nuala O’Connor, film maker Vivienne Dick and musician Mark Geary. They discuss how they found their various crafts, issues of funding and how many of the changes in society have affected the life of the artist – for good and for bad.
Sorcha Heron looks at the role art can play in the lives of people living in confinement.
Freedom is often synonymous with creative expression, but what if the very environment that limits you ultimately gives you the greatest source of inspiration? Sorcha speaks to two participants from a discussion Creativity in Confinement which was held in City Hall. Gary Cunningham is a musician and playwright and is also a former prisoner. Bernie Masterson is an artist and a teacher of visual art at Mountjoy Prison. They share their powerful experience of creating art in confinement within the Irish system.
Finally journalist and activist Úna Mulally, playwright and actress Deirdre Kinahan and historian Dr. Mary McAuliffe look at gender inequality and the arts. They took part in a discussion at Dublin Castle called Women in Irish Society – Speaking Up, Speaking Louder: Forgotten Women in the Arts. They spoke to Inside Culture about the exclusion of women as cultural figures across the board has for a long time been a systemic issue which movements such as Waking The Feminists have powerfully addressed.
Broadcast on Monday, 24th April 2017.
