Cultural Connectedness Exchange Network

The Cultural Connectedness Exchange Network (#CCEN) is an unincorporated association of Irish and Northern Irish artists and creatives, cultural providers and commissioners, collaborating for better representation. It currently has roughly 40 members, ranging from cultural organisations, individual artists and Embassy representatives.
Meetings have featured presentations from
  • Davide Terlingo, Head of International Arts at Arts Council Ireland, and
  • Ciaran Walsh, an Arts Director of Culture Ireland.
On the basis that very little was discussed about individual member strategy, etc., the recording of that session is being made available, here.
To receive information on future meetings, sign up as a member (free), below.

Background

As part of the 2020 Liverpool Irish Festival, a Cultural Connectedness Exchange (#CCEN) was held to introduce Irish and Northern Irish artists to Irish and Northern Irish cultural commissioners and providers (mainly in England), to determine

  • the needs of Irish and Northern Irish artists (particularly those working in England or with England-based organisations)
  • barriers they were facing post-Brexit and during Covid-19
  • how cultural providers/commissioners could provide value/service in relation to Covid-19/Brexit.

Our initial meeting has progressed to six-weekly network meetings. We developed this paper (LINK) to start identifying needs and issues facing Irish and northern Irish creatives in Britain and to pose questions we want to take up with change makers. The aim now is to meet and work together to create a positive, representational network that supports and promotes Irish and Northern Irish arts and culture in England (and Britain more widely) across the membership. The Network will also develop information toolkits to help people access information and funding, which will be linked to below.

We intend for this to become a valuable network to any Irish or Northern Irish artist wanting to work in public art delivery as well as to cultural providers and commissioners who focus -or could focus- on Irish and Northern Irish work.

#CCEN is still young and welcomes new additions. To join, see below.

Future meetings

Meetings happen on Zoom, on a 6-weekly rotation, with a longer gap over the Christmas period.

Future meeting dates planned:

  • Tue 18 Apr 2023 (moved from being an in-person, London Irish Centre to a Zoom based meeting)
  • Tue 30 May 2023
  • Tue 11 Jul 2023
  • Tue 5 Sept 2023
  • Thurs 19 Oct 2023 (in-person, Liverpool Irish Festival)
  • Tue 5 Dec 2023.

For the in-person days, members are invited to pitch for a slot to showcase their work. They are, effectively, ‘self-promotion days’, where members can show peers aspects of their work; share programming ideas; talk about venues they manage or how they’re looking for collaborators. This means there are no ‘performance fees’ on offer; but there is a live opportunity to speak with peers and share what you do with the network. Members are encouraged to bring literature and contact cards (or QR scannable contact details) to share with those present. To present at the showcase, members should send Liverpool Irish Festival no-more-than-500-words on what you would do with 20-30mins, bearing in mind a) it should be low-fi; b) quick to turnaround in the space; and c) not incur costs. We will build a programme from the submissions made. The plan behind the day is to allow members to

  • showcase their talent to other creatives
  • make calls for collaboration or contributions (individuals or organisations)
  • build tours, if this is aimed for
  • link to like-minded creatives in specific forms
  • showcase venues, organisations and work, showing what is on offer for creatives to pitch in to.

How to join

To ensure you receive meeting invites (inlcuding Zoom links for meetings) and updates about the network, it is important to sign up. We ask all members to confirm that they

  • a) are happy to join (this means committing to regularly attending bi-monthly meetings and taking on actions that help drive the network on)
  • b) will share their email address with other signed-up members, so the network can communicate with itself; and
  • c) understand they can leave the group, but what has already been transmitted between members cannot be revoked.

If you agree to these principles, please use this link to sign up.

Toolkits

These lists are not exhaustive and will grow as the network develops and more time can be invested. They are quick starter to finding information on funding for and commissioners of Irish and Northern Irish work (primarily in England or (all) Ireland).

Quick links to arts funding in England

  • Arts Council England project grant funding (remember – to access Arts Council England funding you must use their portal, known as Grantium. You have to register for this and approval of your registration can take 10 days.) Link.
  • Arts Council Ireland – Link.
  • Arts Council Northern Ireland – Organisations and individuals links.
  • British Council – this link is for visual arts funding, but there are others. Mine the site for more!
  • Culture Ireland – funds travel, accommodation and per diems, but not artist fees – link. The aim is to promote the presentation of Irish arts internationally.
  • Government of Ireland – multiple funds generated from the Emigrant Support Programme.
  • National Lottery Reaching Communities – regional funding and multiple levels – link. Check your eligibility first, using their online checker.
  • National Lottery Heritage Funding – Link.

England’s leading Irish and Northern Irish arts and culture member organisations

Cultural Connectedness Exchange Network member representation

Our membership represents organisations including

Danny ?, Conradh Na Gaeilge Learpholl
Jennifer Bennett, Birmingham Irish Association
Christopher Birks, Strange Fish Theatre Company
Madeleine Casey, Irish Film Festival London
John Chandler, Liverpool Irish Festival
Terry Clarke-Coyne, Freelance/independent musician
Ruairí Cullen, Irish In Britain
Carmen Cullen, Freelance writer, poet and biographer
Anne Curtis, Green Curtain Theatre
Doug Devaney, The Plastic Podcasts
Gary Dunne, London Irish Centre
Clodagh Dunne, Liverpool Irish Centre
Mick Hannigan, IndieCork Film Festival & Green Ray Film Agency
Des Hurley, Irish Arts Foundation (Leeds)
Rachel Ingersoll, Government of Ireland, Emigrant Support Programme
Moira Kenny, The Sound Agents
Siubhán Macauley, Liverpool Irish Festival and Learpholl Conradh Na Gaeilge
Gerry Maguire, Irish Film Festival London
Lorraine Maher, #IAmIrish
Fiona Martin, Luton Irish Forum
Fiona Martin, Luton Irish Forum
Jean Maskell, Maskell Media
Paula McCloskey, Independent artist / researcher (contemporary art / artistic research) Researcher, Derby University
Paula McFetridge, Kabosh Theatre
Adam McGuigan, Wake The Beast
Patrick McGuinness, Manchester Irish Language Group
Ruth McHugh, Freelance/independent visual artist
Julie McNamara, Vital Xposure
JulieMc McNamara, Disability Arts Consultant & Theatre Maker
Gerry Molumby, Irish organisations in Nottingham and The Irish Post
Patrick Morrison, Comhaltas
Siobhan Noble, Liverpool Irish Festival and freelance theatre practice
Micheál Ó Duibh, Éirephort
Kelly O’Connor, Government of Ireland and Culture Ireland
Connor Richmond, Filmmaker, Producer, Script Edititor.

This is a growing list of collaborators, positive advocates of Irish and Northern Irish creative production and producers.

Why can Irishness be othering and how did it lead us to the #CCEN?

Let’s be clear – it shouldn’t be. Violence towards, isolation of and bullying happens against Irish people, to subjugate and make them ‘other’. We will not tolerate this.

For the Irish in Britain, specifically England, people may be isolated for many reasons. Over centuries, individuals and groups have left the island of Ireland with motives ranging from safety to free economics. Famine, political hardship, lack of acceptance for faith, sexuality, actions against God/society, abuse and combinations of the above mean it is often vulnerable people who travel. Host cities and those therein can view economic migrancy as threatening, leading to insolation and difficulty. Arriving in large groups has meant Irish migrants have become the ‘whipping population’ for other (previously) vulnerable groups who pass on the position of the bullied to the bullies as a way of ending their own isolation (‘No blacks, no dogs, no Irish’). Common issues Irish people can -and do- face, include common tropes/assumptions that they are

  • poor and hungry (famine; unable to earn at home; determined to have a working class/rural accent by those who know no better)
  • uneducated, illiterate and slow minded and/or ‘great craic’; alcoholics and drug users (‘Paddy and Mick go into a bar…’)
  • white
  • Catholic/Protestant/Christian
  • terrorists (IRA or other)
  • criminals (transportation)
  • violent
  • abusers or abused.

White-on-white racism (not that all Irish people are white) often goes unchecked and so English-on-Irish (or Irish-on-English though rarely ‘British-on-Irish’) has continued hiding in plain sight. This kind of nationalism has not received the rejection and review that other ‘white racism’ has rightly received, such as that of white-on-Black or white-on-Asian racism, returning us the to ‘No blacks, no dogs, no Irish’ example.

Why do these things matter? Because prejudgement is not self-determined. It limits everyone’s choices and long-term access, predetermining success or ability despite best efforts, being neither merit nor potential based. It considers nothing of a person’s lived-experience, skills, tolerances or attributes.

Where must we consider The Creative Case? The Creative Case factors in all we do; contracting, Board member make-up, artists and audiences. As a minimum, it must track national averages and reflect our links with Ireland and Britain. We have more about our approach in our Artistic Policy, too.

The above is not an exhaustive article on why Irishness can be othering, but a summation of the experiences we came to understand. This has led us to develop a more representational voice in recent years, as well as standby other oppressed peoples, shoulder-to-shoulder by way of alliance.