Cultural Connectedness Exchange Network

The Cultural Connectedness Exchange Network (#CCEN) is an unincorporated association of UK-Irish, Irish and Northern Irish artists and creatives, cultural providers and commissioners, collaborating for better representation. It currently has roughly 70 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
…and feature regular conversations about improving and increasing potential collaborations, alongside Irish representation in the UK’s arts and culture sector.
On the basis that very little was discussed about individual member strategy, etc., a recording of the ACI session is available, here. To receive information on future meetings, sign up as a member (free), below.
This page was last edited on 17 April 2024.


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.


Background

As part of the 2020 Liverpool Irish Festival, a Cultural Connectedness Exchange (#CCEN) was held to introduce UK-Irish, 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 roughly 9-10 online network meetings per year, including an in-person practice day in October. This ongoing commitment was kindly supported by the Irish Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs Emigrant Support Programme from 2023.

Initally, 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. We are still pursuing this work through Irish In Britain and some relevant all party parliamentary groups.

Our membership now meet on a six-weekly rotation, to 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 also develops information toolkits to help people access information and funding, which will be linked to below. Additiuonally, we maintain a shared resource area, in which we maintain a culture tracker of events and themes of work, through which members can exchange information and ideas.

We intend for this to become a valuable network to any UK-Irish, 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, growing its mission and welcoming new additions. To join, see below or click this link.


Future meetings

Meetings happen on Zoom, on a 6-weekly rotation, with a longer gap over the Christmas period. Meeting papers, including meeting links, are issued one-week in advance of the meeting dates, but are not shared publicly. Members agree to share their contact details with other network members, freely and with the expectation they can be contacted by their peers. Contact details are not shared publicly (e.g., here/on the internet outside member resource areas/sold to third parties).

Future meeting dates planned: Tuesdays at 2pm on

  • 23 Apr 2024
  • 3 Jun 2024
  • 16 Jul 2024
  • 27 Aug 2024
  • 17 Oct 2024 (in-person practice day as part of #LIF2024)
  • 3 Dec 2024.

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.

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 IrelandLink.
  • Arts Council Northern IrelandOrganisations 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 FundingLink.

Cultural Connectedness Exchange Network member representation

Our membership represents organisations including

Doug Devaney, The Plastic Podcasts
Paula McCloskey, Independent artist / researcher (contemporary art / artistic research) Researcher, Derby University
Mick Hannigan, IndieCork Film Festival and Green Ray Film Agency
Connor Richmond, Filmmaker, Producer, Script Editor
Adam McGuigan, Wake The Beast
Jean Maskell, Maskell Media
Julie McNamara, Vital Xposure
John Chandler, Liverpool Irish Festival
Micheál Ó Duibh, Éirephort
Siobhan Noble, Shakespeare Playhouse North and freelance theatre practice
Siubhán Macauley, Culturlánn
Policy Officer, Irish In Britain
Carmen Cullen, Freelance writer, poet and biographer
Ruth McHugh, Freelance/independent visual artist
Terry Clarke-Coyne, Freelance/independent musician
Paula McFetridge, Kabosh Theatre
Des Hurley, Irish Arts Foundation (Leeds)
Gerry Molumby, Irish organisations in Nottingham and The Irish Post
Anne Curtis, Green Curtain Theatre
Gerry Maguire, Irish Film Festival London
Patrick McGuinness, Manchester Irish Language Group
Danny ?, Conradh Na Gaeilge Learpholl
Kelly O’Connor, Government of Ireland and Culture Ireland
Moira Kenny, The Sound Agents
Gary Dunne, London Irish Centre
Jennifer Bennett, Birmingham Irish Association
Lorraine Maher, #IAmIrish
Christopher Birks, Strange Fish Theatre Company
Anglea Brady OBE PPRIBA FRIAI, Art, Architecture, Craft, TV, web: angelabradydesigns.com and 10handscrafts.com and bradymallalieu.com
Maria Malone, Myself / Movema
Dave (PhilipDavid) Ellwand, Freelance Producer ( Sound & traditional music, Broadcast, Events, Environment)
Louise Conaghan, I have a small street and children’s theatre company called Play Make-Believe
Emily O’Shea, Kindred Folk Dance Theatre
Jennifer Bennett, Birmingham Irish Association
Brian Brady, London Irish Centre
Dave Marks, Dave Marks (Freelance Individual) Musician / Video editor / Graphic Designer / Writer (copy and fiction)
Laura McCafferty, Centre for Contemporary Art Derry~Londonderry
Hannah Donelon, Hawkseed Theatre Ltd
Sarah Mangan, Consulate General of Ireland
Hannah Pender, London Irish Centre
Anthony Hanlon, Leeds Irish Health & Homes
Gemma Walker-Farren, Theatre Maker, Performer and one half of MakeyUppers
Mel Bradley, Independent Artist – Multimedia/Performance based
Suze De Lee, My independent practice
Hugh Sheehan, Birmingham Tradfest
Clare McGrath, Liverpool Irish Festival, professional actor, fledgling playwright
Kathi Leahy, Imagineer Productions – Associate Producer / Artistic Director (Free-Lance) & Message to Margaret Creatives (collective of artists / legal team / family of Margaret Keane) Coventry Irish Arts Network – Advisory Group (currently seeking funding to set up)
Marie Denham, Flight of Fancy Shadows -Shadow puppetry group and Irish UNIMA – The Irish Puppeteer’s network
Cait Finney, Irish Community Care Manchester
Theresa Gallagher, Comhaltas in Britain
Karen Ryan, Irish Music and Dance in London (IMDL)
Rosie Serdiville, Tyneside Irish Cultural Society
Patrick O’Connell, Triskellion Theatre
Asa Murphy Murphy, Asa Murphy Productions
David Gilna, David Gilna Productions
Vince Jordan, Comhaltas
Séamus MacCormaic, London Irish Centre
Kate O’Sullivan, Embassy of Ireland
Isobel Mahon, Embassy of Ireland, London
[email protected] Kenneally, Embassy of Ireland, London
Sinéad Gibbons, Irish Community Care Manchester
Rozanne McCoy, Writer of poetry and prose
Patricia Byrne, Sole Purpose Productions
Alexandra Johnson, Independent Writer – Part of the My Mother’s Voice Team
Lydia O’Hara, Independent multidisciplinary artist, filmmaker, musician, and art psychotherapist.

This is a growing list of collaborators, positive advocates of Irish and Northern Irish creative production and producers. Updated 24 Jan 2024.


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 isolation 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; are 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 (remembering that not 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 nation-on-nation struggle 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.


Givernment of Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs Emigrant Support Programme logo.