Philip and Alannah chosen for new Local Authority initiative

Musician Philip Fogarty and artist Alannah Robins have been announced as the two Galway recipients of the inaugural Platform 31 bursary. This is a nationwide artist development scheme initiated by Ireland’s 31 Local Authority Arts Offices, which is being run in collaboration with the Arts Council

Developed during last year’s Covid-19 lockdown, this scheme allows artists to develop their practice and test new ideas of collaboration, research, audience development, place-based arts and sharing their work.

It’s for artists in mid-career, and those selected in each Local Authority area will receive an €8,000 bursary to invest in themselves and their practice. They will also be able to take part in programmes where they will receive advice on career development, as well as engaging with a network of peers.

Artists chosen across the 31 areas include people working in visual arts, theatre, dance, music, circus/street art, literature and film.

Philip Fogarty was chosen as the Galway City artist while Alannah Robins was selected from the county.

Galway City Arts Officer James Harrold described Philip Fogarty as “an extraordinary musical talent who has been working over many years in Galway City, on projects that recruit science, original composition, soundscapes, visuals and performance into a sequence of brilliant enquiries into the nature of humanity in the age of technology”.

Praising Alannah Robins as a “very talented artist”, Galway County Arts Officer Sharon O’Grady also referred to the residential arts space that Alannah runs in the Lough Inagh Valley.  She described the artist as “a tremendous asset to the county in terms of her ability to support and collaborate with artists at home and across the globe through her artspace, Interface Inagh”.

It’s envisaged that all the artists from the various Local Authority areas will share their Platform 31 learnings locally and nationally as a legacy of the project.