Limerick artist Andrew Ó Murchú has been awarded a prestigious Next Generation award by the Arts Council, the government agency for funding and developing the arts. The award means Andrew, an architect, will receive €20,000, in effect to buy time to develop his practice. Andrew is just one of 23 artists from all over the country who has been selected for the award.
Artists will also take part in a collective week-long residential programme in The Tyrone Guthrie Centre at Annaghmakerrig, Co Monaghan, in early 2021. There, they will have the opportunity to engage with mentors and other supports to help shape their work into the future.
The Next Generation programme recognises and promotes a selection of artists from different disciplines, such as traditional arts, music, dance, film, theatre and literature.
Andrew Ó Murchú said “The Next Generation Artist Award provides a framework within which to broaden the scope of our work, to engage in a mentorship with an ecologist and to embed the logic of living systems into our design process. It will allow us to further develop a distinct research and spatial practice that would not otherwise be possible within the constraints of dead-line driven work.”
Arts Council Director Maureen Kennelly said the agency had received a large number of applications for the award this year, and that the standard had been particularly high.
“All of the artists have demonstrated an exceptional ambition and vision for their work, and the Arts Council is delighted to support them,” she said, adding, “I look forward to following them in their work over the coming years.”
Previous recipients of the Next Generation award have included Donegal poet Annemarie Ní Churreáin, Kerry musician and composer Alma Kelliher and traditional musician Liam Scanlon.
