WOMEN in the creative arts will lead LIT’s International Women’s Day discussion on resilience, support, building confidence and ensuring parity of pay and recognition for female creatives this Monday, March 8, 2021.
The lunchtime webinar ‘Conversations on Creativity during Covid’ will also look at how female creatives, from some of the industries most severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, worked and supported each other through a year of challenges and limitations.
The free, public event, will include an opening address from the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin; a panel discussion involving established artists, designers, musicians and authors; live music; short videos of emerging female artists who were involved in Creative Europe Wom@rt’s project led by Limerick School of Art & Design, LIT and an exhibition of their work.
The Wom@rt’s innovative pilot training programme, which ran from September to November 2020, has supported emerging female creatives by equipping them with an invaluable range of skills and competencies in areas such as financial management, professional writing, pitching and presentations, branding and marketing. The training programme also cultivated a peer network among the diverse group of training participants.
Jess Tobin, Training Programme Coordinator said, “The Wom@rt programme introduced the participants to an extensive group of experts allowing them to develop skills and expertise they might not otherwise have access to. ‘Conversations on Creativity during Covid’ has evolved from the success of this programme, allowing these artists to share their experiences and works, as well as learn from the experiences of some of Ireland and Europe’s more established female creatives.”
LIT Programme Leader Print Contemporary Practice and Wom@rt Artistic Director, Fiona Quill explained that when the European Wom@rt pilot programme was developed at LSAD, the facilitators were determined to support the professional practice of young artists and widen their access to art networks across Europe, build confidence and support them
“The Wom@rt programme went far beyond what we had originally hoped however, as it also cultivated a peer network among the diverse group of training participants, organically addressing the key need of stronger professional connections, identified by the female creatives in advance of the programme,” she said.
These participants’ views will feature during the panel discussion chaired by Dr Carol Wrenn, Equality Diversity and Inclusion Manager, LIT and including a host of established female creatives.
The panel will include insights from Dr Tracy Fahey, writer and academic; visual artist and Wom@rts Ambassador Aideen Barry; socially engaged artist & founder of the Polish Arts Festival Justyna Cwojdzińska; and Ann Blake, actor and playwright. Award winning singer-songwriter Emma Langford will also perform during the lunchtime event, with a virtual exhibition of some of the work by Wom@rt participants on view at the end.
