Recipients of Linenhall’s Arts for Young Audiences Residency revealed

THE Linenhall Arts Centre in Castlebar has announced that Cora Venus Lunny and Lisa Dowdall are the recipients of this year’s Arts for Young Audiences Residency.

The residency provides the artists with the opportunity to expand and develop their practice in a supportive environment and is one of a number of artists’ supports offered by the Linenhall.

During the residency, musicians Cora and Lisa plan to create and develop a space both online and in person where young people can explore, develop, share and collaborate with fellow young artists.

Residency activities will include an Artways Space Place located in the Linenhall Arts Centre where all young people are invited to take part in recording sound, spoken work or leaving a picture or story in the post box; a series of Tiny Concerts, each for an audience of one child; and two series of interactive workshops delivered both online and in-person.

The activities aim to encourage personal expression and facilitate the development and realisation of ideas, among those who participate.

Speaking about the residency, Cora and Lisa enthused: “The residency gives us the incredible support to share art and creativity with the spectacular young artists of Castlebar, whilst collaborating and learning through our process based work. We are loving the opportunities to realise our ideas and dreams, which come directly from our conversations on how to facilitate young artists in finding their own voice through creativity.

“We are so fortunate to be able to share and deliver these ideas and projects for the young audiences of Mayo with the huge support given to us by the Linenhall Arts Centre.”

Orla Henihan, arts access officer at the Linenhall Arts Centre, commented: “Children are a core element of the community we serve here at the Linenhall, and we hugely value their involvement and input in what we do. We’re thrilled to have two top notch musicians at the centre of this year’s residency and we’re excited to witness their creative dialogue with children from our locality.”

Cora Venus Lunny is a freelance improvising musician and composer with a strong classical background and extensive experience in contemporary classical, improvised, recorded and folk-music. A violinist since early childhood and a violist since their teens, Cora performed around the world as a soloist and chamber musician before specialising in contemporary music and has been exploring improvisation and composition for many years.

As a freelancer, Cora is found playing with Crash Ensemble, as well as on film scores and soundtracks, recently appearing as part of the musical cast in the Abbey Theatre’s production of The Great Hunger.

Lisa Dowdall is one of Ireland’s leading viola players. Having studied in the UK, Holland, Limerick and Switzerland, she returned to Ireland and currently plays in numerous chamber ensembles.

With Crash Ensemble, she has collaborated with artists such as Dawn Upshaw, Iarla O’Lionard, Sam Amidon and Gavin Friday, and has premiered works written for the Crash Ensemble by Terry Riley, David Lang, Michael Gordon, Nico Muhly and Donnacha Dennehy. An avid educator, Lisa teaches at The Royal Irish Academy of Music, Irish Youth Baroque Orchestra and has worked with The Ark, and the National Concert Hall Primary Ensembles Project.

The Arts for Young Audiences Residency at the Linenhall Arts Centre runs from mid-September to the end of October.