The University of Galway’s UrbanLab is inviting creative people and groups in Galway city and Gort to take part in a survey that connects art, culture, and place. The survey, which is open to artists and organisations, will see €5,000 in funding awarded to two projects that best address local issues.
The survey is part of the Horizon Europe-funded InSitu project that explores the role of the creative and cultural industries in rural areas of Europe.
The survey and offer of €5,000 follow recent ‘speak out’ events hosted by UrbanLab in Galway and Gort. At these events, which were held in March, people presented and discussed local development issues, in response to the questions ‘how can we make Galway city and Gort better places?’.
Topics raised during these events ranged from improving transport and accommodation to encouraging more democratic participation in local development. UrbanLab Galway is now inviting artists and creative groups to respond to these issues via the survey.
“Art and culture are integral to creating a shared sense of place,” said Dr Mark Rainey, a member of UrbanLab Galway and researcher on the InSitu project. “They have a powerful role to play in the positive transformation of our local areas. We are inviting artists and creatives to take part in this process through the survey.”
The survey aims to build a picture of community-engaged art in the region, while also offering support of €5,000 to two community-engaged projects, one in Galway and one in Gort.
UrbanLab Galway is working with partners across Europe as part of the InSitu project and similar surveys will be taking place in the Azores, Iceland, Finland, Latvia, and Croatia. The organisers hope the survey will encourage artists and creatives to engage with local issues. “We do culture and creativity really well in this part of the world, place planning, less so,” said Dr Patrick Collins from UrbanLab Galway. “We are looking at closing the gap and encouraging creative responses to key issues we all know about.”
The survey is available in both Irish and English and will be open until June 2. The Irish version is available at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Z9ZT26W, while the English version is at https://s.chkmkt.com/?e=304104&h=B85D75A518E255F&l=en.
For more information about the survey contact [email protected].
