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(1) Match Your Funding Idea Will your FRC receive any foundation funding before the end of 2013 for your community arts work? If so, please get in touch with Blue Drum because we wish to put together an application to a Department of Arts scheme to add €1 to each €1 euro given by foundations or private funding. Contact Gillian 01-8111446. (2) Happy Parent (HP) Eleanor Phillips reports about the roll out of the Happy Parent Initiative. We continue with the review work with Barry Cullen. Twenty-two FRCs expressed an interest and workshops are taking place around the country. Read Interesting for you? Contact Gillian 01-8111446.

Sneem FRC, Kerry

(3) Meetings / Seminars

(i) Ministers Fitzgerald and Deenihan At our first meeting we had very positive enthusiasm from both Ministers to an idea for a Community Culture Strategy to ‘show off’ community arts work with children and families. Niall Crowley is supporting us to develop the Strategy. More to come!

(ii) Staff / Board Away Days We are currently exploring pathways beyond austerity and had a weekend review between board and staff. Barry Cullen facilitated the session and is currently drafting a response report to his overall organisation review process. (iii) Family Support Agency We had an animated and positive response from the FSA (Bill O’Dea, Olive Shanley and Deirdre Fradl) when we updated about the work in progress during the review meeting. All FRCs will receive our summer update soon! (iv) CREATE Initiatives In May we connected to the artist-led work of CREATE. Eleanor and Ed went to an evening of exchange and conversation as part of Jesse Jones The Prosperity Project. Eleanor also attended its coproduction for the European Learning Network too and we will invite CREATE to explore connections in 2014. (v) AOLAAO Network Meeting ON April 27/28 Eleanor and Ed took part in the networking and exchanges of the Local Authority Arts Officers with their counterparts from England. We want to develop a shared project with the Network in 2014. (vi) Galway and Cork Ed met up with heath board funded project in Cork (Ballyphehane). He also met with artists involved in Gallery 126, a space in Galway City. Get in touch if you have plans to do creative things with family projects in Cork City or with an arts organisation in Galway. Ideas? Email blue.drum@yahoo.com

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City Researches Pop-up

(4) EU Presidency 2013 Project Ireland has a large Lithuanian population so it seems timely for a trip to Kaunas to mark Ireland’s EU Presidency. Supported by Culture Ireland the project will engage with ‘small’ culture beyond the institutions. The project is located with a community in Šančiai, Kaunas. Read (5) Northsiders Museum

The first night of the Northsiders Museum Citizens' Exhibition took place. It collected images from people that represented ‘The Northside’. The celebrations went on for hours and included dancing to good old fashioned vinyl and drawing on the wall! Coordinated by Eleanor Phillips, the night also included a video interpretation of arts works by resident artist Lisa Crowne from A4 Sounds.

(6) Artizen School 2013

We are optimistic that the fourth

edition of Artizen will take place in the

autumn. The theme will be Community

Culture and includes:

Pedagogy of Community and Cultural

Rights is a five-day programme that will

explore cooperative approach among

organisations. It is led by Artway of

Thinking, a Venetian artists collective.

Untapped Capital, an exchange

workshop and seminar where we want

to kick-start a conversation community

arts enterprise.

Drop us a line if you are interested!

Northsiders Museum

(6) Communications

We gave advice and support to c.30 groups and sent out 2 editions of e-Notes to a data base of c. 600. We are also refreshing our website. Recent publications include:

Audited Accounts 2012

Pamphlet on Cultural Agency

Issue 2 / June 2013