Allianz Business to Arts Awards 2016, Judging Panel Picture by Shane O’Neill Photography.

We are very excited to announce this years Jury Panel for the Allianz Business to Arts Awards 2016. The Jury Panel includes:

Mark Deering, Director of Corporate Affairs, Sky Ireland

Dr. Niamh Nic Ghabhann, Course Director, MA, Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, UL

Paul O’Kane, Chief Communications Officer, daa

Gerard McNaughton, Retail Director, TileStyle

Ursula Murphy, Director of Human Resources, Allianz Ireland

Bevin Cody, Corporate Reputation Manager, ESB

Gavin McLoughlin, Business Jounalist, Independent News & Media

*Also pictured, Andrew Hetherington, Chief Executive, Business to Arts

The shortlist for the 2016 Allianz Business to Arts Awards will be announced mid-July with winners being announced at the 25th annual Allianz Business to Arts Awards in the Bord Gáis Theatre on Monday 19 September 2016.

Pictured at the announcement were Andrew Hetherington, Chief Executive of Business to Arts and Julian Yarr, Managing Partner at A&L Goodbody with pupils from St. Joseph’s Co Ed Primary School, Dublin 3 Cerys Duff (age 7), Heather McNeary (age 9) and Ruby Lawless (age 10).

Business to Arts and leading corporate law firm, A&L Goodbody have launched a unique, new Writer in Residence programme under the Docklands Arts Fund which will see a writer work with children at St. Joseph’s Co-Ed Primary School in East Wall to develop their creativity and literacy skills.

The Writer in Residence role will include working with pupils at St. Joseph’s, participating in literacy workshops with the children and supporting Business to Arts’ wider civic programme of promoting the Arts collaboratively through businesses and communities. The exciting venture marks the first time that a business in Ireland has engaged a Writer in Residence programme with Business to Arts and Dublin City Council. As part of the partnership, A&L Goodbody will also provide funding for the programme worth €30,000.

Commenting on the announcement Andrew Hetherington, Chief Executive of Business to Arts said “We are thrilled to partner with A&L Goodbody on this important and exciting community project as part of the Docklands Arts Fund. Promoting literacy and interaction between writers and the youth of today allows children to bear witness to what can be achieved creatively. It also gives them the opportunity to explore the magical world of literature through day to day encounters with a writer in residence. This is the type of project we envisage has the potential to grow as there are many schools who could reap the benefits from an artist in residence programme.”

A&L Goodbody is committed to raising literacy levels among children in the Docklands area of Dublin. Over the last four years they have been working with education charity Suas in a programme that includes A&L Goodbody people volunteering for a paired reading literacy support programme with 8-14 year olds. 180 of A&L Goodbody’s employees have so far taken part in this programme.

Julian Yarr, Managing Partner at A&L Goodbody said “A&L Goodbody is delighted to be supporting this innovative new initiative. This partnership builds and complements our ongoing work with delivering similar projects such as Suas to boost literacy levels in our area. We look forward to continuing to support this important work over the next three years through the Writer in Residence programme which creates an exciting new dimension in our work to engage and inspire children in our local community through literacy.”

Ellie Kennedy, Principal of St Joseph’s Co-ed Primary School said that “By having a Writer in Residence for our school, we hope that it can provide fantastic opportunities for children to develop a love for writing as well as promoting their creativity and ability to think outside the box. Pupils and staff in our school love working with different people which enhances team work and quality learning in today’s all inclusive classroom.”

Call for experienced writers

The first stage of this partnership is to seek and appoint the Writer in Residence. The successful candidate will have a passion for education, enjoy working with children and be able to demonstrate literary flair. Talented professional writers can find more information here.

The selected Writer in Residence will be announced in August 2016.

Sky Academy announced the recipients of their 2016 Sky Academy Arts Scholarships, including Gearoid O’Dea a visual artist from Dublin and four emerging artists from the UK who have been selected from over 1,100 applicants. The Irish winner was chosen by a judging panel including Mary McCarthy, Director of The National Sculpture Factory and Chair of Culture Ireland’s Expert Advisory Committee; Kris Nelson, Director of Tiger Dublin Fringe, Phil Edgar-Jones, Director of Sky Arts and Andrew Hetherington, CEO of Business to Arts.

Sky Academy Arts Scholarship will fund Gearoid’s first solo exhibition ‘The Had, The Have and the Should’. The exhibition will comprise of eight large scale pieces is supplemented with a central sculpture in a street installation, inspired by Gearoid’s personal experiences with mental health.

This year’s winners represent a broad range of skills and industries including visual art, music and theatre. Each winner will receive €40k/£30k funding, in addition to high level mentoring from Sky and the arts industry to ensure they’re equipped with the skills to deliver their creative projects and unlock their potential.

Sky Ireland’s Director of Corporate Affairs, Mark Deering commented: ‘Sky Ireland welcomes the opportunity to support young Irish artistic talent through the scholarship programme and we hope that Gearoid’s career will go from strength to strength’.

Andrew Hetherington, Business to Arts, Joe McCann, Bath Avenue Community Gardner, Angus Potterton, Managing Director Ireland, Savills, Andrew Christopher Dunne, Garden Designer Iain White/Fennell Photography Fennell Photography 2016

We are delighted to announce our latest Docklands Arts Fund Champion and new member – Savills.  Savills has teamed-up with renowned Irish gardener, Andrew Christopher Dunne to the create award-winning ‘The Savills Garden – Face to Face’ at Bloom this June.

Following the event, Savills will partner with the Docklands Arts Fund founded by Business to Arts – to donate plants from The Savills Garden to the 4th Port Ringsend Sea Scouts Community Garden and the East Wall Mens’ Sheds Community Garden in Dublin’s Docklands. Andrew Christopher Dunne and his team will advise on how to cultivate and maintain the wide variety of plant species that will be donated to the community gardens.

The garden is designed to highlight the importance of connecting and communicating ‘face to face’ within the confines and comfort of our own homes – a concept that is lost on many in the age of the smartphone.

Andrew Christopher Dunne, designer of The Savills Garden commented:
“With the ever changing landscape of the social media age, interactions between people and our environment has all too often become a series of text and images which we like, share, post and retweet. Where we believe we are more connected than ever, in reality, the opposite is true. In place of real interactions and engagements on a human level, we have succumbed to the ease of virtual connections and interactions which are often just a shadow of the real thing. Our garden has been designed to both highlight the problem and offer a solution to this disconnect and redress the balance in all our lives.”

Speaking about the partnership, Angus Potterton, Managing Director of Savills Ireland commented:
“Savills is committed to enriching the communities in which it operates. As part of our commitment to arts and the community, we have recently become a corporate champion for the Docklands Arts Fund, which seeks to enrich the Docklands area through artistic means. We are delighted that some of the plants from our award winning Bloom garden will be donated to two community gardens in recognition of our commitment to playing our part in the rejuvenation of our city.”

Andrew Hetherington, Chief Executive of Business to Arts said:
“Business to Arts are delighted to work with Savills and Garden Designer Andrew Christopher Dunne, incorporating the design of the ‘The Savills Garden – Face to Face’ in two terrific community gardens, in tandem with Savills commitment to the Docklands Arts Fund. Recreating aspects of the design and facilitating the cultivation of the community gardens ensures the creative energy of the Savills garden lives on in the Docklands.”

Click here for more information on the Docklands Arts Fund.