Rough Magic Theatre Company awarded €230,000 by Sky Ireland as part of Sky Arts Ignition
Caption : At the announcement of the Sky Arts Ignition Partner were Lynne Parker, Rough Magic Theatre Company; Stuart McLaughlin, Business to Arts; James Hunt, Sky Arts; Mark Deering, Sky Ireland; Rosemary Collier, Opera Theatre Company; Pat Moylan, The Arts Council; Diego Fasciati, Rough Magic Theatre Company
Rough Magic Theatre Company has been announced as the next Sky Arts Ignition partner, as part of Sky Ireland’s commitment to the cultural sector. Sky Arts Ignition will provide €230,000 in funding to Rough Magic, enabling them to deliver a new and innovative production. In addition, Sky will offer further support through programming, as well as its strength in the digital space to help bring the production to a wider audience across Ireland and the UK.
Rough Magic, one of Ireland’s leading theatre companies, will join forces with Opera Theatre Company to create an extraordinary production of the political satire The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill. The production will run at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin from 12 – 22 June 2014.
The theatre company won the award against very strong applications from Ireland’s leading arts organisations. The Sky Arts Ignition application process was supported by Business to Arts, and made exclusively available to Irish arts organisations.
JD Buckley, Sky Ireland’s Managing Director said, “Sky Ireland is proud to support Ireland’s vibrant arts and cultural sector and we are confident that this will be a very fruitful partnership for all of us. This investment, as part of our broader contribution, highlights Sky’s commitment to Ireland, particularly at a time when arts organisations need support to produce creative, original and entertaining work. We would like to extend a special thanks to the many arts organisations throughout Ireland who have supported this initiative to date and offer a warm welcome to Rough Magic and Opera Theatre Company.”
Lynne Parker, Artistic Director of Rough Magic and directing the production, said: “The Sky Arts Ignition award enables us to bring an electrifying work of art to one of the city’s most beautiful and atmospheric theatres, creating a new relationship between the audience, Brecht’s epic satire and Kurt Weill’s groundbreaking score.”
James Hunt, Director of Sky Arts said: “It was a particularly competitive year for applications for Sky Arts Ignition across Ireland, and we’re delighted to be able to build on the successes of the past two years by partnering with Rough Magic and Opera Theatre Company on such a unique project. We look forward to bringing this extraordinary piece to viewers and visitors across Ireland and the UK. We’d like to thank Business to Arts for its support throughout the application process.”
The piece will be staged in one of Dublin’s great 19th century music halls, the Olympia Theatre, which will be re-imagined and transformed to create a totally immersive experience. The action will take place all around the space – in the boxes, parts of the dress circle, the parterre stalls, as well as the stage. The production will feature a 60-piece orchestra and a line-up of leading Irish singers and performers.
Sky Arts Ignition: The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny is just part of Sky’s growing commitment to Ireland, which includes its Sky Sports Living For Sport initiative that launched this year. Sky has operated in Ireland for over 20 years and over the past 12 months has created 850 jobs at its offices on Burlington Road in Dublin and announced a €1.25billion investment in Ireland over the next 5 years. Sky also supports young talent through Sky Academy Arts Scholarships, which support five young artists a year with a bursary of £30,000 each, enabling Sky to back the creation of their new creative work as well as offering mentoring to nurture emerging talent. Applications are open to artists in Ireland and the UK until 6th December at www.sky.com/academy