At this year’s judging day in The Merrion Hotel were: (from left) Gerard McNaughton, TileStyle; Donal O’Donovan, Independent News & Media; Antonia McTaggart, Facebook; Robert McEvoy, Allianz Ireland; Rachel Hussey, Arthur Cox; Andrew Hetherington, Business to Arts; Petal Pilley, Blue Teapot Theatre Company. Picture: Conor McCabe Photography

The standard of partnerships in the Allianz Business to Arts Awards is continually rising and judges this year were really taken with the quality of activity and thought that went into the shortlisted projects

“Fusing business and the arts facilitates artists and makes both businesses and arts organisations think differently. The Allianz Business to Arts Awards shortlist demonstrates this. There are so many worthwhile projects which have resulted in wonderful experiences and creations that give back to the community in fantastic ways.” – Rachel Hussey, head of business development and client relations at Arthur Cox.

“The teams on the shortlist have real interest in what they’re doing. Staff are invigorated by their involvement in the collaborative projects and the nourishing two-way exchanges are bringing about something more sustainable than was originally envisaged. The consideration of what a community needed or wanted was quite evident in a lot of partnerships. You could see that this was genuine from both the businesses and arts organisations.” – Petal Pilley, CEO and artistic director, Blue Teapot Theatre Company

For first-time judges Rachel Hussey, head of business development and client relations at Arthur Cox and Petal Pilley, CEO and artistic director of Blue Teapot Company, the judging process was an eye-opener in terms of the extent and diversity of business and arts collaboration going on around the country.

“It was a fantastic experience to see the amazing work that is happening. I was so impressed by how partnerships give back to the community, in both innovative and sustainable ways. Even the smallest of businesses can have a really big impact in their communities and can facilitate artists to access wider audiences,” says Hussey.

One of the things that struck Hussey was how imaginative both business and arts partners are in relation to the types of experiences and creations they come up with. “I really like Waterford Walls International Street Art Festival with Colourtrend, as this has made a real and lasting artistic impact on the local community,” she says.

“Children’s Books Ireland [CBI] has also done some really great work around encouraging children to read. A number of businesses have collaborated with CBI across various projects, including KPMG, Brown Bag Films and Coca-Cola.”

Always a big supporter of Irish visual art in particular, Arthur Cox worked closely with Business to Arts two years ago when it moved its headquarters to a new building on Earlsfort Terrace in Dublin. “We had amassed a lot of artworks over the years and the collection wasn’t being displayed in the best way possible. Business to Arts helped us to do that in our new premises,” explains Hussey.

Sustainability in supporting the arts is important to Arthur Cox and Hussey was impressed by the efforts of businesses in the shortlist in this regard. “There are some excellent commissioning practices in relation to working with artists to develop bespoke art for buildings. Businesses are taking part in initiatives seen by a huge variety of people which improve living and working environments in imaginative ways.”

Remarking on the breadth of projects, Pilley noticed a strong emphasis on addressing gender imbalance through art in the Allianz Business to Arts Awards shortlist. “There are more and more collaborative projects in the past few years which invest in the promotion of positive images of women and the advancement of women as emerging artists. In this year’s shortlist, the Female Conductors Programme and Women on Walls were particularly impressive to me.”

Blue Teapot is a relatively small theatre company, which has previously won a number of Allianz Business to Arts Awards. Pilley was the 2014 winner of the TileStyle Bursary for Artists. In this year’s shortlist, she observed that businesses and arts organisations have become much more considered about who they partner with and are putting a lot of effort into finding ‘the right fit’.

“There are some ingenious pairings between businesses and theatre companies which involve healthy risk taking. Businesses are taking a punt and backing innovative projects, such as Irish Rail’s support of ‘A Play for Ireland’ by Fishamble: The New Play Company and Dublin Port Company’s commissioning of Bitter Like a Lemon to produce ‘In our Veins’,” she notes.

This article features in the 2019 Allianz Business to Arts Awards Sunday Independent supplement published on Sept 8th 2019.

Launching the 2019 Allianz Business to Arts Awards, Sean McGrath, CEO, Allianz; Andrew Hetherington , Chief Executive, Business to Arts & Victoria Mc Cormack, Macnas at Dublin Castle. Picture Conor McCabe Photography.

Today, Business to Arts and Allianz launched the call for nominations for the 2019 Allianz Business to Arts Awards, which champions the unique opportunities that business engagement with the arts provides. At the awards launch, Business to Arts and Allianz encouraged businesses from across Ireland to explore and strengthen their relationships with the cultural community and create meaningful partnerships. Previous award winners include Accenture, Bord Gáis Energy, Dublin Port Company, ESB and Bank of Ireland.

This year marks the 28^th anniversary of the Allianz Business to Arts Awards and Allianz’s 19^th anniversary of involvement and sponsorship of the awards. Allianz is encouraging the business community to become involved again this year and to support and celebrate creative talent across Ireland. There are 11 categories in total focusing on sponsorship, commissioning, CSR initiatives and community engagement as well as mentoring, training and staff programs. The online entry form can be accessed through www.businesstoarts.ie/awards.

This year also sees the 12^th year of the €10,000 Jim McNaughton/TileStyle Bursary, which is open to emerging artist(s) in any art form. Previous winners include Aisling O’Mara (playwright), Clare Monnelly (theatre), pianist Máire Carroll (music), ballet dancer Gearóid Solan (dance) & sculptor Alva Gallagher (visual art).

Sean McGrath, CEO of Allianz Ireland, said:

“The 28^th Allianz Business to Arts Awards represents the crucial importance of the co-creative relationship between businesses and the arts community across Ireland.  Over the last 28 years, we have seen inspiring examples of business and artistic engagement creating truly unique moments of courageous expression for communities and artists with a new voice or message.

Allianz continues to be a strong advocate of creative partnerships between business and the arts, and the courage and dedication it takes to make these initiatives flourish. We look forward to this year’s award nominations and encourage businesses and arts groups throughout the country to get involved.”

Andrew Hetherington, Chief Executive of Business to Arts said:

“In 2019, we look forward to recognising the exceptional creative partnerships that exist throughout Ireland between the business and arts communities. Alongside our partner Allianz, our Awards and mission is to encourage business leaders to consider the arts as a powerful and creative way to enhance community relations and to communicate social issues. We look to recognise these best-in-class relationships on September 3^rd at Bord Gáis Energy Theatre”.

Closing date for applications is Wednesday, May 1st 2019 at 5pm. Go to www.businesstoarts.ie/awards for information on the application process and to complete the online application form.