Midland Collaborative Projects

In recent times the Arts Office, Laois County Council have worked in partnership with the Arts Offices of Offaly, Westmeath and Longford County Council, and the VEC and HSE to develop different projects within the Midlands Region.  Some of these projects include:

Midland Masterclasses: 

2011 Programme in Laois includes

Still Life Workshop with John Keating - NOW FULLY BOOKED

On Tuesday 15th November in the Dunamaise Arts Centre Gallery.  The one-day workshop will provide a means of experimenting with design concepts and the probing of space and depth, texture, light and colour with personally chosen items and composition.  A multi award winner, John has received over 25 awards for painting, many of them prestigious including the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, The Cambridge Award (RHA)

Memoir/ Autobiobraphical writing with Pat Boran - On Friday 11th November poet, fiction and memoir writer Pat Boran will host a one-day intensive writing workshop focussed on autobiography, guiding participants through approaches to discovering and framing their personal stories, and exploring ways in which events of personal significance may be expanded upon to make them of interest and relevance to a wider audience. A radio broadcaster and publisher, Pat Boran is a regular contributor of autobiographical pieces to RTE's Sunday Miscellany and the author of The Invisible: Scenes from an Irish Childhood (Dedalus Press, 2009).

This initiative has been run by the Arts Services of Laois Offaly, Longford and Westmeath over the last three years.  We have developed this series of masterclasses as a response to the professional needs of visual artists, musicians, writers and performers right across the Midlands.  The aim is to make these masterclasses a regular feature of the collaborative work of the counties and in working together to increase the standards of arts practice in the Midlands as well as creating a greater Midland Cultural Indentity.  The expected outcome is an increase in knowledge, skills, possibilities and confidence in the professional arts sector in the Midlands. A full brochure of events happening throughout the region will be available shortly

The Midlands Journal

The Midlands Arts Journal is a collaborative publication of a quality artistic regional arts overview.  Published since 2006 editions of the midlands arts journal has been published and distributed throughout the midland region. The glossy high quality arts publications are available free of charge from Libraries and arts venues throughout the region.  The Arts Office invite submissions from individuals or groups who have interesting arts related articles that will highlight the progress of the arts in County Laois. 

Should you wish to include arts related articles please contact our office at 057 8674342/3..

The Midlands Musician in Healthcare Project

The Midlands Partnership for Arts in Healthcare formed a panel of music facilitators to deliver a pilot music programme in residential care centres for older people in counties Laois, Offaly, Longford and Westmeath.  Phase one of the project took place from September 2006 and December 2007.  With the support of the HSE, the Arts Officers of the four counties and the co-ordinator of the regional VEC Arts Education Officer, Shane Brennan, hundreds of older people in residential and day-care centres in the Midlands will be facilitated to engage creatively with teams of professional classical, jazz and traditional musicians, exploring and expressing their musicality through participation and collaboration.

The programme acknowledges the power of music to impact on physical, psychological and emotional health and aims to ensure that this impact is positive and all involved.

Performance is an important element in the workshops, offering opportunities for artistic appreciation, enjoyment and personal reflection. 

The Midlands Collaborative Writing Project

The Arts Sections and County Development Boards of Laois, Offaly, Longford and Westmeath created this six-month collaborative creative writing project for young people in Castlepollard, Mountmellick, Edenderry and Granard aged 15 to 20. The project focused on creative writing, artwork and photography and culminated in the publication of a full-colour book that portrays what its like to be a teenager in rural Ireland. This publication is now available on request from the Arts Office, Laois County Council.  The writer Heather Brett spent a six-week block in each county working with an identified group of students. The young people were asked to look at what it is like from their perspective being a teenager in a small town in Ireland. They then collected their stories, used their creative talents to illustrate ideas and put it together in a book written for young people by young people from the midlands. The project involved the VEC, Management of the Youthreach Projects in Granard, Edenderry and Mountmellick and the students of Castlepollard Community College in association with Castlepollard library.