Percent for Art Projects in Laois

An opportunity for artists.

Laois County Council
Open Competition Tender
Laois County Council invites submissions for a permanent public indoor visual arts display under the Percent for Art Scheme for Mountmellick Library and Art Gallery.
This commission will be awarded by an open competition with a one-stage selection procedure.
The total Budget:  €15,000 (all inclusive)
Application closing date: Thursday 15th October

For more details including application form and brief contact:
The Arts Office, Laois County Council, Áras an Chontae, Portlaoise, Co Laois
Tel  057 8674344/41 Click here for more infomation and copy of brief and site plan

Laois County Council has commissioned some major public art projects under the Percent for Art Scheme for the county. 

The most recently completed James Fintan Lalor Commemorative Sculpture sited at Áras an Chontae Portlaoise. The sculpture is a figurative piece in bronze with a limestone plinth.  This project was funded by Laois County Council and the Department of the Environment under the Percent for Art Scheme. The James Fintan Lalor Commemorative Committee raised a significant contribution from local sponsors.  

Two other recent commissions are "The Hitchiker" by the artist Willie Malone which was commissioned in partnership with Kildare County Council and is sited on the Heath Mayfield Motorway and the Percent for Art sculpture "Autumn" by local sculptor Angela Delaney for the Ballyroan Waste Water Improvement Scheme.  "Autumn" is made from limestone and in the form of a horse chestnut; the fruit bursting open as it reaches its full potential. The  work can be viewed at the Green, Ballyroan.

Other works include

• Dunamaise Theatre and Centre for the Arts
  Artist - John O’Connor
  Description: - Three inter-related pieces of low relief metal sculptures, two inside the building and one on the outside at the disabled entrance.  The basic elements in this proposal reflect the use of the Arts Centre both today and in the past i.e. use as a jail and as an arts centre.
• Fitzmaurice Place, Portlaoise  (Water Supply Improvements Commission)
  Artist -  John O’Connor.
  The basic structure is based on the design of one of the wings of the plane which made the first Trans-Atlantic crossing from east to west, with Col. James Fitzmaurice, the Avaitor from Portlaoise as co-pilot.
  This stainless steel sculpture will be 7 meters high, in keeping with the height of the old wall.  Incorporated in the work will be a water supply and lighting to illuminate the piece from inside at night. 
• Abbeyleix Footpath Impovement Scheme
  Artist  - Clíodna Cussen
  Stone carved entrance pillars, formalising the existing main entrance.
  A mosaic paving design incorporated into the existing yard paving, with the design echoing the feet of the many children who passed through when it was the North School in its former existence.
• Portlaoise Halting Site, Project
  Artist - Caroline Conway
  “Travelling Through Time” - work by children from Oak Park, a three-month art project in Oak Park, Halting Site, Portlaoise, under the tutelage of Caroline Conway.  During the interactive project participants created beautifully colourful tableaus depicting a journey through time from the historic travelling tradition through to the present day. Pictures incorporate elements of traditional and contemporary design and imagery.
• Portlaoise By-Pass
  Artists:  Robert Mc Colgan and Irene Benner
  “Doon”  A two-part earthwork with metal superstructure.  The earthwork is sited so that in plan an implied ring stretches across the motorway.  The stainless steel sparred ring symbolising a gateway to Portlaoise and the Midlands.

What is Percent for Art?

The Per Cent for Art Scheme is implemented by major government departments in connection with capital projects such as the construction of public buildings, roads, and renovation and regeneration projects.  The Government decision of August 1997 approves the inclusion in the budgets for all capital construction projects of up to 1% as funding for an art project subject to limits as follows
Construction projects costing up to €2,550,000 may include an art budget of 1% of net construction costs ie €25,500. 
For projects costing between €2,550,000 and €6,300,000 an art budget of 1% up to a maximum of €38,000 is allowed
For project costing between €6,300,000 and €12,700,000 an art budget of €51,000 is allowed
For projects costing in excess of €12,700,000 an art budget of €64,000 is allowed

Integrating the scheme within capital projects is not however mandatory and implementation at present is on an ad hoc basis.  Public art can be of any form and can work within or across many art forms, such as visual art, dance, film, literature, music, opera, theatre and architecture, including all aspects of contemporary arts practice such as performance, live art multimedia, video art, sound art etc.  Works under the scheme can be of any duration, temporary or permanent, and can be centred in an urban or rural context.