WHERE ART GROWS GREENER?

With the recent publication about rural art initiatives in County Clare as a critical starting point, the debate will cover initiatives from Co.Leitrim, with projects like 'AFTER' and 'New Sites New Fields' and the series of regional projects in the 5 Northern Counties REGENERATE.
WHERE ART GROWS GREENER? is a debate and forum with artists involved in rural projects and cultural policy makers from the North and South of Ireland.
Chaired by Daniel Jewesbury- artist, writer, critic the panel includes:
-Fiona Woods- artist, curator, writer, initiator and editor of Ground UP
-Jenny Haughton, Public Art Adviser, Arts Council -Dublin
-Gareth Kennedy, artist, participant of AFTER and New Sites New Fields
-Alice Lyons, artist and writer, participant of AFTER
-Iain Davidson, Arts Council of Northern Ireland
-Philip Napier, artist, participant of REGENERATE

WHERE ART GROWS GREENER? - art in a rural context- should cover different aspects of rural art initiatives and projects: economic reasons; sub-urbanisation; cultural policies and shifts in funding; ecology and alternative economy; differences in cultural strategies South/North and questions addressed in the publication:
-What are the mechanics of engagement with a rural community?
- Are rural infrastructures different to those we encounter in an urban environment?

Publication/ including DVD:
Ground Up. Reconsidering Contemporary Art Practice in the Rural Context.
Edited by Fiona Woods, Clare County Council Arts Office 2008.
ISBN 978-0-9541870-3-3 http://www.shiftingground.net/gupublication.htm
Film commissioned by Clare County Council and the Ground Up Artists' Collective, with support from the Leader+ programme. (2h17min)
©Fergus Tighe