​Hi there to our #Graspthearts supporters and followers,
​
As restrictions to free movement here in Ireland begin to change many artists are very pleased to see our Government is rolling out a plan of action for the reopening of some of our cultural and heritage institutions, but it continues to be a long road filled with uncertainty for many, with the opening of museums, galleries and other cultural venues scheduled for July (see Governments full plan and roll out schedule here)
 
It's been a long road already for many, and dependant on the success of the rollout in terms of public safety, things may not go as scheduled! but we hope for the best and encourage full compliance in terms of personal and societal responsibility.

 With the reports of an uptake in arts consumption online and through new virtual experiences, it remains to be seen how the sector will flourish going forward! For now we have no option to watch, innovate and participate in this new evolution for the arts.  

Payment in "exposure" has always been an issue for many working in the arts and we here at #Graspthearts are keen to hear of any new venture or format that might enlighten our readers as to how this might be fairly avoided in the future, as always it is a delicate balance between the desire to share works and the desire to carve a living from our  endeavours.  If you can offer a solution or signpost an initiative that we can forward to the community at large we would love your input, feel free to comment here or indeed email us at graspthearts@gmail.com and we will be sure to share your suggestions.

#Graspthearts is slowly gaining new followers and supporters every day and we envision this campaign to continue well into the future as more and more creatives and cultural workers step forward in solidarity to highlight the numbers working in our creative sectors and to create an awareness and an acknowledgment of the issues within our industry as a whole.

Most recently this has been helped by regional press and radio.
​links below: 

​1)  LMFM radio on the 11-1 show, kind thanks to Sinead Brassil.

​2) Press interview wth Dundalk Democrat .

3) Press interview with Drogheda Life Newspaper.
​

4) Press coverage in The Argus newspaper

For now we leave you with a note of gratitude for your support so far, it is though our actions we will bring an acknowledgment to our sector, so my we continue to ask that you share our campaign across social media, invite colleagues and friends to contribute and keep well, stay creative!

​#Graspthearts.

 I hope this finds you well in these strange circumstances. 
Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Niamh O'Connor, a visual artist based in Co. Monaghan. I am sure you, like me, have been following the arts council response to this current crisis, and it is this I wish to speak to you about. 

I watched and listened with dismay last April 3rd, as the limited department response was rolled out and in that moment I decided that rather than giving in to the frustrations I was feeling I could perhaps try to be proactive! Do something to highlight the sheer number of people involved in our creative industries here in Ireland, who would ultimately be affected by any and all actions and decisions by the council and dept combined. 

I believe there is a notion in the Irish psyche that we sit, feeling somehow entitled!  That our industry members should be delighted with the "handouts" we get for the very little we do!, after all its not REAL work is it - music? painting?  It is this very misconception that encourages me to bring awareness to the public at large and the powers that be, in a non-confrontational way, that real, hard-working, dedicated people are the heartbeat of our much renowned cultural capital, our artists, our performers, writers, musicians, and others, are real working people, with real bills to pay and mouths to feed and a dedication to the work they do that IS important to our very identity as a nation!

To this end, I started developing the nub of an idea, this project almost immediately.  The idea: to call on our culture creators in a 'show of hands" that brings awareness to the public and the powers that be, exactly how many people work and contribute to our creative sector and our cultural and fiscal wealth. And how much our creative sector has been decimated by loss equal to that of any other industry! 

I am a member of arts group Art As Exchange or AAEX, (Dundalk based)  who's manifesto states we as individuals are "interested in coming together for the sake of making public art that is accessible, experiential and participative", I am delighted to be working in collaboration with AAEX on this project, their experience of participating in and creating projects of this nature is well proven.

What's this to do with you, you might ask.. 
Well simply it is this, this call to action is a simple 'make and share' project.

Creatives from all sectors of the arts are invited to use a piece of air-dry clay or craft based homemade salt dough, and form it in their hand and squeeze it to create a cast 'grasp' , the imprint of their unique creative and contributing hand. 

We identified this form, this 'grasp' for several reasons, as each would be unique to its maker, visually interesting both individually and combined, would catch attention in large numbers across social media and of course for the metaphor it conjures...the literal 'show of hands', the 'fist' your hand makes to create the impression, the "grasp" on the situation in the arts, we hope to ignite an awareness of this situation...!

Participants would also be asked to attach a label to their individual piece giving their details, name/profession/location and a brief statement of what the creative industries mean to them.  You are further invited to photograph your piece and uploaded it to social media platforms, the message being further expressed by hashtags:

#Irishcultureworks, #graspthearts, #mycontributinghand and #showofhands_IRE.   

It is our hope and intention to collect these pieces and have a showing of them in a physical location/exhibition at a later and safer date, and thus continue the discussion around what we bring in our large numbers to our nation. 

To this end and for the past two weeks we have worked on developing this website and plan of action to invite interested participants to assist, including the provision of instructionals on the physical make, contact details etc... We are delighted to launch the campaign this weekend and needless to say we would love your support!
 
www.grasptheart.com 
www.instagram.com/graspthearts
www.twitter.com/graspthearts