Jane Anne Rothwell Award; Pluck Projects; and more - latest news from CMF

Émer Dineen announced as latest Jane Anne Rothwell Award recipient

Cork Midsummer Festival is delighted to announce the latest recipient of the Jane Anne Rothwell Award, Émer Dineen. The award will support the development of Émer’s latest work, 0800 Cupid - a one-woman, immersive, cabaret, musical comedy.Émer is a performer, theatre maker and musical artist hailed a ‘Deitrich-esque cabaret star’ by The Stage. Émer takes great pride in being from Cork, with her roots springing from Blackpool and Passage West. Her mother is renowned Irish storyteller Kate Corkery and author of Cork Folk Tales with The History Press, brought to life by Émer's magical illustrations.

Émer specialises in cabaret, theatre, musical comedy, live music and drag. Since graduating from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London, Émer’s diverse career has found her treading the boards with the RSC, singing to the masses at Glastonbury Festival and crafting comedic characters in London's queer cabaret circuit. Émer is very excited to now return to Ireland and contribute to Cork’s thriving artistic scene!The award - presented annually to an emerging artist (either from Cork, or based in Cork) working in any discipline, who identifies as female - is named in honour of Jane Anne Rothwell, the inspirational Chair of Cork Midsummer Festival from 2013 – 2018. A leading figure in Cork’s legal and business community, Jane Anne was an incredible mentor to, and champion of, women in the arts.


CMF Visual Arts Curators in Residence Pluck Projects announce selected artists for CONNECTION

CONNECTION reflects on our post-Covid moment, and on our unprecedented and paradoxical experience of shared isolation and confinement. Róisín O’Gorman and Michael Murphy’s Terminal Moraine and Amna Walayat’s In the Name of Shame think broadly about the concepts of community, care and connection and the encounter with the artwork.

Pluck Projects: ‘We are really excited to be presenting Róisín O’Gorman and Michael Murphy’s Terminal Moraine and works from Amna Walayat’s series In the Name of Shame. These artists explore the idea of connection, community and care in new and interesting ways that will tie in to our broader theme of CONNECTION, an analysis and reimagining of how we can come together in the wake of the pandemic.’

Amna Walayat is a Cork-based Pakistani-born emerging mixed media visual artist. Her current practice is based on traditional and neo-Indo-Persian Miniature painting, expressing her hybrid cultural experiences and her position as migrant artist. Her work is currently included in the yearlong exhibition The Narrow Gate of Here and Now at IMMA (2021-2022), 191 RHA (Oct 2021) She has recently mounted her work with Smashing Times in Dublin Arts and Human Rights Festival in Chester Beatty and Mill Theatre (15-24 Oct) and a two-person show at LHQ (March 2021).

She is interested in the promotion of South Asian Art and Culture in Ireland/ Europe. She has independently established Pakistan Ireland Arts Exchange and Working with Cultural Action Europe as MENA Cultural Agent for advising policies. Currently she is working on her community-based project “South Asian Community Museum” as Creative Producer in Residence with Cork County Council. Amna has an MA in Modern and Contemporary Art History Theory and Criticism from UCC, and an MA in Fine Arts from Punjab University, Lahore. She is a member of Sample-Studios, BAN, Art Nomads, Smashing Times and VAI. She is a recent recipient of Arts Council Ireland’s Next Generation Award and Agility Award 2021.

Róisín O’Gorman is a lecturer in Drama & Theatre Studies at University College Cork. O’Gorman’s projects articulate the joint-space between arts scholarship and arts practice. Using creative methodologies from theatre-making and theoretical frameworks of performance studies, this work aims to push boundaries in concepts and methodologies. Having developed a diverse practice as a scholar, somatic practitioner and artist, this work reflects an integration and cross-pollination of these realms. Working collaboratively across a range of projects, the key focus is on the creative and moving body at the centre of medical and environmental arts projects. This experimental and creative approach continues to evolve and offer new practice and research possibilities.

Michael R. Murphy is a faculty member of the School of Visual and Media Arts at the Univeristy of Montana, where he began working after a career as an actor in theatre, film and television, both in New York City and Los Angeles. Since then he has worked as a director and creator across multiple disciplines, including theatre film and opera, as well as video and interactive media design and installation work. His collaboration with Roisin O’Gorman began during his Fulbright residency in Ireland in 2012 when the two created the video and performance work sleepwalker #1. They began the work that became Terminal Moraine in the last days before lock-down when they were fortunate enough to be on site together in Cork. The rest of the project’s development has been done through long-distance exchanges of media, conversations on the value of dis-integrating long standing systems and ideas, and the assumption of various fictional identities to navigate the irreality of the present.

Cork Midsummer Festival announces Susan Holland as Head of Participation & Engagement

Cork Midsummer Festival is delighted to welcome Susan Holland to the team as Head of Participation & Engagement.

Susan is a passionate curator and cultural producer with 18 years’ experience across visual arts, craft and design. Since 2016 she led the curatorial and engagement programme at the National Design & Craft Gallery. Previously she was Engagement Curator with Irish Design 2015 and Outreach Officer with Design & Crafts Council of Ireland. She was Acting Curator at VISUAL Carlow, and has worked with EVA International, Limerick Arts Office, Occupy Space, Ireland @ Venice, and Limerick City Gallery of Art.

Susan holds an MFA by Research in Curatorial Practice, focused on evolving models of engagement and participation, from Limerick School of Art & Design and Limerick City Gallery of Art, through the Shinnors Scholarship. She has a background in theatre and improv, with particular interest in creating space for engagement, contribution and co-creation though participation.Susan joined the Cork Midsummer Festival team in January 2022 and can be contacted at susan@corkmidsummer.com.