Artist Support - Emily Aoibheann

Draíocht is thrilled to welcome Emily Aoibheann, an Irish visual artist, auteur and aerialist, to our Workshop Space.

I am an Irish artist, dancer and director. My varied background leads to collaborative and original integration of multiple art forms crossing cultural contexts. Often realised with a broad artistic and technical team, my expertise in aerial dance and contemporary circus acts as a lens through which to explore ideas and disciplines of all kinds. My work incorporates significant aspects of mixed media visual arts, dance, design, music and writing. I create sensorial performance, media and mentorship, merging forms in experimental and collaborative ways through circus-inspired and musical dramaturgies.

My current artistic work includes: Inheritance, a dance piece with Irish traditional song and text in English and Gaeilge, focused on socio-political change in Ireland over the last 100 years, developed as part of the Markievicz Award; The Flag, a dance duet which emerged from Inheritance on similar themes; A Year of the Heart, a dance-theatre piece with text in English, Latin and Sicilian dialect, exploring male martyrdom, European Christian art and musical traditions with a central focus on Caravaggio's 'The Taking of Christ'; Turrus, in collaboration with digital artist 1iing heaney, an ambitious and experimental production integrating data-capture technologies and immersive theatre principles with aerial dance, digital art and collaboration across multiple disciplines.

As a dancer, choreographer and aerial performer, I have recently contributed to work by the following artists: Ali Clarke Multitudes: Vessel (2022); Hazel Cardew, A Linear Language (2022/ 2023); Niamh Bury and Louise Gaffney Discovery (2023). My work is supported by the Arts Council Arts Grant Fund (2022/2023), as a Markievicz Award recipient (2022), Animation Ireland Immersive Innovation Award (2022/2023), Fingal County Council Artists' Support Scheme (2022), Dance Ireland Hatch Award, and as a visiting artist at Project Arts Centre in Dublin, Courthouse Arts Centre and Mermaid Arts Centre, co. Wicklow. I direct and curate the Experimental Circus Award, a programme which supports intellectually engaged and unconventional circus practice in Ireland, founded in 2021.

Draíocht is recognised as a creative hub and laboratory space and invests significantly in the development of artist's practice by the provision of benefit in kind support such as space, technical support, admin/marketing support and specialist expertise. We offer a wide range of opportunities to artists i.e. commissions, residencies, artist studios/rehearsal space, co-productions, co-commissions, seed funding, mentoring.

Our Artist Support Series, launched during Covid-19, has helped 79 artists in 2020, 50 artists in 2021 and 74 artists in 2022, with the provision of free rehearsal and creative space. Space to rehearse, write, create, film, dance, think & plan ... whatever is needed!

With thanks to our funders Fingal County Council & The Arts Council.

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