Minister congratulates Ireland Newfoundland Partnership on continued commitment

Industry, Trade and Rural Development Minister Kelvin Parsons congratulated the Ireland Newfoundland Partnership today for demonstrating Ireland�s continued commitment to its relationship with Newfoundland and Labrador.

The Ireland Newfoundland Partnership awarded 18 cultural bursaries worth over $210,000 CDN at a news conference in Ireland yesterday. The bursaries were awarded to Irish recipients, who will use the funding for projects aimed at improving relations with Newfoundland and Labrador. Many of the projects will involve close collaboration with Newfoundland and Labrador artists and musicians. The Ireland Newfoundland Partnership also launched its new Web site (www.inp.ie) at the news conference.

Minister Parsons said: "Today marks significant continued development in the growth of our industrial, trade and cultural links with Ireland and demonstrates a strong commitment by the Republic of Ireland to its ongoing relationship with Newfoundland and Labrador."

The Ireland Newfoundland Partnership was established by the Government of the Republic of Ireland in 2001 to enhance the business and cultural links being developed through the 1996 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Ireland and Newfoundland and Labrador.

The Ireland Newfoundland Partnership works with the locally-based Ireland Business Partnerships, established in 1997 by the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, to develop initiatives under the MOU. The Ireland Business Partnerships brings together business, education, government and community representatives in Newfoundland and Labrador with a particular interest in the Newfoundland-Ireland connection.

"We are pleased and encouraged by the announcement in Ireland today and believe that both the Ireland Newfoundland Partnership and Ireland Business Partnerships will, together, continue to foster successful partnerships and mutually beneficial initiatives between our two regions," said Minister Parsons.

Ireland Newfoundland Partnership previously awarded 15 education and business research bursaries last December, which totaled approximately $225,000 CDN.

Media contact: Josephine Cheeseman, Communications, (709) 729-4570

1.     "Islands" A Newfoundland Irish Traditional Music CD Production
This grant supports the collaborative production of a new CD of Irish and Newfoundland traditional music by Irish musician Seamus Creagh and musicians in Newfoundland. Recording will take place in both Ireland and Newfoundland.

2.     "Digitization of Sound Recordings of Newfoundland-Irish Traditional Song in the Irish Traditional Music Archive".
The Irish Traditional Music Archive holds an extensive collection of original field recordings made in the 1970s. The project will ensure the permanent preservation of the collection and will enhance public access to it within the archive on CD format.

3.     "From Ireland to Newfoundland a Musical journey"
Scoiltrad, the world's first on line interactive music school founded in 2000 by three traditional Irish musicians, intends to establish links between Scoiltrad and the traditional music community in Newfoundland, with a view to future collaboration in the development of music-based educational products based on the traditional musical traditions of both countries.

4.     "The Little Dynasty"
Author Donal O'Donovan is working on the publication of a book on the history of the Little family who have strong links in both Ireland and Newfoundland. Philip Francis Little was the first premier of Newfoundland. One of his sons Paddy Little was a minister in Eamon De Valera's Emergency Government and was the first director of the arts council.

5.     "Ireland, Newfoundland, Culture and the Arts."
Deirdre Nuttall of Adverbage Ltd, intends to publish a book, aimed at younger readers, discussing the influence of Irish culture, especially music, the visual arts, theatre and literature, in Newfoundland. The book will be based upon original research and interviews as well as on previously published and archived material. It will be fully illustrated and will be presented formatted for print as a PDF document. It will include interview data from contemporary "Hiberno-Newfoundland" writers, visual artists, and musicians of note.

6.     "Exploring Landscapes - A Video Art Exchange Project"
This video art exchange project by the Cork Film Centre is designed to promote and explore the medium of video as an artistic tool and to explore cultural diversities and similarities between both countries. The project will provide access for artists to explore the art of video and to demonstrate their creativity and innovation. The project will culminate in an exhibition of art in venues in Ireland and Newfoundland.

7.     Artists Residency at Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland"
This grant facilitates artist Chris Wilson to participate in an international residency program at Gros Morne National Park. The residency creates the opportunity for visual artists to pursue their own work in a quiet setting of remarkable environmental interest. An outcome of the residency will be a collaborative exhibition at the Mullingar Arts Centre with Newfoundland artist Anne Meredith Barry as well as solo exhibits in Newfoundland, Dublin and Belfast.

8.     "Ireland Newfoundland - A Cultural Exchange"
This grant supports a print residency and exchange program between Black Church Print Studio, Temple Bar in Ireland and St. Michael's Printshop in Newfoundland. Two Irish artists will work in Newfoundland and two Canadian artists in Ireland. An exhibition at each studio is envisaged.

9.     "Audio - Visual Resource Presentations"
Esras Films (formerly Radharc Films) are planning the production of a number of audio-visual resource presentations for heritage and interpretative centres in Ireland and Newfoundland. Elements to be covered in the presentation package will include the historic background to the Newfoundland seasonal fishery and migratory pattern, the Irish in the peopling of Newfoundland, and Irish contributions to education, religion, and social life in Newfoundland.

10.     "Twinning of Faces and Facades"
Architect Anne Harpur and photographer Margaret O'Brien Moran will research and investigate the cultural, social and architectural links between Waterford, Ireland and St. John's, Newfoundland. It is intended that the findings will be presented in the form of a visual arts photographic exhibition to be displayed in both cities, forming part of the Waterford Treasures in the Granary Building, Waterford and in a similar venue of choice in St. John's.

11.     "Atlantic Crossings: Cultural Connections Between Ireland and Newfoundland"
Neil Hegarty and Peter Hegarty will develop a pair of radio documentaries exploring the long-established and unique cultural connections between Ireland and Newfoundland and Labrador and the impact that Irish immigration into Newfoundland had on the evolution of that society. The programs will draw substantially on source material and will feature read extracts from contemporary letters, reports and journals as well as modern literature and scholarship.

12.     "Imagined Places"
This grant will assist Lorelei Harris to produce two 45 minute radio programs, recorded in Ireland and Newfoundland. Also a feasibility study for the production of a further daylong radio extravaganza entitled "Facing West and Facing East: A Day in the Life of Ireland and Newfoundland", portrayed through sound recordings gathered by the principals and from sound files submitted by listeners in both countries. It is envisaged that this project would be done in tandem with a Web site, including a Web time line for the day consisting of relevant recordings from a variety of sources including gatherings through cooperation with media colleges in Ireland and Newfoundland.

13.     "An Ireland / Newfoundland Co-production"
This grant will assist Jim Culleton of the Fishamble Theatre Company to complete work already underway with Theatre Newfoundland & Labrador. Phases one and two of the project have already been completed. The third phase will lead to a theatrical co-production between the two companies to be staged in Canada and Ireland with a cast and design team drawn from both countries. The project will bring together writers and actors from Ireland and Newfoundland to produce an original piece of theatre.

14.     "Where Did We Come From, Where Did We Go and Where Do We Go from Here?"
The project will bring together the Bere Island Project Group and people of Irish descent from Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, two maritime communities doing similar work to conserve their heritage, in order that they may learn from each other's experiences. A script will be developed for theatre, based on the similarities of experiences of subjects' lives under the themes of maritime culture, resettlement, military influence and the effects on emigration. There will be a particular emphasis on women's experiences (marital and occupational) in these contexts, which until now have predominantly been documented from a male perspective.

15.     "Cultural Heritage - Ireland and Newfoundland Links: Feasibility Study"
The feasibility study will enable Comhchoiste Ghaeltachtai Chiarrai Theas and South Kerry Development Partnership Board to explore possibilities for an exchange of local singers, musicians and storytellers between Newfoundland and South West Kerry. In addition a travelling exhibition of photographs accompanied by a sound archive may be possible. A further objective is to examine opportunities to introduce cultural administrators in the two areas to each other.

16.     Joint Funding of Two Feasibility Study Applications from Co. Wexford.

(a) "Wexford and Newfoundland Historical and Cultural Links"
Sean Mythen - Wexford County Enterprise Board
A feasibility study to examine what has been done and what can be done in relation to the historical and cultural connections between the County of Wexford and the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The study will look at developments under the following headlines: folklore/story telling, traditional musical styles/balladry, genealogy, literature, links between fishing communities, church connections and dialect.

(b) "Beacon Links"
Hook Heritage Centre
A feasibility study under the headings, genealogical research, trade, music, storytelling and folklore. The format to store this study would be CD-R. While developing the CD-R it is hoped to cost a project grant to make a film layering all sections into a story.

17.     "Historical Furniture"
This proposal by Matt McNulty is to complete the necessary research to mount a photographic exhibition, demonstrating the similarities between the vernacular furniture of Ireland and its counterpart development by Irish emigrants and their descendants in Newfoundland and Labrador.

"Combined Proposals from Waterford Institute of Technology"
Dr. John Ennis - Head of School of Humanities
A group of 11 proposals were submitted, of which five were offered funding. These are largely based on collaboration between the Waterford Institute of Technology and Memorial University of Newfoundland Arts College at Corner Brook. Projects supported are in the areas of:

• theatre and dance
• traditional music and classical music with an emphasis on new composition to commemorate the twinning of Waterford with St. John's
• literature - comprising the publication of an anthology of Newfoundland and Irish poetry
• storytelling and folklore directed to the young and the elderly, and
• digital multi-media project collaboration between students on both campuses.

2002 07 18                             12:05 p.m.