Conor Shields

Director

Mission: 

To take the lead in the promotion, development and delivery of community arts practice, to affect positive change

A service provider of community arts participatory workshops and processes with a clear and parallel remit to advocate, support and research; presenting positive opportunities, with which the community and professional sector can engage, communicate, share experiences, learning and resources

“Community art is a process of harnessing the transformative power of original artistic expression and producing a range of outcomes: social, cultural and environmental. Looked at politically, socially, culturally and/or economically, community arts aim to establish and maximise inclusive ways of working, providing an opportunity for communities and their participants to continue to find ways to develop their own skills as artists and for artists to explore ways of transferring those skills. Through this process, community arts aim to maximise the access, participation, authorship and ownership in collective arts practice.” Arts Council of Northern Ireland Community Arts Strategy 2006

LANDMARKS (formerly BELFAST WHEEL)A community-led Sculpture and Public Art programme connecting art in public MASQUEA carnival and dramatic arts programme for colourful performances in local parks, festivals, community and non-traditional settings TRASH FASHIONa fashion design project with a focus on recycling and environmental concerns THIS IS MEa multi-media exploration of the identity through training in film-making, animation and applied multi-media skillsSIDE BY SIDEour inclusive arts projects where people with disability, the elderly and those most at risk enjoy arts participation alongside able bodied or younger peers

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POETRY IN MOTION SCHOOLSA poetry programme for local Belfast primary and

secondary aged children. The work produced by participants is published through audio anthology-books and via websites POETRY IN MOTION COMMUNITY

a poetry programme for local writers. The work produced by participants is published through audio anthology-books and via websites

Consultation with community members will:Promote dialogue and understanding between and among

communitiesSupport personal, social and economic regenerationProvide the arena to explore issues and interests that are

relevant to the communityOffer community a key role in the determination of the

artistic process and support that processEnsure that projects respond to community

Some areas of benefit:Average 3,500 participants annually (8-80 yrs)120 artist assignments130 community groups consultedAverage 60 community groups engaged30+ schoolsCreation of a high quality art

work/performance/publication/exhibition and an attractive shared space

Regeneration and democratisation of public spacesRenew focal points for community

• to re-brand and re-launch as a regional service provider, Community Arts Partnership,

• to provide the fullest possible range of community arts activity, experiences and practice through workshop programmes in a variety of art forms including visual arts, dance, drama, craft, sculpture, fashion, verbal arts and digital media (20 schools, 54 community groups/associations, 6 host neighbourhoods across 7 project strands

• to act as central point of contact for the community arts sector

• to maintain fora for training, learning and advocacy • to provide best practice advice and guidance• to fulfil an advocacy role for community arts sector• to inform policy

•to attend and host conferences/seminars/symposia and disseminate learning•to grow current research base, developing areas of work with rural communities, older adults, young people, artists•to develop research models which are compellingly relevant and current•to provide on-line digest of current news, issues and opportunities •to provide and grow community arts weekly e-bulletin

•to invite partnerships with other agencies and fields of applied working, ie environmentalism, sustainable communities, social psychology, etc•to instigate and support large-scale reviews of community arts across NI region via consultation •to promote the profile and status of community arts through contact with councils, arts authorities, centres of learning, community groups and artists etc•to seek new local, regional and international partnerships in community arts and develop initiatives with arts organisations, centres of learning and advocacy groups in Ireland, Britain and beyond

Recent Landmarks/Belfast WheelProjects

Newest Sculpture Belfast BloomIn development

Intangible:Community empowermentCommunity recognition of the role of the artsCommunity capacity Improved relationships within and between communitiesDeveloped sense of ownership of the art piece and their

own placeCelebration of communities’ culture and identity

Challenges:Policy levelImplementation levelCommunity and legacy level

The depiction of related value-bases informs our shared cultural heritage and vice versa. In a society where the main ethno-cultural groups have competing visions, the creation of shared outcomes within communities, symbolises the recognition of a shared future, that both cultures have a growing acceptance that they must and indeed do share this space. The arena of cultural activity becomes a social space, with various cultural artefacts, music, language, visual arts and literature developing the societal superstructure

Community art can position itself as an enabler of change. If the legacy of conflict is to be addressed, it can show, across sectarian divides, that communities express and articulate change, not to the detriment of their own identity but rather in the support of a cultural progression out from a previously internalised mindset into a more communicative arena where the ‘theatre’, the creative interface, is a shared one

Re-Imaging13.New Belfast Century

Citizen

Installation of Century Citizen in Jubilee Gardens

Production cost already made c £18,000

Plinth and installation £6,500