Residency | Inis Meáin Beo

Pleanáil Teanga Inis Meáin is delighted to announce two exciting artist residencies will take place on Inis Meáin: one for a poet and one for a theatre practitioner, both working through the Irish language.

Ciara Ní É is a bilingual writer and performer working across poetry, theatre and screen. She has performed in Paris, New York, London, Brussels, and across Ireland at festivals and venues such as Electric Picnic, IMMA, the National Concert Hall, and Áras an Uachtaráin. Her work has been published in Poetry Ireland Review, Aneas and Comhar, and in anthologies including Bone and Marrow / Cnámh agus Smior, and has been translated into German, French, Welsh, Scottish Gaelic and Corsican. She is the founder of the bilingual spoken word event REIC, co-founder of AerachAiteachGaelach, and was named one of the Irish Examiner’s 100 Women Changing Ireland.

Kevin Hussey is an actor, writer, and translator originally from County Limerick. He lived in Connemara for four years but is now based in Galway City. Kevin has achieved a great deal across both stage and screen. He has performed in four productions with An Taibhdhearc: Wáltsáil Abhaile, Gaeltacht na Todhchaí, Ar An Dé Deiridh, and Lá Buí Bealtaine. He created a short film, "Normáilte," which commemorates fifty years of the LGBTQ+ movement in Ireland, and he played the role of the parish priest in Ros na Rún. He also appears in the web series An Poitín on BlocTG4. His work is rooted in the Irish of the Gaeltacht, and he greatly values this opportunity to undertake a residency on Inis Meáin to deepen that connection.

Inis Meáin is a special place deeply rooted in the arts, particularly in theatre and poetry. It was to this island that John Millington Synge came long ago to learn Irish and draw inspiration from his surroundings for his plays and poetry—including the famous works Riders to the Sea and The Playboy of the Western World. Poets such as Dara Beag, Peadar Mór, and an tSiúr Finín grew up here on Inis Meáin, as did the actor and writer Macdara Ó Fátharta. Over the years, writers and poets alike have come to the island for various reasons, finding a space where they can experiment and develop their work alongside this small community. Among them is John McManus, a native of Cavan, who held public readings of his plays at Dún Conchúir while working on the island.

Upon arriving on Inis Meáin, one immediately understands how island community, the landscape, and the prevailing sense of tranquility sparked the imaginations of the artists who visited, and how the effects of the place can be recognised in their work.

See below for further details on how to apply or express interest in future residencies!

Inis Meáin Residencies

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Expression of Interest Form