The new networking and support group for creatives, Waterford Creatives Network, was officially launched by Mayor Liam Brazil at the launch of the 25th Imagine Festival. Niamh Ni Chearbhaill of Studio Cearuil started the group last March to fill the need for more connectivity between creatives in Waterford city and county. The group is currently partially funded by Creative Waterford.
The group has three monthly meetings, a travelling salon that visits a different town each month, a morning city salon and a networking night. Membership is open to all sorts of creatives: artists, crafters, trades, performance, photography, filmmakers, writers and more. There will be a creatives directory in 2027, so all creatives are urged to join up. Satellite groups are also planned for towns around the county.
PRISMATIC PERSPECTIVES
Along with networking and support, the WCN also carryout an annual community art project. This year the project was called Prismatic Perspectives and involved 31 people, 18 of whom are members of the WCN. The group’s project was accepted into the Imagine Arts Festival this year – the beginning of a beautiful friendship between the festival and the WCN for years to come.
Prismatic Perspectives started at the St. Joseph’s Nursing Home in Ferry Bank where recordings were made of childhood memories of some of the residents. Rose Murphy Duggan, the activities coordinator extraordinaire, facilitated this process. The stories where then used to inspire individual art pieces, and this in turn inspired the final collaborative art installation in the Festival Hub by Waterford creatives of all levels and many different forms from singing and filmmaking to painting and social engagement. The individual art pieces will go back to St. Joseph’s for one last exhibition planned by Rose later this year.
“I’ve been very impressed by St. Joseph’s facilities and their openness to collaborative projects that not only benefit the residents but the wider community”, Niamh said. “This project has brought people from different age groups, backgrounds, and cultures together. It’s been a real pleasure working with Rose and St. Joseph’s, Anne Mulhall and her students of St. Angela’s Ursuline Secondary School and Jane Fraher and the Three Sisters Women’s Shed – fantastic people who were ready to run with the vision and help make the project a fantastic success, I’m so proud of everyone who took part.”
