In October 2013 I attended a bootcamp for artists, a four day workshop hosted by the Centre for Creative Practices and presented by the New York Foundation for the Arts. The attendees covered a wide spectrum of creative disciplines including the visual arts, printmakers, sculptors, film makers, live performance artists, musicians, writers and actors.
Based on the premise that artists are great at what they do but fall short on the business side of their practice, we were advised about bookkeeping, taxes, copyright law, branding, marketing and submitting applications for funding and exhibitions.
After the course, 27 of us formed a multicultural-interdisciplinary arts collective called 'idir', the Irish for 'between us', with a view to pooling our skills and resources and creating opportunities for ourselves.
In January 2014 we secured a four month exhibition in New York with the New York Foundation for the Arts and funding from Culture Ireland. While very hard work, it proved to be a great success with performances on the opening night from idir artists and a special guest performance by Hozier.
Subsequently, managing such a large group proved to be too difficult to sustain and idir disbanded in March 2015.
