Projects funded by the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism
Major Private Sector, North/South Projects supported by the Cultural Institutions Unit of the Department:
Commentarius Rinnuccinianus –
North/South Academic Initiative
Commentarius Rinuccinianus is one of the most important primary sources of political, diplomatic and religious history of mid-seventeenth century Ireland (1645-1649). It provides an alternative view of Irish History which is currently based largely on papers espousing the Ormonde view point. The Irish Manuscripts Commission (IMC) published the Latin narrative in six volumes between 1932 and 1949.
A group of scholars, North and South, have produced a modern English translation of the Commentarius Rinuccinianus. The University of Ulster is the lead institution working with colleagues in University College Dublin. The Irish Manuscripts Commission (IMC) will publish the modern translation of the project.
Translation of The Historia Missionis...
- North/South Academic Initiative
The annalistic methodology of the Commentarius is the chosen frame for a sophisticated and not entirely partisan view of a particularly complicated period in Irish society. However, before his involvement as chief author of the Commentarius, Father Robert O'Connell (a co-author of the Commentarius) wrote a substantial historiographical work in 1654 called the Historia Missionis... The Historia predates the Commentarius in which it is extensively quoted and complements that work. It is, in effect, a history of Ireland in the 17th Century as seen through the eyes of the Capuchin ministry in the country in those most turbulent times.
The Academy for Irish Cultural Heritage at the University of Ulster is now receiving funding from the Department to translate the transcript of the Historia. The work is of immense value in understanding Ireland and Europe in the 17th Century. The Historia contain items of correspondence from various sources and therefore, like the Commentarius, is a valuable repository of 17th Century Latin. The transcript is a unique example of textual criticism in action, as it contains what is, in effect, the rough work on transcription of the manuscript. The monk's notes are invaluable when seeking to solve textual problems. On the broadest level, the transcript is an impressive testimony to the rigour of Irish scholarship.
The Project aims to improve accessibility for scholars in this research
area. It will also generate further research into Irish and British history
in the 17th Century and promote co-operation in historical study in Ireland
and Britain. In addition it provide source material for the study of the
European 'general-crisis' of the time and promote the inter-relationships
between Ireland and Britain. The project will greatly add to the value of
the translation of the Commentarius and as with that project, the Irish
Manuscripts Commission will publish the translated text, which will also
be made available electronically. The IMC will have ownership and copyright
of the translated text.
The Armarium Codicum Hibernensium (ArCH)Project -
(Facsimiles of Mediaeval Irish Manuscripts Project)
Early Irish learned culture was remarkable both for the degree of its sophistication and for the generosity of its scholars in sharing their knowledge. The presence of Irish scholars of high calibre in the cathedral and court schools of western Europe in the early Middle Ages, and their expertise in the craft of the scribe, are witnessed by the medieval manuscripts preserved in major libraries of Europe. Despite their significance to the earliest period of Irish history when the foundations of nationhood were laid, only a handful of manuscripts written by the Irish in the years before AD 1000 survive in Ireland; the vast majority are preserved in the great libraries of Britain and continental Europe, mostly inaccessible.
The ArCH Project in the Department of History, University College Cork. ArCH is an acronym for Armarium codicum hibernensium – the Bookcase of Irish Manuscripts; its mission is to create a series of facsimile editions of the major historical Irish manuscripts.
ArCH intends to contribute to the sustainability of the great bookmaking tradition of Ireland and endeavour to assist in the preservation of a highly specialised and increasingly scarce expertise. Facsimiles will take two forms of presentation. One will be done as a simple hardbound copy available to Irish libraries and the general public and to scholars and students. The second will be produced in limited numbers as a special edition, using the craftsmanship of artisan bookmakers.
In keeping with the tradition of early Irish learned culture, scholars engaged in the Project will share their knowledge and make these materials accessible to the research community and create an awareness in the wider community of Ireland’s rich cultural patrimony. Each facsimile will be accompanied by a scholarly commentary, which in itself will constitute a unique contribution to the field. The commentary and apparatus will be commissioned from leading scholars in the fields representing the core disciplines of the Project, including palaeography/codicology, history, Latin, Old Irish, and art history.
Year one of the project commenced in 2007. Year two will see the completion of a scoping project that will define the design and management of programme planning and other matters and will seethe publication of two facsimiles with appropriate academic commentaries.
A Project Review will be conducted on completion of year two. This Review
will assess progress of the Project in Years One and Years Two.
History of Irish Art and Architecture
The Royal Irish Academy is creating a history of Irish Art and Architecture. The project entails publication in five volumes. This national project involves collaboration with all the major Irish academic and art institutions. In 2007 the Department committed to providing grant aid of €1 over five years to this project, commencing in 2008. €200,000 will be provided in 2009.
Handel 250th Anniversary €60,000
Georg Friederich Händel was born in 1685. When he was 17 he was appointed organist of the Calvinist Cathedral, and a year later he left for Hamburg. There he played the violin and harpsichord in the opera house, where his Almira was given at the beginning of 1705, soon followed by his Nero. The next year he accepted an invitation to Italy, where he spent more than three years. He left Italy early in 1710 and went to Hanover, where he was appointed Kapellmeister to the elector, where, almost immediately he accepted an invitation to London, where his opera Rinaldo was produced early in 1711. In 1717 he entered the service of the Earl of Carnarvon at Edgware, near London, where he wrote 11 anthems and two dramatic works. After a joumey to Dublin in 1741-2, where Messiah had its premiere (in aid of charities), he put opera behind him and for most of the remainder of his life gave oratorio performances.
During his last decade he gave regular performances of Messiah. Handel died in 1759 and was buried in Westminster Abbey, recognized in England and by many in Germany as the greatest composer of his day. 2009 is the 250th Anniversary of his death.
The Department is supporting the The Templebar Trust's proposals to commemorate
this Anniversary by staging a festival that aspires to develop a major music
festival for Dublin, promote Dublin as a cultural product for cultural tourism,
and develop working relationships between the Trust, Dublin Tourism, Fáilte
Ireland, Culture Ireland and Dublin City Council.
Dublin Book Festival
Following a submission from CLÉ, the Irish Book Publishers Association, in relation to the 1st Dublin Book Festival, which was held in 2008, the Department provided grant-in-aid of €40,000 to facilitate the proposal. It is proposed to allocate €40,000 towards this festival in 2009 to further its establishment on an annual basis.
The Irish Music Project ("The Given Note")
The project seeks to represent and present Ireland, its people and culture, to a global audience through the medium of high quality recordings, images, films, terrestrial, satellite and wireless broadcasts, printed publications and downloadable files. It will showcase the best of Ireland and celebrates its distinctiveness, diversity, and inclusiveness in the midst of unprecedented cultural, economic, and social change. It will affirm the Irish identity, and project our culture, music, language and uniqueness in a positive manner, and reflect our newly found confidence to the world, whilst also highlighting the country's position as one of the most globally adept societies in today's world.
The development phase of this project commenced in 2008 with the provision
of €52,500 to South Wind Blows ito carryout the research and complete
the technical and legal aspects of this project. This development phase
requires a further €22,500 in 2009 for completion of this phase.
Glucksman Scholarship UCC €50,000
In 2007 the Department commenced supporting the Glucksman Bursary at UCC, which is run in cooperation with New York University. An Irish Student from UCC attends on scholarship in New York and an NYU student attends in Ireland. The NYU provides an equasl amount. The Bursary will run from 5 years and commenced in 2007.
John Millington Synge
Synge was born in Dublin in 1871 and died in 1909. He received his degree from Trinity College, Dublin, then went to Germany to study music and later to Paris, where he lived for several years working at literary criticism. Here, he met W. B. Yeats who persuaded him to live for a while in the Aran Islands and then return to Dublin and devote himself to creative work. "The Aran Islands" (1907) is Synge’s journal of his retreat on the islands.
The Department is committed to supporting the Synge ~Summer School in this
Anniversary year of his death.
TCD Beckett Drama Scholarship €5,000 (€10,000)
Under the Beckett Centenary programme a commitment was made for a TCD Drama
scholarship for five years of €5,000 per annum. The 2009/10 academic-year
will be the fourth year of this grant.
European Digital Library
Europeana, the European digital library, museum and archive, is a project that will give users direct access to digital objects, including film material, photos, paintings, sounds, maps, manuscripts, books, newspapers and archival papers. The prototype was launched on 20th November 2008 at the meeting of the Council of Ministers. Due to a funding shortfall for the period 2009 to 2011, the Department has committed to providing €30,000 towards this project over three years commencing in 2009.
Hugh Doran Exhibition
Hugh Doran (1926 - 2004) was an amateur photographer of rare talent. A native of Dublin and a printer by profession he spent his working life in Arthur Guinness & Co. His interest in photography began as a teenager. He joined the Photographic Society of Ireland in 1949 and was from the mid-1950s a regular contributor to – and medal winner at – the Society’s exhibitions. His photographs were also included in exhibitions in Berlin, Bordeaux, Bermuda, San Sebastian and Vienna. The Department is supporting The Irish Architectural Archive's exhibition of its Hugh Doran Collection in Copenhagen in June 2009.
Seamus Heaney at 70
The Department is supporting various celebratory events to mark Seamus Heaney at 70.
Brian Friel's 80th
The Department is supporting RTÉ's three Birthday Broadcasts to Celebrate the Master Playwright.