The contribution of women artists is being celebrated on International Women's Day (Monday 8 March) by the Arts Council
"This is an opportunity to remember just what the arts can do, how powerful the arts are in their ability to challenge, inspire and give women a voice," said Arts Council CEO Roisin McDonough.
"Their art is a means to communicate to many and attempts to bring the issues bubbling around us to life in a beautiful, creative and often challenging way; making us think, smile, laugh or sing, making us cry and feel deeply, entertaining us, uniting us in a way only the arts can do.
Some of the tremendous women working in the arts, who are being celebrated today include:
Eibhlín de Barra, who was appointed Director at Young at Art in 2016. She is responsible for leading the Young at Art team and delivering the annual Belfast Children's Festival which is currently taking place online this year from 5-14 March.
Writer, Nandi Jola, is also being celebrated. An exceptional playwright, poet, writer and creative writing facilitator, originally from South Africa, she now lives in Portadown. Her Creative Writing projects include Phenomenal Women and Same-Difference. Nandi’s play, The Journey, opened the prestigious International Literature Festival Dublin in October 2020.
“Black women's writing is important in changing the narrative of telling stories about Northern Ireland" she says. "Black people are here and so are their poems, stories, plays and we must see them in the literary world.”
Another writer being celebrated is Niamh Scullion. Niamh Scullion is currently working on her first novel, using some free time funded by the University of Atypical's iDA award for deaf and disabled artists. Niamh has dealt with progressive hearing loss for many years, which has given the writer many challenges in her career as journalist, PR and community developer, socially and even in writing since she misses out on an essential source of inspiration for many writers - eavesdropping.
In March 2020, Niamh was announced as one of sixteen disabled artists from Northern Ireland to receive the University of Atypical’s, Individual Disabled Artist (iDA) Award. The iDA is a career development award supported by National Lottery funding through the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and enables each artist to produce a new high-quality work, receive training or professional mentoring.
A number of arts organisations will also be celebrating International Women’s Day this weekend and throughout next week.
Such as the University of Atypical, join them online on Saturday 6th March from 3-4pm, to mark International Women’s Day with Niamh Scullion. The theme for this year’s IWD is “the new phenomenal” and Niamh’s prospects as a new novelist is exciting. You’re invited to gather online where Niamh will read a short excerpt from her novel in progress, invite you to join in a read-through of a short film script, and have a discussion on some of the themes. For details visit
The MAC will also be holding a International Women’s Day Festival until 11th March, The MAC has a packed programme of events to celebrate International Women’s Day.
For full details visit International Women's Day 2021.
Finally, Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich will celebrate Seachtain na Gaeilge 2021 and Féile an Earraigh with a varied programme of events between the 6th and 17th of March.
The celebration of women will be central to this year’s programme as Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich will broadcast a series of three interviews during the week beginning the 8th of March with artists who have long held ties with the Cultúrlann including, Nuala Ní Néill, Eimear Nic Roibeaird and Therese Bann.
The public will then be given an opportunity to see how a multi-artform film is made (during a pandemic) with a special event on the 13th of March when the four women behind the film ‘Spéirbhean’ will shed a light on the inspiration, the challenges and the creative processes behind this ground-breaking work.
