The Archive at CityArts

The Archive, a living archive that charts the development of the organisation over a thirty-five year period and by that extension, the community arts movement in Ireland.

The Archive at CityArts is a collection of papers, photographs and moving image material that documents and records the socially engaged, activist and collaborative arts practice traced and developed by CityArts since 1973. The Archive is unique in that the material collected in it is evidence of activity within an important and often invisible sector of Ireland's cultural heritage.

Launched in September 2006, the Archive now plays a central role in creating new interest in archives and archiving amongst the Irish cultural sector, drawing attention to the importance of memory building and its role in validating and supporting marginalised practices.

Augusto BoalAugusto Boal at City Arts Centre

Recent education programmes around The Archive have expanded on the theme of hidden histories. For example the touring exhibition, The Art of Social Change (2006-08), designed by artist Nina Tanis, highlighted the story of the community arts movement in Ireland; a symposium Memory-Art-Power (2006) examined the importance of archiving for cultural validation and development. Speakers included artist, curator and critic Eddie Chambers, founder of the African and Asian Visual Artists' Archive; Claire Hackett, Director, the Dúchas Archive, Falls Road, Belfast; Helen Johnson, Director, Combat Poverty Ireland; Núria Verges, the European Social Forum Common Memory Project and Eíbhlin Evans of the Irish Life Writing Project at University College Dublin; and DIY Archiving Workshops (2006-07) led by artist and archivist Alan Phelan. Designed as a practical response to the growing need by artists, artists' groups and community groups for professional archiving information.

Throughout 2007-08, CityArts worked in partnership with Interface at the University of Ulster on the Art of the Ordinary project, which explored the meaning of the connections (if any) between recent contemporary art practice, folk art practice and folk memory. The Archive has received generous support from the Heritage Council for its continued professional development.

For more information on the Heritage Council, please visit their website: http://www.heritagecouncil.ie/