CONNECTED

At its heart, Artlink is about people. Strangers are just people who aren't Members yet.

 

THE VITAL SPARK

Collaboration and interaction can ignite new ideas

 
 

IT TAKES A VILLAGE

Artlink exists because of the people, the organisations and the Funders who support it

Artlink

Artlink was formed in 1992 and is the longest established professional visual art organisation in Inishowen, Co. Donegal.

Artlink Office, Studio and Workshop spaces are currently based at the historical and picturesque location of Fort Dunree Military Museum, Buncrana.

Artlink looks for imaginative ways to link artists to the community and the community to art.

Artlink is a registered charity and receives ongoing support from the Arts Council of Ireland and Donegal County Council.

Artlink is a proud member of Visual Artists Ireland.

Aims | Vision | Mission

 

OUR VISION

Our vision is of a time when rural areas in Ireland will have a vibrant, sustainable art community, confident in the uniqueness of its voice.

OUR MISSION

Artlink’s mission is to provide the expertise and physical resources to build a strong sustainable visual arts culture and contribute to the artistic and economic ecology of the North West of Ireland.

OUR AIMS

Our aims are to create opportunities for Irish and international emerging and established visual artists to develop their creativity and art practice at all stages of their career.
To create a vibrant, committed and rigorous visual art community locally.
To creatively empower the local community and widen participation in the visual arts.
To increase public knowledge and appreciation of contemporary art.
To explore the contribution of contemporary visual arts in the social and economic development of rural places.
To develop innovative art projects rooted in this rural, coastal context.
To build national and international connections for the arts in the North West of Ireland.
To make new opportunities for people to be involved in the arts as audiences and active participants.
To make Fort Dunree a focal point of artistic interest along the Wild Atlantic Way.
To develop premises at Dunree as a fully accessible arts facility/resource for the population of Inishowen and the wider region.
To ensure long term sustainability for Artlink and all its activities

Artlink is supported and funded by

OUR BOARD MEMBERS

Mark Hill

Mark Hill is a sculptor working in the public domain. He is Co-Director of LUXE - Landscape Theatre Company www.luxe.ie . He holds a BA (Hons) Degree in Fine Art from Liverpool Art College. His career in Arts and Theatre spans over 30 years. Mark enjoys long term creative relationships with artists, arts organisations, festivals and funding bodies across Ireland and Internationally. As a dedicated community artist his work engages and is enjoyed on all levels.

Martin McGinley

Music Development Manager at Donegal Music Education Partnership, part of the Donegal Education and Training Board. Former BBC NI television reporter, former editor of the Derry Journal and Donegal Democrat. Well-known traditional fiddler.

Esther Alleyne

Arts and Culture Facilities Officer at Roe Valley Arts Centre Esther was Arts Business Development Manager at Loaf Pottery in Crawfordsburn and has worked with various regional and international organisations including Echo Echo Dance Theatre Company for 6 years as well as Young at Art, Gary Rowntree Dance and LUXe

Jack Murray

Jack Murray resides in Buncrana and has been an elected member of Donegal County Council since 2011. He served as Chairperson of the Inishowen Municipal District from 2017 - 2018 and as Cathaoirleach of Donegal County Council from 2021 - 2022. He is passionate about supporting arts & culture locally and sees the local authority as a key vehicle for assisting in its development.

Sharon Porter

MBA, DMA, PGCFHE, BA (Hons).
Sharon is an entrepreneur, educator and enterprise development consultant. She has worked with the community sector and commercial start-ups as a consultant, trainer and mentor. While employed at Ulster University, Sharon championed cross-
campus innovation and entrepreneurship education within diverse subject areas and lectured in Arts Entrepreneurship. She recently set-up Solas Ireland Walks and Hikes and is a qualified hiking and a Regional Fáilte Ireland Tour Guide.

Shane Finan

Shane Finan, an artist and project manager, specialises in collaborative, research-based work. He focuses on critical technologies, creating interactive artworks exploring human and nonhuman relationships through myth, ecology, and digital technology. With six years of experience leading AI and machine learning projects at Trinity College, he now leads the artistic research project Púca in the Machine and co-founded the artist collective ^.

Sean Beattie

Dr Sean Beattie is a research historian, editor of Donegal Annual, Macklin Festival and Colgan Heritage Weekend committee member, chairman of Ulster Local History Trust, author of a number of books on Donegal history, Ph.D. specialising in Congested Districts Board. .Worked as a teacher of English, History and French in St. Joseph’s Secondary School, Derry, subsequently at Ballyfermot Vocational School, Dublin. In 2013 he was awarded an honorary degree by the National University of Ireland, Galway.

Artlink Team

Martha McCulloch

Martha McCulloch studied fine art printmaking and photography at Glasgow School of Art. She went on to become a Lecturer at what was then Sheffield Polytechnic (now Sheffield Hallam University), returning to Scotland to take up the post as the first Director of Street Level Photoworks in Glasgow, the first dedicated photography venue in the West of Scotland. She later went back to The Glasgow School of Art as a Lecturer in Fine Art Photography, moving to Donegal in 2000 to establish Memory Factory Photography along with Harry Kerr.

Patricia Spokes

Patricia Spokes holds an Association of Accounting Technicians MAAT, 2003 and has been responsible for finance and administration at Artlink since 2005. She completed a foundation course in Fine Art at NCAD, Dublin after leaving school and in 2012 she was awarded an Associate Bachelor's Degree in Fine Art from the North West Regional College, Limavady. She specialises in landscape painting, with a particular interest in the landscape of North Donegal.

Rebecca Strain

Rebecca Strain is a visual artist, writer, curator and arts project manager currently based in Inishowen, County Donegal, Ireland.
Rebecca works with the transformative process of papermaking as a methodology for her live performance
In 2017 she began to occupy 'The Potting Shed' , an artwork by Christine Mackey at Fort Dunree. She established Amach Anseo (From Now On) which continues to operate as an activist space through horticulture and counterculture promoting hopefulness through action.

Tadhg Taylor

Tadhg Taylor lives in Buncrana. He has experience in retail, research and administration. He holds a ECDL Computer Application including Word Excel Access, Powerpoint Internet and a FETC in Business Admin Skills including, Finance, Money, Banking and Foreign Exchange, Human Resources and Processing Business Documents

REGISTERED CHARITY No. 20039752

OUR POLICIES

Artlink Child Safeguarding Statement

Artlink Child Protection Policy

Artlink Exhibition Policy