New course to promote the Arts

Would you like to see more arts and cultural activities in your community? ‘Cultural Leadership’ is the name of an exciting new course which is being offered in Kinnegad by Midland Arts, Westmeath VEC as part of it’s Arts Education Courses.The course is designed to support individuals, voluntary groups and communities to develop the skills to work together to encourage, organise and promote arts and cultural events and activities in their communities.The course will provisionally run on Tuesday afternoons from 4-6pm and commences in October. However if you are interested but can’t attend this particular course, Midland Arts will be interested to hear from you to examine if the course could be run at another time or elsewhere.It will cover a range of topics including the value of arts and culture in the community, developing local culture, teamwork in the community, event planning and budgeting, hosting touring events, tools for publicity and promotion, making the most of community venues, and community radio training, etc.The course will run for about 15 weeks in the Old National School, Kinnegad from October to April and accreditation may be offered at FETAC Level 5, in the Event Production Module. The course was offered for the first time last year in Wicklow and was very successful with participants organising a wide range of cultural events in local communities as part of the course.It will be delivered by Conor O’Leary from Artlands which seeks to enhance the cultural life of local communities by supporting and empowering voluntary arts promotion and action. Conor is also an awardee with Social Entrepreneurs Ireland.The course will cost €100. To register your interest or to apply, please phone 044-9379040 or 086-1734626 or email: midlandarts@westmeathvec.ie