Social Pictures: IMMA 1000 Launch

At the IMMA 1000 launch in Dublin, IMMA announced a number of key purchases, all by female artists, to the IMMACollection. Also announced were four new IMMA 1000 residencies, each of which carries a bursary for artists alongside free accommodation and studio space at IMMA.

The first three acquired works are The weakening eye of day by Isabel Nolan, A Reflection on Light by Grace Weir and The Meaning of Greatness by Sarah Pierce. Nolan and Weir’s works were both first shown in IMMA as part of exhibitions in 2014 and 2015 respectively.

IMMA’s Collection is the National Collection of Modern and Contemporary Art, however funding cuts over the last decade have severely restricted the Museums ability to purchase new works. Two new initiatives, IMMA 1000 and The Hennessy Art Fund for IMMA Collection, are now allowing for new acquisitions for the first time in many years.

IMMA Director Sarah Glennie said; ?IMMA 1000 was created in reaction to a concern for the future of Irish art, triggered by the devastating cuts in arts funding from 2008 onwards. Our goal was to create a fund that would allow us to achieve our mission to support Irish artists within this altered landscape. The fund has been incredibly successful in year one, thanks in no small part to its founder John Cunningham, our exclusive Corporate Partner Goodbody, The Eighty Eight Foundation and all of the visionary individuals who stepped forward to support Irish Art.

?We are delighted to announce that we have reached our ambitious target of raising €120,000 in year one. That’s €120,000 that we have been able to use to directly fund individual artists for their work in three major ways – throughout the 2016/2017 programme, through a series of new paid residencies announced tonight for 2017 and three new acquisitions for the IMMA Collection.

We are particularly pleased to have been awarded match funding for the IMMA 1000 acquisitions fund by Minister Humphreys which will allow us to really maximise these individual donations and purchase a number of key works for the National Collection. We are announcing the first three of these acquisitions today and I am very happy to see such strong works by female artists joining the Collection, all of whom have exhibited in IMMA in the past. All three works represent significant moments in these artists? practices and it is vital that IMMA Is in a position to acquire landmark works such as these for the National Collection of Modern and Contemporary art. Collections create an invaluable legacy for future generations. IMMA collects in the present and these purchases will help to ensure that the richness of work being produced by visual artists in Ireland now contributes to the understanding and enjoyment of Irish culture in the future.?

?Museums can support artists in many different ways and I am delighted that through the extraordinary success of IMMA 1000, and the additional support by the Department, we have been able to support so many Irish artists works across our programmes and through our residency; providing much needed space and support for artists to think, reflect and develop new work.?

To find out more about IMMA 1000, including ways to donate, please visit www.imma.ie.