The Music Network/Centre Culturel Irlandais Music Performance Bursary was established to enable Irish musicians to further their performance careers during residencies at the centre in Paris, as well as being an important means of showcasing Ireland’s dynamic contemporary culture on an international stage.

The one-month residency offers the recipient the opportunity to tap into the many resources that both the CCI and Paris itself offer. The former recipients of the music residency in association with Music Network are Mairéad Hickey (2019/20), Aisling Kenny (2018-19), Sam Comerford (2017-18), Barry Donoghue (2016-17) and Rhob Cunningham (2015-16).

Nora Hickey M’Sichili, Director of Centre Culturel Irlandais, today announced the recipients of residencies and bursaries for the Centre’s 2020-2021 programme. Thirty-three artists across the spectrum of artistic backgrounds will spend from one to three months in Paris to develop their proposed projects, which range from the development of a play about French political activist and thinker Simon Weil to the development of a new musical theatre piece exploring Dublin’s Jewish Quarter at the turn of the 20th century, and from historic research into utopian collective living at The Familistère in Northern France to the study of the Musée D’Orsay’s alpine collection.

Macdara Yeates is a vocalist, composer and curator from Dublin working in contemporary traditional Irish music. Macdara has toured on four continents both as a solo artist and with folk ensemble Skipper’s Alley. He has composed and performed with theatre companies THEATREclub and Mouth on Fire and has produced work with St. Patrick’s Festival, Dublin Port Company, Aiken Promotions and more.

Macdara will use his residency to break new, ambitious ground in his solo performing career, namely in developing an electro-acoustic solo performance of song and soundscape. Centred on the life of Dublin traditional singer and songwriter Liam Weldon, the piece endeavours to ‘bring the archive on stage’, combining a wealth of archive recordings, newsreel snippets, and personal interviews with Weldon and his family, all collated to form a digital soundscape running alongside a live score of traditional and original songs.

Music Network’s mission is to make high quality live music available and accessible to people throughout Ireland, regardless of their location or circumstance. Central to Music Network’s mission is supporting the performance careers of professional musicians. This is achieved through the provision of a range of programmes including touring and performance, commissioning, residencies, learning and participation initiatives and direct funding schemes, as well as complementary supports including information, training and advice services. For more information, please visit musicnetwork.ie/musicians.

Located in the heart of the Latin Quarter, in the old Irish College, the Centre Culturel Irlandais is Ireland’s flagship cultural centre in Europe. The Centre presents the work of contemporary Irish artists and musicians while fostering a vibrant and creative resident community. In addition to its diverse cultural programme, the Centre houses France’s primary multi-media library of resources on Ireland as well as significant historic archives, an Old Library and chapel. For more information, please visit centreculturelirlandais.com.