Artist David wins scholarship to study in Belfast
GOREY’S David Monaghan has won the Universities Ireland North-South Scholarship worth €15,000 to complete a one year post-graduate degree at the Belfast School of Art.
Completing a Masters Degree, his research will explore how animation and storytelling can be a vital tool in promoting cross-community dialogue in Belfast.
The aim of the scholarship is to encourage outstanding students from the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland to cross the border to undertake postgraduate study and experience life in the other jurisdiction, and just four students across the island received the scholarship.
David said he was surprised (to have been chosen) but excited to begin the next chapter when he relocates to Belfast later in the summer.
He thanked his family and those in the local artistic community for supporting him, as well as those who assisted with his application, including former National College of Art and Design (NCAD) lecturer Robert Armstrong, Brendan Howlin TD and his brother Colin Monaghan.
In his application, which included a 2,000 word essay, he had to explain how his research would promote an all-Ireland perspective in his chosen field, as well as a greater cultural output than that is already available.
‘Looking at the animation sector in Ireland, it’s booming and it’s internationally recognised which is fantastic, but the sad thing about it that kind of irks me sometimes is that it’s very much geographically and spiritually situated in the Republic of Ireland.
‘Looking towards the future discussion about a united Ireland, it’s crucial that culture lays that foundation. It’s really important that our film and artistic work and the animation sector is representative of the four corners of the island.
‘During my course, I’ll be making a short animated film, situating that in Belfast and using mythology around Belfast to talk about political violence and the effects of this on division and all these other things in fitting that into a collaborative community environment. I’m looking forward to meeting new people and gaining ideas, embodying them and bring them back with me. I’d be interested to see how film and community development link in and what does that mean.
‘What Covid-19 has shown us is the importance of culture and community, and how culture can be a nice language for people to engage in,’ he said.
David’s degree in Painting and Critical Culture from NCAD was what got him interested in the idea of cultural democracy, promoting community access to art in order to promote new dialogue.
‘In my final year, I got very interested in community art and collaboration. For my end of year exhibition, I created this very interactive environment which allowed the space for people to highlight political slogans and discuss health and housing, and the need for change.
‘There was a podcast element, which got people talking on the need for the political system to be more engaged with working class people so we ensure that our public services are engaging for people and asked how we make it better for everyone.
‘I’m hoping I can follow this in with the Masters, and look at how we promote cultural democracy, democratic access to culture and how it feeds into our knowledge of national and local issues politically. I hope then maybe we can go beyond that into issues like health and housing, reconciliation and legacy issues and so forth’.
In Gorey, within the last year David has been involved with creating the Mary Fitzgerald Award bursary as well as a mini-feminist cultural festival.
He thanked members of the artistic community for their ongoing support.
‘A lot of the events here wouldn’t have happened without their support. Eamonn Carter has been such a huge help to me in formulating everything,’ he said.