Kerry-based artist to receive 2024 Markievicz Award

A Kerry-based artist has been named as one of ten new recipients of the Markievicz Award for 2024.

Laura Fitzgerald, who is based in Inch, has received funding to research the archive of Irish experimental filmmaker, artist, and poet Flora Kerrigan.

The Markievicz Award has been running since 2019, and is designed to support artists to develop their craft and produce art that recognises and commemorates the role of women in the 20th Century and beyond.

The Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin TD, announced the 10 new recipients on the 24th October.

Minister Martin said:

“I want to congratulate the 10 new recipients of the Markievicz Award. They join a collective of 52 other artists who have received this award since 2019. The aim of this Award is to support artists from all backgrounds and genres by giving them time to create.

This is the 6th year of this Award that has been so masterfully administrated and championed by the Arts Council and I want to thank them again for their expertise and dedication as project partners.

“The Markievicz Award is an important legacy of the Decade of Centenaries Programme which concluded in December 2023. The continuation of the Award into the new phase of Commemorations is a response to the significant impact of the Award and the positive feedback and continued interest from the arts community.”

Since 2021, up to 10 artists (either individual artists working alone or in collaboration with others) have been supported each year, up to a value of €25,000 per individual or group. The Award is administered by the Arts Council on behalf of the Minister of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media through the Cultural Institutions and Commemorations Unit.

Sinéad O’Reilly, Director of Combined Arts at the Arts Council, said:

“We are delighted to continue our support of this important initiative in partnership with the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, which offers vital backing to artists throughout Ireland. The bursary honours the trailblazing legacy of Constance de Markievicz, the first woman elected to both the Irish parliament and cabinet. We want to congratulate this year’s awardees, and we eagerly anticipate the diverse and innovative works that will come from this year’s artists.”

Minister Martin added:

“It was a great pleasure to meet with the artists that are in receipt of the 2024 Markievicz Award. The arts have commonly been seen as a safe space to view the often complex events of the past. It is particularly fitting that this award in honour of Constance de Markievicz, uses the medium of art to address the overlooked, possibly underappreciated role of women in the revolutionary period and the early years of the establishment of the State.

“I look forward to hearing of the progress of the 2024 Markievicz Award winners and hope that through this Award they have the opportunity to develop their skills and recognise their true potential.”