The Irish vintage has arrived – that’s how you could summarize the latest news from the International Artists’ House Villa Concordia in Bamberg. Because it’s not just nine Irish artists who are moving into the beautiful rooms and apartments of the baroque castle on the Regnitz this April, but also eight German ones.
This time, as the Ministry of Art announced, Viola Bittl, Samuel Laurence Cunnane, Mairead O’hEocha, Tamsin Snow and Lukas Troberg were awarded a working scholarship in the field of visual arts. Hugo Hamilton, Rachel McNicholl, Hans-Christian Oeser, Markus Ostermair, Annette Pehnt and Cathy Sweeney represent the literature. And this year the music will be represented by Ed Bennett, Frieder Butzmann, Ann Cleare, Nina Deuse, Arne Gieshoff and Judith Ring.
Similar to the recently adopted Ukrainian-German previous cohort, all 17 cultural workers travel for five or eleven months and receive 1,500 euros per month from the Free State of Bavaria in addition to the residency grant. They will introduce themselves to the public for the first time in the villa on May 15th and will host further readings, concerts and exhibitions throughout the year. In any case, Art Minister Markus Blume sees the best conditions for creative cooperation: “We share conviviality and joy of life with our guests from Ireland.”