Inaugural Dublin Forum: Working Together? Culture and the City
Abstracts and Presentations
- Catherine Morris - The University Perspective
- Fiona Ross - The Future of Our Past
- John Tierney - Promoting a Creative City: A Licence to Collaborate
"I'd like to thank the James Wickham and Helen Murray of the Policy Institute for inviting me to create this first Dublin Forum in collaboration with them. I wanted to bring together the Provost of Trinity College, John Hegarty and Professor of Economics John O'Hagan (two of the pioneers of Trinity's Cultural, Arts and Technology Creative Initiative), the City Manager and the Directorof the National Library."
"The public discussion focused on the challenges and possibilities created in the city by an unprecedented new wave of urban collaboration.As cultural coordinator it is my role to activate connections between Trinity and arts and culture across the city. The partnership blueprint I am helping to create between Trinity College and the National Library of Ireland is an intervention into contemporary policy debates that focus on how cultural partnerships are reshaping the local, national and international landscape of Ireland."
Catherine's talk offered some key examples of areas in which Trinity and the National Library are working together. These include:
- The creation of new joint library storage.
- The launch of educational programmes (such as the two new M Phils in Digital Humanities and Public History) which include student internships in libraries, museums, and galleries.
- Matching research projects and funding bids with the pre digital scoping of archives.
- Joint exhibition projects.
The international contexts in which each project is being located (in the UK, US and Europe) offers valuable context, generates ideas for best practice and provides new international outreach development for universities and cultural institutions.
Catherine concluded her talk by suggesting that Trinity is leading the way in national and global third level education in its commitment to develop multiple creative partnerships. The unique and groundbreaking collaborative model generated between the National Library of Ireland and Trinity College offers a critical methodology for how cultural policy can be re-shaped to meet the challenges faced by third level education and the cultural institutions in Ireland today.
For further information see:
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Irish Times profile of Cultural Coordinator's work at Trinity and the National Library
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New partnership between the National Library and Trinity College announced with the appointment of Catherine Morris as Cultural Coordinator in October 2010. This joint appointment is the first of its kind in Ireland and is part of Trinity's pioneering initiative in Creative Arts, Technologies and Culture.
- New Mphil Programmes in Digital Humanities and Public History and Cultural Heritage.
Fiona Ross, Director of the National Library of Ireland (NLI) discussed the issues and challenges facing not only the National Library of Ireland but facing all Libraries who seek to re-define their role in a digital age. Fiona's talk addressed specific plans the NLI has for the collection of digital material, the challenges in caring for a large collection in an era of declining budgets and the plans to build a 21st century Digital Library on behalf of the Nation. The presentation offered some pragmatic insights into the change agenda under way at the NLI.
John Tierney, Dublin City Manager looked at a number of collaborations undertaken by Dublin City Council with the Universities, the Cultural Institutions and other organisations within the City. He also commented on the importance of the creative city approach in the global environment as it is developing. John's talk discussed some of the initiatives being promoted by the Creative Dublin Alliance and by Dublin City Council in partnership with the public and private sector. The talk also considered partnerships and networking crucial to the future success of the city.