Dream On Bursary: Recipients Announced
A huge congratulations to the selected recipients for the Dream On bursary: Kayssie K., Hannah Mamalis, Mollie Molumby, Maïa Nunes and Eimear Reilly.
We received over one hundred applications for Dream On bursary and as we read, we marvelled at the ingenuity and variety of the ideas submitted. The proposals came from every discipline, and we loved hearing about the ideas humming in every corner of the arts world. We were struck by an encouraging commitment to liveness and the scale of ambition on show. Our reading lit up our excitement for the future, for the shows we have yet to see, the gigs, exhibitions and art experiences waiting to come to life when the time is right.
Narrowing the field was challenging, and we began our deliberations with a hefty longlist of artists and ideas, all of whom we can’t wait to hear more from. In our selection process, we prioritised interdisciplinarity, singular and striking ideas along with diverse modes of audience engagement. After much discussion, we have chosen a bold and brilliant final five that are representative of the broad spectrum of forms and styles in the applications.
Read on to find our more about the artists and their projects. We know they will capture your imagination like they did ours and we look forward to seeing them come to life in the future!
Kayssie K.:
Kayssie is developing a live interdisciplinary work that blends spoken word, dance, music and more to explore the notion of black womanhood. Kayssie will build on her talents as a spoken word artist to create a rich and bold exploration of her identity and legacy. Kayssie’s poetry speaks to her Irish and Zimbabwean identity, drawing on the language, imagery and culture of both. Utilising joy to create a celebration of black womanhood, the project boldly blends disciplines in support of Kayssie's singular vision.
A poet and singer-songwriter, Kayssie K., also known as Christie Kandiwa, was born in Zimbabwe and raised in Ireland. Her work is influenced by blending her Zimbabwean cultural heritage and her Irish upbringing and intertwines Southern-African myths and local languages and forms. As well as being published in Dedalus Press Writing Home: The ‘New Irish’ Poets Anthology, her work was selected for Poetry Ireland’s Versify 2019 and she was a panellist for the IASIL 2019 Conference event: “Are We Doing Diversity Justice?”.
In 2020, she worked along with Chiamaka Enyi-Amadi in the production of See x Sea as part of the Mother of Tongues Ireland which touched on elements of black womanhood, identity and themes of home. In the International Literature Festival 2020, she featured in Say it Aloud - We’re Irish! Beyond Representation, RIANetwork’s Rooted & United and Writing Home - The New Irish Poets. She also collaborated with Tari Takavarasha in the production of The Language I Cannot Speak which explored what it is to be Zimbabwean and from the diaspora. Their experiences, though varying and deeply rooted, united to paint a picture that says as much about beautiful and complex intergenerational relationships, as it does about the lasting and current effects of immigration, colonialism, multiculturalism and growing up into a proud black woman in the western world today.
Hannah Mamalis:
Hannah is developing a new comedy/theatre hybrid performance integrating video exploring the idea that we are all strangers with shared experiences. Hannah’s sideways take on the every day creates a funny, strange and satisfying fusion of the language of the internet with contemporary Irish literary prose. This new project tackles the existential and the everyday with a unique style that melds documentary, stand-up and online culture.
Hannah is a writer, actress and comedian based in Dublin. Working across all three of those things, Hannah explores form and figuring out ways to amalgamate them together. Hannah has written two solo shows, the first, The Egg is a Lonely Hunter which premiered at the Dublin Fringe in 2017 was a dark comedic odyssey about a missing child, a black hole and a girl with an irrational fear of eggs. The second, Symphony of Worms which premiered at the Dublin Fringe in 2019 was a personal patchwork of comedy, autobiography and storytelling, wherein the writer imagined my own death in lots of different ways and in doing so explored the complex nature of my own expression and creativity. Hannah has also written collaboratively on several projects for stage and screen and regularly perform with comedy group Dreamgun.
Mollie Molumby:
Mollie is developing an immersive, interactive experience for young audiences to experience from home. Led by a lively script, snippets of pre-recorded action and live storytelling from John Doran, this project will take young audience through a live digital ‘whodunnit’ from the safety of their living room. Mollie blends theatre, film and participative performance to create lively, considered storytelling for young audiences. This new project displays a refreshing commitment to liveness and to creating opportunities for play, connecting young audiences with both fun and intelligent art experiences.
Mollie is a writer, director and producer specialising in theatre for young audiences. She is co-director of Bombinate Theatre. Bombinate’s shows include Half Light (First Fortnight Award at Dublin Fringe 2016), Susie and the Story Shredder (Dublin Fringe 2018, National Tour 2019) and Goodnight Egg (2021). Mollie was assistant director on The Snapper (Gate Theatre 2018 and 2019) and produced Alison Spittle's Starlet as part of Dublin Fringe 2019. Mollie was recently commissioned to write A Wintry Play as part of The Ark and RTE Afterschool Hub’s The Show Must Go On. Mollie holds a BA in Drama Studies from Trinity College Dublin and an MA in Cultural Policy and Arts Management from UCD (both First Class Hons.).
Maïa Nunes:
Maïa is developing a live interdisciplinary work using sound, video, clay, text and movement to create a powerful, intricate performance world. They bring a strong sense of the collective to their solo practise, mining black queer feminist thought to use the past to map a radical future. Meditating on the question ‘what can we learn from an apocalypse?’, this project integrates elements of mysticism into art practice, offering a poetic and insightful experience for audiences.
Maïa Nunes (they/them) is a queer Black-mixed performance artist of Trinidadian-Irish descent. Their performance practice explores ambiguity as the site of transformative potential, ritual as healing for the afro-diaspora, and song as liberation practice. This work so far includes three major performance projects: performance series WISH, WAYS TO LOVE ME, and INCANTATION presented at Dublin Fringe Festival 2019. Maia spent the beginning of 2020 as artist in residence at The Alice Yard in Trinidad and Tobago, and is recent recipient of the Wicklow Arts Office Artist Support Award and the Irish Arts Council’s Visual Arts Bursary Award.
Maia is also co-founder of Origins Eile, a grassroots organisation, centring the safety and experiences of QTIBPOC in Ireland. Origins Eile just ran a small program of events entitled DESTINY: A Constellation of Queer Afro Futurist Visions as part of Dublin Fringe Festival 2020 and is about to launch a new publication called TONGUES in association with Black Pride Ireland.
Eimear Reilly:
Eimear is developing a site-specific theatrical night walk, retracing the steps of a young women en-route to a party. The project will use ambitious lighting design and bold storytelling to activate the city. Eimear is an exciting playwright with a singular voice who will be using her wealth of practical behind-the-scenes experience to bring her high artistic ambitions to life. This project introduces the kind of brilliant idea that makes you want to buy a ticket before the script has been written.
Eimear Reilly is interested in telling messy stories about difficult humans in interesting ways. Her career to date in theatre has seen her work in both Ireland and the UK. For two years she worked for Michael Keegan-Dolan's Teac Damsa as production assistant on 'Swan Lake/Loch na hEala' while it toured both nationally and internationally. In 2017/2018 she worked with Gare St Lazare on its world premiere of 'How It Is (Part One)'. Also in 2018, alongside Maura O’Keeffe she produced ‘In Clouds’ for Cork Midsummer Festival. Eimear's other festival credits include work at Wexford Festival Opera as production assistant and the 2019 season at Garsington Opera in the UK, where she worked as assistant company manager.
With the support of Pat Kiernan, she has been developing her debut play with Corcadorca. Throughout 2020 she continued to work with the company on new writing. In Spring 2020, Eimear was awarded a week-long residency at Shawbrook Dance where she developed new work.