Artists have long created space to examine difficult questions, challenge established perspectives and make complex experiences more visible. Several recipients recognised at this year’s Business to Arts Awards are developing work examining some of the pressing social, environmental and personal issues of our time.
Across community engagement, architecture, performance and digital art, these projects bring different voices and perspectives into the conversation. They explore how climate action can become more inclusive, how communities can participate in decisions about changing landscapes and how art can give expression to experiences of grief, infertility and loss.
The Irish Life creativity in the community award was presented to Cuilcagh Lakelands Geopark and artist Alan James Burns for Divergently Together, a cross-Border project supporting neurodivergent and disabled people to participate in climate action. Creative workshops brought together communities from Cavan, Fermanagh and Tyrone, placing neurodivergent perspectives within conversations about sustainability and environmental policy.
Working with local participants, policymakers and businesses, the project developed practical tools including accessible “Know Before You Go” resources, sensory-friendly approaches and inclusive communication strategies. These have since been adopted across geopark sites, business partners and ambassador networks. Through workshops, exhibitions and outreach activities, Divergently Together reached more than 45,000 people and established new approaches to participation across the geopark.
Ireland’s changing peatlands provided the focus for Bog Bothy: A New Peatlands Architecture, winner of the ESB creative sustainability award. Developed by the Irish Architecture Foundation, 12th Field and Offaly and Meath County Councils, the project created a mobile gathering space that travelled between bog sites, supporting dialogue around climate action, land use and stewardship.
More than 2,000 residents, policymakers, ecologists and cultural practitioners participated in workshops, building programmes and public events. The project also reached more than one million people through media and digital communications, extending conversations about the future of the peatlands beyond the communities directly involved. By bringing architecture, environmental research and local knowledge together, Bog Bothy created a shared setting in which communities could consider the social and environmental changes taking place around them.
The Accenture €10,000 digital innovation in art bursary was awarded to Peter Power and Leon Butler, an Irish artistic duo working across performance, immersive technology and digital art. Their previous work has included virtual reality, installation and interactive performance presented at platforms including Ars Electronica, SXSW, Galway Film Fleadh, Beta Festival and Project Arts Centre.
The bursary will support the research and development of a new hybrid live and digital performance examining death, grief, memory and digital afterlives. Drawing on synthetic voice technologies, digital archives and algorithmic memory, they’ll advance their exploration of how technology is changing the way people remember, grieve and maintain connections with those they have lost. The work will explore how messages, photographs, voice notes and other digital traces allow those who have died to persist within technological systems.
Actor and theatre-maker Aoibheann McCaul received the Jim McNaughton/TileStyle €10,000 Artist’s Bursary to develop a one-woman theatre piece exploring infertility, IVF and miscarriage in contemporary Ireland. An autobiographical work-in-progress previously presented to a sold-out audience at the Scene + Heard Festival, the production combines verbatim storytelling, dark humour and multi-role performance.
The bursary will support McCaul in expanding the existing work into a full-length production. By bringing personal testimony to the stage, the show will address experiences that affect many individuals and families but remain underrepresented in public conversation and Irish theatre. Its development reflects the role performance can play in making private experiences visible, challenging stigma and creating space for recognition and discussion.
These four recipients approach complex subjects through different artistic practices. Divergently Together centres neurodivergent and disabled voices within climate action. Bog Bothy creates a physical space for communities to consider the future of Ireland’s peatlands. Peter Power and Leon Butler are examining the influence of technology on memory and grief, while Aoibheann McCaul is bringing lived experience of infertility and reproductive loss to the stage.
The Business to Arts Awards continue to champion the transformative power of partnerships between the corporate and arts sectors in Ireland. This year’s winners are a testament to how businesses and artists can collaborate to tackle challenging subjects, promote inclusivity and bring the arts to diverse communities. The partnerships recognised through the Business to Arts Awards demonstrate what can be achieved when creativity, purpose and shared ambition come together, enriching Ireland’s cultural landscape and helping shape a more imaginative, inclusive and resilient future.
To learn more about developing a creative partnership or becoming a member of Business to Arts, please visit businesstoarts.ie