RPA ART POLICY
For all the works undertaken by RPA in the construction of Metro and Luas projects a financial sum shall be identified for the creation of cultural and art-making opportunities for artists, art-based groups and communities liaising with artists, in accordance with international policy on arts and culture and the recommendations of our government’s publication, Public Art: Per Cent for Art Scheme, General National Guidelines—2004.
RPA’s infrastructural projects have the power to effect significant change in the cultural life of the city and its communities and to assess the cultural impact of its work. Furthermore, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Human Development Report, 2004 proposes ‘culture’ as the fourth pillar of sustainability, of the same order as the three classic pillars: economic, social and environmental.
Under Transport 21’s aims, RPA is responsible for ensuring sustainability in the execution of its projects. A Policy for Sustainable Cultural Development is necessary to guide RPA’s infrastructural projects towards achieving sustainable cultural integration in context with the communities and landscapes they intersect.
RPA’s Luas and Metro projects are unique among state capital construction budgets in Ireland. RPA’s projects impact on the urban fabric more profoundly than infrastructural projects carried out by similar state agencies because of the scale and complexity of light rail public transport. By transforming landscape and townscape on cultural, functional and aesthetic levels, the impacts on community, place and landscape are far-reaching.
RPA recognises that art projects can allow for the expression of concerns and celebration of changes brought about by the new infrastructure. In facilitating artists to work alone or with communities, RPA allow for the healthy outpouring of expression that is the inevitable response to change, and look forward to the manifestation of these responses.
RPA recognise the value of all art forms and of collaborations between arts and design disciplines in the production of culture and art-works that engage public audiences. Submissions will be welcomed from artists, art-based groups and communities working with artists as appropriate to individual briefs.
While RPA do not wish to limit the endeavours of communities and practitioners, some logistical restrictions will doubtless apply to each individual project. These will be outlined in the individual commission briefs and will form part of the contractual agreement between RPA and the practitioners on commissioning.
For more information on RPA Arts Policy or if you are interested in applying for an Arts Commission with RPA, please Contact Us.