P07 → Quarter
Quarter was a project by Makeshift Ensemble initiated by Caoilian Sherlock and Eszter Némethi in 2012 originally to address the lack of work and presentation spaces available in Cork city for young artists, as well to create a social space for artists to come together beyond disciplinary boundaries. The project had three distinct phases.PHASE 1 Quarter (2012-2013)
PHASE 2 Quarter at the TDC (2013-2014)
Quarter was an ongoing and multi-faceted project by Makeshift Ensemble that started as a resource sharing space and mini arts centre that operated for three months (October 2012 - January 2013) ran by Caoilian Sherlock and Eszter Némethi, providing hot desks, residency space, perfromance space and a small library to Cork based artists alongside a weekly program of events including theatre, film screenings, music, poetry nights and culminated in a small two day festival called 'Parabola' in January 2013
.
Following the success of Parabola we were invited by the Theatre Development Centre to continue as a quarterly series of events. With the curatorial and production leadership of Eszter Némethi and Leah Hearne - Makeshift Ensemble ran these between May 2013 and November 2014 curating and producing six one to three day mini-festivals at the Theatre Development Centre and Gulpd Cafe.
The main objectives of the project were to create an European context for the work produced or presented in Cork, introduce young artists and producers to the community, place a strong emphasis on mentorship and allow space for experimentation - as we identified these as the keys towards securing paid employement for young artists within the arts industry. Over the course of the project we produced six mini festivals, a day long symposium, two weekend producing and marketing workshops.
Quarter engaged with over 150 young artists locally and nationally establishing it as a highly anticipated and exciting arts event in Cork.
Martín Sharry
Dick Walsh
Niamh Moroney
Moustache Latte
PHASE 3 Quarter Block Party (2015-to date)
Quarter Block Party is an artist led site-specific arts and music festival that takes place on the first weekend of February each year on North and South Main Street, Cork. Developed and produced by Makeshift Ensemble in collaboration with music programmer duo Southern Hospitality Board and curator/coreographer Ruairi Donovan the festival aims to create a festival combining music, the best of international performance as well as site specific public art commissions and community projects on the street in collaboration with the 90+ traders and residents.
My role between 2015-19 was as co-producer, festival administrator and the curator of the public art programme.
Artists of the Public Art Strand of Quarter Block Party (2015-19): Sebastian Quack/Gilly Karjevsky (Playful Commons), Rhona Byrne, Michael Cleary, Kate O'Shea (Volxkuche), Darragh McLoughlin, Darragh Murphy, Rob Ireson, Meadhbh Haiceid, Laura Murphy, Hillary O'Shaughnessy, Kate McGrew, Tom Lane, Alex Petcu, Fiona McGeown, Siobhan Ni Dhuineen, Daria Akimenko, Esther Rodriguez Barbero
and initiated fesitval collaborations with Firkin Crane (IRL), Placcc Fesztival (HU), Motus Terrae (GR), Artemisszio Alapitvany (HU) and PostmodernSquare (FI).
Quarter Block Party team : Aisling O’Riordan, Ruairi O’Donovan, Caoilian Sherlock, Eszter Nemethi
Quarter / Quarter Block Party are projects by Makeshift Ensemble and have been funded by Arts Council Ireland, Cork City Council Art Office, Erasmus+,