Two Co. Galway artists have been awarded bursaries for a three-week international residency at Atelier Samuel Beckett in France next year.
Petal Pilley, artistic director of Blue Teapot Theatre, and writer Claire-Louise Bennett, were selected to join the new international artists’ residency in the village of Méricourt, an hour northwest of Paris on the River Seine.
The mission of the residency is to promote and highlight the artistic legacy of Samuel Beckett across all art forms.
The two artists will spend three weeks living at Atelier Samuel Beckett, working in an environment that supports and values artistic ambition, exchange, and self-directed work.
The residency offers artists a place to reflect, develop, research and study while accessing Beckett’s writing with mentorship from Gare St Lazare Ireland’s artistic directors and founders of Atelier Samuel Beckett, director Judy Hegarty Lovett and actor Conor Lovett.
The primary goal of the residency is for the resident artist to develop their own practice, with no obligation to deliver any outcomes.
Judy and Conor Lovett founded Atelier Samuel Beckett as an opportunity for artists to deepen their engagement with Beckett’s work in the hope that he will influence new works in all areas of the arts.
“In our staging of Beckett’s prose works we’ve collaborated with performers, composers, musicians, videographers and visual artists,” said Conor.
“We’ve seen how Beckett’s work inspires and how artists are enriched by it.”
Judy said this residency was born out of a combination of their experience and the support of philanthropic donors.
“We hope that new funders will support bursaries and we’re thrilled that Galway Culture Company and University of Galway are leading the way.”
The bursaries are supported by Galway Culture Company in association with Atelier Samuel Beckett and the Cork theatre company, Gare St Lazare Ireland, and by the School of English and Creative Arts and the James Hardiman LIbrary, University of Galway.
The selected artists will receive awards valued at €6,000 that include a stipend to each artist of €1,500, self-catering accommodation, travel expenses and Gare St Lazare mentoring.
University of Galway will also provide access to its theatre archives and rehearsal studios.
Petal Pilley has a lifetime of experience in theatre, having grown up in a travelling theatre company touring extensively throughout Europe.
She is the Artistic Director of Blue Teapot Theatre Company, a bold, diverse, Irish company working with artists with intellectual disabilities.
Petal developed Ireland’s first QQI accredited Performing Arts School for people with intellectual disabilities.
Claire-Louise Bennett is the author of Pond (2015) and Checkout 19 (2022). Her stories and essays have appeared in a range of publications including The New Yorker, The London Review of Books, Frieze, and Harper’s Magazine.
She was awarded a Samuel Beckett Creative Fellowship for 2022-2023 at the University of Reading.
