Residencies
TRISKEL SAMPLE Project Space
Conceived in 2023, the partnership between Triskel and Sample-Studios provides a visual arts project space for artists, especially emerging and mid-career artists, to test ideas and to develop new work that can be seen by the public.
Triskel Sample Project Space offers tangible career development and audience engagement opportunities to artists in Cork City, where they have a safe space to develop new ideas, within which risk-taking is possible.
In its pilot year in 2024, the space hosted project-focused artist residencies offering Sample-Studios members Kayleigh Maimaran, Etaoin Melville, Joseph Heffernan and Grace Haynes a focused and intensive space to develop and test their burgeoning projects in a hybrid workspace/public space. In some cases, artists presented a culminatory exhibition, screening, or performance. Additionally, the TRISKEL SAMPLE Project Space provided a meaningful platform for existing collaborative projects including Riki Matsuda’s Sample-Studios Cork Midsummer Festival Emerging Artist Award, Paul McKenna’s Cork County Council’s Dearcán Award and the ‘Maritime’ residency, an artist-led studio exchange residency between artists in Brittany, France, and Cork including Sample-Studios members Ida Mitrani, Rebecca Bradley and Caroline Boyfield, who exhibited the work arising from this exchange in the Project Space during summer 2024.
Our programme for 2025 is well underway, supporting 11 artists throughout the year and offering a space for the development and exhibition of new work. Check in on our Exhibitions page for more details!
Find out more.
Recipients Of This Award:
Studios of Sanctuary
The Studios of Sanctuary is a training and mentorship programme for artists and arts practitioners from an asylum seeker, refugee and migrant background. It offers individually tailored supports allowing participants to thrive in their practice, integrate into their broader community, and become resilient, self-confident leaders. CLICK HERE for a snapshot of just some of the impact brought about by our participants in 2024.
Our 10 participants receive:
- Access to monthly professional development and training workshops with subject experts
- 1to1 mentorship with a mentor specific to their artistic discipline and professional goals.
- Access to studio facilities, particularly our Project Room, to develop their practice
- Quarterly peer support meetings
- Associate Membership of Sample-Studios
- A bursary of €300 to support their development and delivery of a community-based event
Studios of Sanctuary won the Best Philanthropic Support Award at the 2023 Business to Arts Awards and Cork Learning City Shortlist Award in 2024.
This programme is funded in 2025 by the Rethink Ireland Resident Cork Fund and Community Foundation Ireland.
Recipients Of This Award:
Parallax Emerging Film Artist Award
A Partnership Award supporting Early Career Stage Film Artists by the National Sculpture Factory, Cork International Film Festival and Sample-Studios, Cork.
Sample-Studios is delighted to partner with the National Sculpture Factory and Cork International Film Festival to present the Parallax Award initiative to support and promote early career stage film artists with the support of The Arts Council of Ireland.
We are excited to announce Sarah Lou Kineen as the recipient of the Parallax Emerging Film Artist Award 2024/5! Click here for more information on the 2024 open call and to see what Sarah will receive as part of the award. Congratulations to Sarah!
Stay tuned for more updates on the Parallax exhibition in 2025.
Recipients Of This Award:
Sample-Studios Summer Residency in Cork College of F.E.T Tramore Road Campus
Sample-Studios Summer Residency in partnership with Cork College of FET – Tramore Road Campus
Sample-Studios is delighted to partner with Cork College of FET Tramore Road Campus to deliver a residency for professional visual artists during the summer months. To date, 5 artists have benefitted from access to large dedicated studio spaces throughout the summer months. In summer 2024, artists Annie Forrester and Chris Finnegan undertook this residency.
Recipients Of This Award:
Graduate Curatorial Residency Award
As part of our mission to launch and sustain creative careers in Cork, Sample-Studios offers residencies for emerging curators
The residency includes:
- 6-month free Associate Membership with associated access to use the shared facilities and professional development programme.
- A fully-funded online course in curatorial studies from the NODE Centre for Curatorial Studies (http://www.nodecenter.org). The course must be chosen and taken before end 2023
- Training in front of house, event management and planning, artist liaison, gallery management, administration, marketing and fundraising with programmed exhibitions.
- The opportunity to apply to curate an exhibition as part of Sample-Studios Visual Arts Programme with the full support of Sample-Studios. The curated exhibition must take place in 2023/4.
- Mentorship from an established professional curator.
This residency is run in partnership with UCC and awardees selected from relevant graduate and postgraduate courses.
Recipients Of This Award:
Graduate Residency Awards
As part of our mission to launch and sustain creative careers in Cork, Sample-Studios offers free 6-month Associate Membership for emerging graduate artists.
The residency includes:
- 6-month free Associate Membership with associated access to use the shared facilities and professional development programme.
- The opportunity to apply for a solo exhibition of new work in The Lord Mayor’s Pavilion, with the full support of Sample-Studios. The exhibition must take place in 2025/26.
Awardees are selected from the MTU Crawford College of Art and Design Degree Show.
Recipients Of This Award:
Sample @ Spike Island Residency
A supported summer residency in a unique heritage setting, in partnership with Spike Island and Sirius Arts Centre and supported by the Arts Council of Ireland Arts Grants.
In 2021, Sample-Studios established a new partnership with Spike Island. Our Project Coordinator Sinéad Barrett curated the work of four local artists Kate McElroy, Aoife Claffey, Pádraic Barrett and Deirdre Breen (Inter_Site Collective) in developing artwork for ‘Oiléan’, a spectacular event on Spike Island in September. The artists were given an opportunity to complete residencies on Spike Island over 3 months, and then they had the unique opportunity to present their work as part of a series of nighttime island tours on one of Europe’s most renowned heritage sites.
Spike Island has over 1300 years of Irish history which includes a remote monastery, a fortress to defend an empire and was formerly the world’s largest prison. In 2019, it was named Best Attraction at the International Travel and Tourism Awards. It is an island full of memories and stories which makes it an ideal location for artists to create new and ambitious work inspired by context. The artists who took part in the pilot residency in 2021 integrated these stories and contemporary accounts by former residents into their work and it is our intention that this information be used to inform future residencies, with an iterative research approach.
In Summer 2023/24, we built upon this successful residency model established with Spike Island to host a series of residences on the island, supported by Sirius Arts Centre residency programme. Sirius Arts Centre, based in Cobh across the water from Spike Island support these annual residencies with mentorship with Director Miguel Amado and provision of accommodation in an artist apartment. The work developed as part of the residencies have culminated in an annual exhibition in The Lord Mayor’s Pavilion.
To date, 8 artists have engaged with these annual residencies. In summer 2025, artist and photographer Barbara Diener will undertake this residency.
Recipients Of This Award:
