DAA Commissions Awards Sculpture

The Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) has been a sponsor of the annual Business to Arts Awards, which seek to support creative partnerships between the arts and businesses in Ireland, for more than 20 years.
The awards sculpture has been commissioned by DAA every year throughout that period and has included works by well-known artists such as Seamus Gill, Kevin O’Dwyer, Nuala O’Donovan and Mark Hanvey.

Glass artist Catherine Keenan, based in Portstewart, County Derry, is the chosen artist for 2012 and has described her piece ‘Striped Bulb’ as “an exploration of form and pattern”.

“I have experimented with Venetian cane pulling and roll-up technique to create lines. The thickness of these lines and intensity of colour vary due to the contours of the piece, creating a subtle and soft effect,” said Catherine.

DAA also sponsors the Dublin Airport Authority €5,000 Arts Award. This is awarded each year to an arts organisation in recognition of its effective and imaginative collaboration with a business.

The 2011 winner of the DAA’s €5,000 Arts Award was the ‘Pure Thinking Community Group’ from Carlow whose work began in 2008 with a team-building exercise by Connie Byrne Hyland Hairdressing and her design team to develop artistic skills, promote personal growth and engage the local community.

In 2010, St Agnes Primary School in Crumlin was the winner for its innovative music programme that offers over 400 pupils from Junior Infants upwards free weekly violin lessons at the school.

DAA is also very proud to have been shortlisted in the upcoming 2012 Business to Arts Awards in the Best Long-Term Partnership category for its support of the Dublin Theatre Festival since 2007.
The Business to Arts Awards event will take place in September. You can find out more here.