New Widening Access Bursaries Announced
Element Pictures and Clinch Wealth Management sponsor bursaries at The Lir, National Academy of Dramatic Art at Trinity College Dublin, for people from marginalised communities.
The Lir Academy is delighted to announce continued support for their Disability Bursary from existing partner Element Pictures and two additional Widening Access Bursaries one funded by Element Pictures and another by new supporter Clinch Wealth Management. The bursaries will enable their recipients to access creative training at The Lir Academy.
The three organisations of the partnership - Element Pictures, Clinch Wealth Management and The Lir Academy - share similar ambitions for the next generation of actors and production crew. Both Element Pictures and The Lir Academy share a strategic mission to ensure a broader representation of people across the film, TV and theatre sectors. Similarly, Clinch Wealth Management are committed to supporting the arts. They also recognise the need to create access to training so the creative industries in Ireland flourish through their diversity and inclusivity. The bursaries will be offered to successful applicants from marginalised backgrounds and will support the recipients to take their places on The Lir Academy’s highly competitive Bachelor in Acting or Stage Management & Technical Theatre degrees.
The Lir Academy is not-for-profit and financially independent of Trinity College Dublin. This partnership will support the outreach work of The Lir Academy in developing programmes and building networks to encourage more people to pursue their ambition for a creative career. Element Pictures will continue their existing annual bursary to support actors-in-training with a disability. They will also join Clinch Wealth Management in creating two new additional Widening Access bursaries to support under-represented communities.
Speaking on the announcement, Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe of Element Pictures reflected that “We have forged strong links with The Lir Academy since it opened in 2011 and have been rewarded by working with some of their exceptional graduates. We have been proud to support this award for the last three years and to see the impact it has had. By continuing to ensure the existence of these bursaries and the creation of a new Widening Access bursary, we hope to continue to create more potential for opportunity for all creatives and a casting pool that accurately reflects the diverse society we represent on screen.”
Speaking on the announcement, Tom Clinch, Managing Director of Clinch Wealth Management noted that “The Lir Academy and their diversity bursary are personally and professionally close to our hearts. We are privileged to advise many of Ireland’s leading theatre and film practitioners, so we are delighted to support the work of The Lir Academy in nurturing the next generation of stage and screen creatives. We also have many family and friendship connections with the sector and it is a pleasure to partner alongside our old friends Gemma Bodinetz in The Lir Academy and Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe of Element Pictures. A healthy society and arts community thrives on diversity of gender, ethnicity, social background, neurodiversity and disability. So, it is a particular pleasure to support this bursary to foster diversity in The Lir’s student body.”
Gemma Bodinetz, The Lir Academy’s Director & CEO added “The pioneering support from Element Pictures and new funding from Clinch Wealth Management is critical to delivering our agenda to ensure that creative training is possible for more people. Without funders like these, we cannot realise our aspiration to create a Lir for everyone. It is so encouraging for us to see the challenge of that ambition recognised by these leaders of industry by coming on board to create pathways to our programmes and we are immensely grateful for that.”
The positive impact of the Disability Bursary, funded by Element Pictures, for its inaugural recipient, acting graduate Nathan Patterson, is discussed in this video - click here.