Tralee Man To Receive Arts Scheme Bursary

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Con Horgan.

KERRY County Council Arts Office has announced Tralee native, Con Horgan, as the successful Kerry recipient of the inaugural PLATFORM 31 artist bursary scheme.

Developed by the Association of Local Authority Arts Offices (ALAAO), in collaboration with the Arts Council, PLATFORM 31 is a nationwide scheme for artists in all art forms which offers financial and developmental supports for the awarded artist over the course of one year.

The nationwide invitation went out to artists of any discipline and practice, based in Ireland, as well as multi-disciplinary practice.

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Con Horgan is a contemporary street arts and circus performer and artist. He has been performing since 1997 with Fanzini Brothers, since 2012 performing solo as Professor Plunger, since 2015 performing in the ensemble piece Circus Jukebox & since 2018 performing in two duo shows with Kim Mc Cafferty, Ballet Poulet & Spailp.

Fanzini Productions are supported by the Arts Council of Ireland, Culture Ireland, Creative Ireland, Ealaíon na Gaeltachta and Kerry County Council.

Con has worked with master clowns, Philippe Gaulier of Ecole Gaulier, John Lee of Fuse Performance Company, and Joe Dieffenbacher of Nakupelle, Mooky Cornish, John Towsen, Adrian Schvarzstein, director Arne Zaslove and award-winning clown Fraser Hooper, and has received a certificate of clowning from Jango Edwards of the Nouvelle Clowning Institute in Barcelona.

He is a fluent Irish speaker and performs regularly in Irish. Fanzini Productions were invited to curate the Irish language events of the 2014-2020 St. Patrick’s festival and produced the “Cirque Du Gael” Irish language circus tent as part of the Big Day Out celebrations in Merrion Square, Dublin.

Fanzini Productions are also the founders and producers of the annual National Circus Festival of Ireland, based in Tralee .This festival is the national showcase for contemporary circus and features a different line up each year of top national and international circus performers.

Commenting on the award, County Arts Officer Kate Kennelly said; “I’d like to congratulate Con Horgan on being selected for this inaugural PLATFORM 31 Award. It’s a fantastic opportunity for an artist to invest in their practice, avail of invaluable developmental supports, as well as become part of an exciting peer group of artists nationally.”