Roots For the Future Collective (Maeve Stone, Rosie O Reilly, Eileen Hutton, Sinead Curran and Vanya Lambrecht Ward) formed as a radical thinking group in 2022. They formed in order to research and question ideas around assembly, climate action and place. Since its inception the group gathered around the idea of a ‘Climate Art Assembly’; recognising that the arts sector and the social contract that forms through collective experiences and assembly can form the backbone of how we adapt as a society.
There are two answers emerging from the past three years of their enquiry; that a climate art assembly is a mechanism that can help to build resilience in our arts ecosystem. There is a map to follow and they have clear recommendations about how to begin this process. Roots For the Future also recognise that this level of institutional and organisational adaptation needs to come from within, it needs leadership driven by those who frame policy and who are the architects of its daily functioning. The second answer emerging responds to another urgent need in the arts ecosystem; the need for connection, debate and mutual support. As they see it, it is the future function of Roots For The Future.
Visit their website here
Summer 2026
Collective Members: Eileen Hutton, Maeve Stone, Rosie O Reilly, Sinead Curran, and Vanya Lambrecht Ward
Research Focus
‘is deacair talamh ar bith a dhéanamh de’, this phrase in Gaeilge means ‘it’s hard to make any sense of it’ but its direct translation means it’s hard ground to make anything with. As we grapple to make sense of the polycrisis we are living through this phrase offers the metaphorical springboard to unlearn inherited structures and habitual approaches that may limit radical thinking around care, story and inclusivity of other voices. Roots For the Future want to explore how consistent gatherings and assemblages might allow for playful, fearful, hopeful and interdisciplinary discussions around human relationships with place.
More about the Dwell Here Residency
Dwell Here offers participants a simple proposition: to commit to this time and place while thinking deeply about its urgencies. Together we are curious to learn what can be activated or challenged through the process of dwelling. IMMA encourages reflection across the following themes to consider geographical, historical, political and cultural concepts of Ireland as a starting point to expand and connect international contexts through similarities and differences:
Technologies of Peace – to consider commemorative landscapes and memories of peace (as a dream, movement, or value) while generating perspectives on sustainable coexistence.
The Irish Paradigm – Welcomes artistic research that creates intimacy and connections, while celebrating the perceived agility and freedoms of operating on the periphery. As a small island on the edge of Europe, Ireland often has a challenging relationship with ‘the centre’.
The Museum as a Site of Vibration – consider how the museum and site can create new vibrations and rhythms within the built legacy of empire. How can museums make visible cultural shifts, including erased, censored or marginalised histories, as well as sustainability, planetary care, sharing and hospitality.