Municipal Gallery and DLR Artist Studios

The Gallery is located on the 3rd floor of dlr LexIcon, Haigh Terrace, Moran Park, Dún Laoghaire. This is the first purpose built public gallery space in the county. It opened in December 2014.¹

The aim of the Municipal Gallery programme at dlr LexIcon is to provide opportunities for people of all ages to engage with the arts as creators, spectators and participants. The target audience has been identified as library visitors, dlr residents, tourists/ day visitors and the local arts community. Each gallery exhibition programme will consist of artworks in the gallery space and a learning programme, planned and designed in tandem. The learning programme will create opportunities for the visitor to explore and engage with the artworks on show. Some examples would include thematically programmed talks, practical workshops and bespoke projects in collaboration with local community groups. The learning programme will offer opportunities for everyone, from beginners through to those with a more in-depth knowledge of the arts. The programming team for the exhibition programmes will be made up of arts office staff members with specialist arts knowledge. Curators, artists, cultural partners, national cultural institutions, key partner organisations and arts education specialists will be consulted as required. A diverse annual programme, planned up to 18 months in advance, will seek to engage a range of stakeholders, audiences and communities of interest. The programming will be a mix of established gallery models of commissioned exhibition programmes focusing on the county, its culture and sense of place; touring exhibitions of national interest and open call exhibitions, allowing artists to propose exhibition ideas for peer selection. A public submission competition for open call opportunities will take place annually. These will be widely publicised. A panel of peer selectors (artists, curators and arts office staff) will choose the open call exhibitions. Unsolicited exhibition proposals will not be accepted. The Gallery will be a key local arts infrastructural resource for the dlr professional arts community, enabling the Council to provide showcasing, creative partnership, networking, funding and professional development opportunities. The accessible and popular programme aims to be equally attractive to a local resident or tourist to the area. Audience research, gallery attendance figures and continuing consultation with relevant stakeholders will inform further gallery programme policy direction. The Gallery will operate on a non-commercial basis, and will not be available to hire for exhibitions.

RPS Poster