The bursaries were awarded by DCU’s Office of Student Life, with support from DCU Educational Trust. Established in 2009, the Arts Bursary promotes excellence in arts and culture at DCU by supporting creative students to pursue their talents.
Undergraduate and postgraduate students are invited to apply for the bursary each academic year by outlining their achievements, future aspirations and how they intend to spend any bursary they may be awarded. To date, over 100 students have received grants from the scheme.
This year’s awardees were:
DCU student Fiachra Galvin weaves his love of music into as much of his Multimedia coursework as he can. His short films and scores have found early success at the Fresh Film Awards and Scotland’s Noisy Nights Festival. He shares how the DCU Arts Bursary is helping to elevate the sound in his newest projects:
“It’s my dream to make film scores for Hollywood – but film music has a very specific sound; it’s big and it’s orchestral, and it’s not a sound you can achieve just using your computer. Thanks to the Arts Bursary, I’ve been able to invest in a software based on recordings of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Now I can essentially use the orchestra to compose and create my own music, and it adds a more professional sound to my music. Without this support I couldn’t have justified the expense of that as a college student, so the bursary has really given a jumpstart to my creative career.
I’m using the software to score a video game for my final-year project, and to compose an Irish-language orchestral piece based on the mythology of Clíodhna the Queen of the Banshees. I’m also working on a score for a short science-fiction film that I’m directing, scripting and editing myself.”
Zsofi moved to Ireland to study Biological Sciences in DCU, where she is now a first-year student. She quickly got involved in campus life, and is part of the Arts and Crafts Society, Dungeons and Dragons Society and the Rockclimbing Club. She describes how the Arts Bursary helped her continue to paint after moving to a new country:
“When I moved to Ireland from Hungary, I couldn’t bring my paints and easels with me. Everything was too heavy! The Arts Bursary was a chance for me to purchase paints and canvas and get back to painting. I had really missed it.
I’ve produced three paintings of human figures with my bursary so far, and I’m really happy with them. They portray realistic human forms that give way to more free-flowing portrayals of the figure in flowers or swabs of paint. I’m finding a style I want to paint in and discovering the kind of artist I want to be.”
Kevin is a PhD student, choral conductor and composer who is pursuing doctoral studies in choral research in DCU School of Theology, Philosophy and Music. He works as a conductor with four ensembles, including two in the University: DCU Chamber Choir and DCU Lumen Chorale. Kevin applied for the DCU Arts Bursary to help the DCU Chamber Choir travel to Cork to perform a free lunchtime concert and take part in a joint workshop with Munster Technical University (MTU) Glór Society.
“I’m massively grateful for this bursary, as it created a chance for us to exchange ideas with another college and platform music by both DCU and MTU composers. There aren’t many events like this for the arts, so it was a great opportunity to connect with like-minded students. Our award-winning DCU Chamber Choir has performed on RTÉ and given world premieres to work by DCU staff and student composers, including myself. DCU has been a very supportive institution for me as an artist, there’s a huge enthusiasm and appetite for creativity and new ideas.”
