Mason Hayes & Curran to help create Paris residency art prize

Mason Hayes & Curran is teaming up with the RDS to create a new prize for the second year of the RDS Visual Art Awards.

Winners of the prize will have have full-time access to a room and studio space for three months (June, July, August 2018) in the Centre Culturel Irlandais in the heart of Paris, valued at €5,000.

A team of independent professional curators have been engaged to visit degree shows in selected Irish art colleges to longlist artists for inclusion in the RDS Visual Art Awards exhibition this October.

Sligo-based painter Nick Miller will curate the exhibition. The judging panel will be chaired by Noel Kelly, CEO of Visual Artists Ireland.

Liam Guidera, partner at Mason Hayes & Curran, said: “The support by Mason Hayes & Curran for the RDS Visual Art Awards is a natural extension of our long association with the arts.

“For many years, Mason Hayes & Curran has supported Irish artists through commissions, hosting exhibitions and purchasing work for our collection, one of the most important private corporate collections of contemporary art.

“The Paris residency award has the potential to be something very special for an emerging artist and will hopefully act as a springboard at a formative stage in their professional career.”