Flogas and Galway International Arts Festival celebrate major win in the Business to Arts Awards
Flogas win award for Best Use of Creativity in the Community
l/r Paul Kenny, general manager, Flogas Energy and John Rooney, managing director, Flogas Ireland, with the 2021 Business to Arts Award trophy presented for Best Use of Creativity in the Community. It was won for the company’s energy partnership with the Galway International Arts Festival on John Gerrard’s stunning Mirror Pavilion in 2020.
Flogas and the Galway International Arts Festival have won the award for Best Use of Creativity in the Community supported by Irish Life at the 2021 Business to Arts Awards. It was won for the company’s energy partnership with the Festival on John Gerrard’s stunning Mirror Pavilion in 2020.
Flogas supplied 100% renewable electricity to power the extraordinary work by the renowned Irish artist. The Mirror Pavilion was commissioned by the Festival and unveiled as part of Galway International Arts Festival’s 2020 Autumn Edition. It was a flagship event in the Galway 2020, European Capital of Culture programme.
Mirror Pavilion - Corn Work, at the Claddagh Quay, was seen by more than 120,000 people over the four weeks of its installation.
John Rooney, managing director, Flogas Ireland, said “Partnering with the Galway International Arts Festival makes perfect sense to us as a company that is committed to the community and to the provision of sustainable electricity and gas to homes and businesses in Ireland. We were proud to supply 100% renewable electricity to power the Mirror Pavilion and delighted that our partnership with the Festival has been recognised by Business to Arts. We want to congratulate the Festival for everything they have achieved over the years, and we look forward to our association blossoming in the years ahead.”
The work recalled histories of grain milling in Galway and the strong flow of water, which provided a sustainable clean energy source for the city’s now dismantled flour mills. Flogas has several links to Galway through customers, distributors and agents as well as the fact that the Galway area was the first to switch to Flogas for residential natural gas in 2007.
Each year the Business to Arts Awards recognise businesses, philanthropists, artists and arts organisations that develop creative partnerships, with the winners demonstrating the importance of supporting the arts and the impact that can be made by quality partnerships. Flogas welcomed the opportunity to create such a memorable experience for people living in and visiting Galway.
John Crumlish, CEO Galway International Arts Festival said: "I would like to thank Business to Arts for this award which GIAF is delighted to share with our energy partner, Flogas. They have been a great partner on this very ambitious European Capital of Culture project so beautifully realized by John Gerrard. It engaged a large community both live and online on a subject that is so important to us all and we look forward to working with Flogas on other exciting engagement initiatives as the partnership progresses.”
John Gerrard is considered a pioneer of simulation within contemporary art. His work features in the collections of MoMA New York, Tate London, San Francisco MoMA, Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Irish Museum of Modern Art, among others. The second part of Mirror Pavilion, Leaf Work will premiere later this year at Derrigimlagh Bog in Connemara.