CATCHMENTS 2025 is supported by Taighde Éireann – Research Ireland* Discover Award, Creative Ireland, The Department of Education, Meath County Council Arts Office and the UCD Earth Institute.

*Taighde Éireann – Research Ireland is the new national research and innovation funding agency, established on the 1st August 2024 through the amalgamation of the activities and functions of Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and the Irish Research Council (IRC).


CATCHMENTS 2025 is supported  by the Creative Ireland Programme, an all-of-government five-year initiative, from 2023 to 2027, which places creativity at the centre of public policy. Further information from creativeireland.gov.ie.

Creators of the Eco Showboat expeditions in 2022 and 2023, Artists Anne Cleary and Denis Connolly aka School of Looking, are collaborating this summer with Boyne Rivers Trust, Solstice Arts Centre, Down Syndrome Ireland Louth Meath, and Louth and Meath ETB to increase awareness and understanding of heritage and fresh water biodiversity along the Boyne River at Rossnaree Walk, an important historical location providing views of Newgrange across the river along the walk. 

The project, called Catchments 2025 - The Boyne, has received a Research Ireland Discover Award and is co-produced with Take Me To The River - a creative public engagement project bringing communities together to foster preservation of  waterbodies in County Meath.

The artists will spend 3 days on the banks of the Boyne engaging in citizen science activities and making art with adult learners from Louth Meath ETB’s VTOS scheme, and Teenagers and Young Adults with Down Syndrome, members of Down Syndrome Louth/Meath. 

PROVISIONAL PROGRAMME 

Filming of THE BEND ON THE BOYNE

Anne & Denis will be on location at the ancient site of Linn Féic on the Boyne River, thought to be the pool where the myth of the Salmon of Knowledge originated, to walk, talk and learn with Anthony Murphy, local historian and Jonathan Turner, researcher in River Science at UCD. These conversations will result in a film to be screened later in the programme.

12-13

MAY

13

MAY

5

JUNE

Science Week

10-16 NOVEMBER*

*Exact dates to be confirmed

The seven bodies of water we are studying in CATCHMENTS 2025:

  1. •The Liffey Head Bog in County Wicklow

  2. •The Dodder River in South Dublin County

  3. •The Boyne River in County Meath

  4. •Lough Muckno in County Monaghan

  5. •The ‘old’ River Shannon at University of Limerick

  6. •The Ballymacraven River at Ennistymon, Co. Clare

  7. •The Lee Fields by the Weir and the Old Cork Waterworks in Cork City

CREATIVE WRITING PROGRAMME 

LINN FÉIC - The Pool of Knowledge

Lead by ANTHONY MURPHY


Author, journalist, mythologist and broadcaster Anthony Murphy will invite his apprentice writers to revisit the myth of the Salmon of Knowledge and consider the challenges that such a fish might face to survive in the Boyne waters today, conjuring the legendary Linn Féic from the real freshwater environment at Rossnaree where the storied salmon is said to have been fished.

16

AUGUST

CATCHMENTS 2025 - The Boyne 

SOLSTICE, Navan

Finale event - Dates TBC

Launch of Take Me To The River and Catchments 2025 - The Boyne at Solstice Arts Centre, Navan.


  2. FIELD TRIP TO ROSSNAREE

  3. A full day monitoring biodiversity and learning about macro photography with artists Anne Cleary and Denis Connolly for with adult learners from the VTOS scheme at LMETB.

  4. In collaboration with Louth Meath ETB, Solstice Arts Centre and Boyne Rivers Trust.

  5. Location: the south bank of the Boyne at Rossnaree Walk, opposite the neolithic monuments at Newgrange and Solstice Arts Centre.

Jonathan Turner and Anne Cleary talk about the Boyne at Jack Rogers’ farm near Slane

Anne Cleary and Denis Connolly present the programme with Adam and Kate from Down Syndrome Louth Meath

  1. FIELD TRIP TO ROSNAREE

  2. A full day of learning about biodiversity and enjoying macrophotography with artists Anne Cleary and Denis Connolly for members of Down Syndrome Louth Meath.

  3. In collaboration with Down Syndrome Louth Meath, Solstice Arts  Centre and Boyne Rivers Trust.

  4. Location: the south bank of the Boyne at Rossnaree Walk, opposite the neolithic monuments at Newgrange and Solstice Arts Centre.


  6. Activities to include:


7

JUNE

Anne Cleary with Anthony Murphy at Rossnaree Walk, during filming of ‘The Bend  on the Boyne’, 12 May 2025

The site of Linn Féic at Rossnaree (still from ‘The Bend on the Boyne’)

 

Anne Cleary with Anthony Murphy on the site of Linn Féic at Rossnaree, during filming of ‘The Bend  on the Boyne’, 12 May 2025

NATURE SQUARED

A combined nature survey and macrophotography workshop, “Nature Squared” uses a simple surveying tool known as a “quadrat”. This is a square frame that can be placed on site to delineate a small area to survey (ie. to investigate the abundance of plants and/or animals in a habitat). Cleary and Connolly will be working with participants to survey important species, document findings and contribute to important nature monitoring programmes by submitting data to the National Biodiversity Data Centre. Framing is also of essential importance to the art of photography and the same quadrat will be central to the macrophotography workshop studying biodiversity through the lens.

Anne & Denis discuss their winter 'recce' of seven water bodies across Ireland for CATCHMENTS 2025

  1. HAVE YOU SEEN THESE LADIES?*

  2. A nature walk and “treasure hunt” with Anne Cleary and Denis Connolly. 

  3. The National Biodiversity Data Centre are compiling a Ladybird Atlas 2025, gathering sightings of ladybirds all over Ireland to address a gap in our knowledge in the status of this important species. Native species are threatened by an invasive species, the Harlequin. During this relaxed walk join the artists in spotting and identifying ladybirds of all kinds, taking amazing macro photographs of these gorgeous creatures, and submitting the data to the NBDC to contribute to the important ongoing survey.  

 

  1. The biodiversity workshops will depend on seasonal, meteorological and site specific circumstances. They may include:


  3. BEE COUNTED!*

  4. Flower-Insect Timed Counts (FIT Counts) are a really useful way that people can help environmentalists monitor pollinators and contribute to the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan. 

  5. Using the same quadrats from Nature Squared, the team will count, photograph and video pollinators while recording the sounds of the different insects to create a “pollinator symphony” sound recording that will accompany the visual artworks. Data gathered will be submitted to national pollinator monitoring scheme.