Last year’s auction raised €88,600, can you tell us how the funds were divided among the Scoop Foundation’s initiatives?

Our education projects in Iraq were paused, apart from the advanced students, who were able to work with online mentors or self learn. Facing a new crisis, now on our own doorstep SCOOP began procuring and distributing PPE to direct provision centres, small to medium homeless charities, community services and nursing homes nationwide. We forged a partnership with CreateSound and have been working with young adults in Direct Provision teaching computer literacy and job seeking skills. This then paved the way for our online music production course which started in 2021.

Did you ever envisage SCOOP growing to such a degree – it’s a testament to you and your brother Calvin’s commitment and energy. How hard has it been to raise funds during the pandemic?

I did actually! For a long time it was incredibly difficult work, just the pair of us operating at organisational level. Right now we have four full time staff and an incredible, hard working board of directors who not only keep us in check but get heavily involved. With fundraising we were stepping into the unknown last year. All our events, festivals, everything was cancelled and we needed to think outside the box. Since we do that most of the time we did pretty well in comparison to other organisations. Our art auction last year was actually our biggest and
most successful event in thirteen years.

What are some of the highlights of this year’s four day auction?

This year’s art auction has been curated by David Archbold and he has had extensive experience managing art programmes including those at The Clarence, The Mayson and The Hendrick hotels. Some artists have been incredibly generous to us the past 15 years including Duda, Maser, Margot Banks, Esther Moline, James Kirwan, Attracta Manson, Morgan, Joby Hickey and Jim FitzPatrick. Some amazing artists who have been with us on several occasions are also participating – Richard Hearns, Linda Brownlee, ADW, Peter Doyle and Decoy. Some fresher additions include Leah Hewson, Aches, Omin, Jane Rainey, Shane Berkerey, Gerard Byrne and Dragana Jurisic, I could be here all day as there are 400+ artworks in total! We also have a lovely piece by Harmanpreet Kaur, an amazing young person living in Direct Provision Centre in Kildare. Harmanpreet is creating a large canvas out of The Crooked House Theatre Studio in Newbridge.

How easy is it to get involved in the auction – as many people are hesitant about online bidding …

It’s incredibly easy. Go to invaluable.com and search for SCOOP Foundation, register yourself and you’re in! There’s also an app available for download for those on the move.

Need to Know: Starting on Friday April 23 – Monday April 26, all lots will be sold in nine timed sessions. See a selection of the artworks that will be available below. www.scoopfoundation.org