Welcome to this exciting project. A celebration of water!
As we build our institution, we will participate in and run various events.
Hopefully, you will sail with us on this journey!
Water – revealing our global connections
Join us for an afternoon of insights and discussion in Dublin with leading international artists and curators looking at art and its role in social change and how water connects us all to each other
- Monday 19th May 3.15 – 5 pm
- McNabb Theatre, Trinity Business School, Trinity College Dublin
Patricia Lea Watts, art & nature curator, founder ecoartspace 
We are delighted to welcome Patricia to Dublin. Based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, she has a wealth of experience leading innovative, immersive experiences. She specialises in curating art and ecology programmes and exhibitions and has worked with hundreds of artists internationally. She is also widely published and has created a global community of artists with the ecoartspace hub: https://ecoartspace.org/
Betsy Damon, artist, activist & founder Keepers of the Waters
Betsy has carved a unique path working with the environment, communities, science and art. At Keepers of the Waters, Betsy creates community-based models for water stewardship. Her work has brought her around the world, notably creating China’s first public art event for the environment, and the world-renowned Living Water Garden. She has recently been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship to support her pursuit of a water-cleaning sculptural invention that will merge art and science with the pulse of life. https://www.keepersofthewaters.org/
Ruán Magan, film director, Our Blue World 
Ruán is a multiple award-winning director, content creator, film maker and producer who works globally with his production company, Create One. Narrated by Liam Neeson, ‘Our Blue World’ was filmed on five continents among twelve human cultures. The film explores the water wisdom of our ancestors and reveals how it can help address many of the environmental challenges we face today. https://www.braveblue.world/ourblueworld
Dimitra Xidous, TCD research fellow & poet
Dimitra has published two collections of poetry and is an editor of SPROUT, an eco-urban poetry journal. As a researcher with TrinityHaus and TCD Centre for Social Innovation she has worked on health and design projects, including dementia friendly dwellings and hospitals, and on nature-based solutions. She is experienced in participatory design and stakeholder engagement. She is co-founder of EMPathways, a community sustainability social enterprise. https://www.empathway.org/whatwedo
Michelle Boyle, artist, Watershed Studios 
Michelle Boyle is an artist and curator interested in identity, journeying and the legacy of human presence on the landscape through the lens of her lived daily experience. She has a studio base beside Lough Ramor in Cavan, Ireland, and is developing base in Mumbai, India. She has curated many water and community projects. https://michelleboyle-artist.com/
Dr Eva Jobbová, TCD Centre for Environmental Humanities
Eva is an archaeologist and epigrapher whose research has been mainly focused on Maya society. She has worked on archaeological and ethnographic projects in numerous countries and has also worked on Irish droughts. Her current work on the 4 Oceans Project looks at the importance of marine life to human societies during the last two millennia. https://www.tcd.ie/tceh/people/eva.php
World Water Day 2025
This year’s theme is Glacier Preservation
While 70% of all freshwater is snow or ice, it is not all static. Over 2 billion people depend on glacier meltwater for drinking, agriculture and energy. The cycle of melting and freezing regulates water supply and flow. This cycle is threatened by global warming. Sea level rise is another consequence of glacier melting caused by global warming which will further affect billions of lives and livelihoods.
This UN Water Activation Toolkit a great resource to engage young students : https://trello.com/c/RCPlChlZ/359-english
#worldwaterday
The Water We Want art competition 2025
We are delighted to announce the 2025 global art competition for young people.
Key dates: 30th April final day for registration & 3rd May final day for submission
See all details here: https://watermuseumofireland.ie/?page_id=31 including information about last year’s entrants who feature in the global digital exhibition and in AQUAPLAY
World Water Day 2024
Water for Peace is the theme of this year’s #WorldWaterDay
Water is life. Our dependency on clean water and sanitation means we need to collaborate and have a shared vision for water – across national borders, oceans and cultures – so that everyone has unfettered access to this essential life force. Unfortunately, water is often a first casualty of war, a cause of war and a weapon of war. As shared resource for humanity, this World Water Day highlights water as a force for peace.
https://www.un.org/en/observances/water-day
The Water We Want 2024 – Global Art Contest – Ireland
What stories do children and young people have about their water heritage? How can they explore their relationship with water? What do they hope for the future of water in their lives? #thewaterwewant encourages these questions through art.
We are delighted to launch the 2024 competition The Water We Want in Ireland for children and young adults. The annual competition is run by the Global Network of Water Museums. Each member can submit six entries to the Global Final. All finalists will be shown in the global on-line digital exhibition. Six category winner schools will each receive €250.
Register your school/institution by 19th April & submit entries by 26th April, 2024
This year’s theme is FRESHWATERS. Individual and Group entries accepted. Three age groups for Drawings and Other Media.
See all details here: The Water We Want 2024 Competition (Ireland)
World Water Day 2022 – Всесвітній день води 2022
Today is the day we celebrate water and how precious it is. The current war in Ukraine highlights how utterly dependent we are on water for life – Вода (voda) – how vulnerable we are to shortage of supply and contamination. To deprive people of water is a war crime. The International committee of the Red Cross explains how international humanitarian law protects water: https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/resources/documents/interview/water-ihl-interview-220307.htm
Unfortunately, there are many wars raging and many humanitarian crises across the globe putting pressure on access to water and to clean, safe water. A huge amount of work remains to be done to ensure everyone can access it for drinking, hygiene and sanitation, health and well-being. We have the knowledge and capability, do we have the will?
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG6) give us a pathway to achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all by 2030. We are currently in the UN Water Action Decade (2018-28) a conference for WWD 2023 will comprise a mid-term review. This will be our chance to reinvigorate our determination to achieve SDG6 and to redirect resources to where they are most needed.
The image above is the charming Water Museum in Kyiv situated in a restored water tower: https://discover-ukraine.info/places/kyiv/kyiv/951 It is a reminder of better times in that beautiful city.
Here is a lovely video of the museum:
Let’s hope that someday soon peace will prevail and we can visit this beautiful place to support the people of Ukraine and its economy.
I Remember Water – Global Digital Exhibition 2022
Update: thank you to everyone who has submitted photographs for the Global Exhibition so far. We can continue to accept submissions via We Transfer until Monday 20th December at 12pm (midday) IST/GMT/UTC (please see below)
The Global Network of Water Museums will launch a Global Digital Exhibition to celebrate the next World Water Day on 22nd March 2022.
The theme is: Water Memories – exploring humanity’s relationship with water and the emotions it evokes. Photographic memories help us value our water heritage, celebrate it and build empathy and awareness for wise use of this shared resource.
As a member museum of the Global Network, the Water Museum of Ireland may submit up to 15 images for inclusion in this global digital exhibition. We also hope to host the Global Exhibition later in the year.
If you would like your work to feature in the exhibition please submit a high resolution image (min 4MB) via WeTransfer to hello@watermuseumofireland.ie Please include: your name, professional/company name, image title and a 100-200 word description as well as any references/credits/date/location etc. (see example below). Please submit images by 18th 20th December 2021 (12pm noon). Any difficulties or questions, please email hello@watermuseumofireland.ie
Earth Day 2021
As we celebrate our beautiful planet today, we remember the times we cherished our place and our freedom to roam. Our featured image, of Loch Tay in the Wicklow Mountains, is from Earth Day 2019, the last Earth Day before Covid-19 challenged us as never before.
This amazing place in the vast universe, Earth, our home, our shared home, is defined by water and the life it gives. The Water We Want competition is an opportunity for children to voice their wishes for their future, to celebrate their water heritage and to connect to the Sustainable Development Goals. A simple drawing, photograph, poster, short video, song or audio to partake in a Global Digital exhibition may be submitted by individuals or groups via schools. See more here: Competition for children
Earth Flow by Orchestra of St John’s
Beautiful composition inspired by the Gandaki River and landslides in the Himalayas
World Water Day 2021 – #ValuingWater
Water defines life on earth, our blue planet. We should cherish it, relish and respect it.
World Water Day is also about celebrating water – its soothing and refreshing properties, it sheer power and force, its gift of life.
Water connects us, it is a shared resource, it travels the globe, it provides the air we breathe and the food that nourishes us. We need it every day – for our health and for a decent quality of life.
In times of a global pandemic when simple handwashing is a major weapon in our fight against Covid-19, it is shocking the number of people who do not have safe, regular access to clean water. Today’s Global Water Report by UN highlights the inequalities and hardships imposed by water stress.
Every day women and children spend 200 million hours collecting water. The personal, societal, cultural and economic impact of this is incalculable.