What Is EVA International's 'Better Words' Project with Eli Lilly?

"Better Words" is a three-year collaboration between EVA International — Ireland's Biennial — and Eli Lilly, announced on eva.ie and listed on the site under both its News and Projects sections. That is the extent of what the website's own listing states: a named partnership, a three-year term, and a corporate partner. The site does not publish the programme's budget, selection process, participating artists, or event schedule, so anyone looking for those specifics will need to check back as EVA releases them.

What the announcement actually confirms

Everything in that table comes from EVA's own site. Nothing beyond it — no stated aims, no funding figure, no named curator — is confirmed there, so treat any detail you see elsewhere as unverified until EVA publishes it.

Why the partner matters for reading the announcement

Eli Lilly is a pharmaceutical company, and EVA International is an arts organisation best known for its biennial exhibition in Limerick. A multi-year tie between a pharma funder and a biennial sits in the broader pattern of corporate arts sponsorship, where a company supports a cultural programme over several years rather than a single edition. The practical consequence for a reader is that "Better Words" should be understood as a sponsored programme running alongside EVA's exhibition activity, not as a one-off commission tied to a single biennial.

For context on EVA's own scale: the 41st edition ran across Limerick city from 29 August to 26 October 2025, with a participating artist list including Noor Abuarafeh, Reza Afisina, Marwa Arsanios, Ana Bravo-Pérez, and the collectives Bíodh Orm Anocht and Éireann and I, among others. A three-year project announced in that period therefore spans more than one biennial cycle.

What to do if you want to follow or take part

1. Start at eva.ie. The project is filed under Projects and News, so those two sections are where updates will surface first.
2. Check the Projects page rather than only News. News items scroll away; a Projects entry is more likely to be updated as the collaboration develops.
3. Watch for open calls separately. EVA has not stated on the page evidence whether Better Words includes artist commissions, residencies, or public programming. If it does, opportunities would normally appear as their own announcements rather than inside the initial partnership notice.
4. Verify before citing. Because the announcement is thin on specifics, confirm any claim about funding amounts, artist selection, or outcomes against a later EVA page before repeating it.

Common points of confusion

• "Better Words" is not the biennial itself. It is a separate three-year collaboration; the biennial is EVA's recurring exhibition, most recently the 41st edition in Limerick.
• A three-year term does not mean continuous programming. The announcement gives a duration, not a schedule. Expect activity to be announced in stages.
• Absence of detail is not a signal. The site simply hasn't published scope, budget, or participants yet. Don't read the silence as either a small or a large programme.

If your interest is the biennial rather than the partnership, the more useful starting point is EVA's exhibition record — the 41st edition's dates, city, and artist list — since that is documented in far more detail than the Better Words announcement currently is.