Our Empathy Well will promote empathic understanding and seek to create immersive experiences that help our audiences look at the world through other peoples’ eyes. - The first project of the strand - “Portrait of Life” is a multi-layered project with a participatory element in which we will gather a really diverse set of voices of people currently living in Sligo, including some of the recent arrivals from Ukraine. We will interview them (focussing on their life experiences and their connection to nature and the environment of Sligo....really digging into the relationship with the soil, light, rocks, sea, and the town itself and how their perspectives have changed post-pandemic.) We will then work with a range of local photographers to document the relationship between the contributors and their environment, and the resulting exhibition will be displayed outdoors in Sligo town so that it is highly visible and easy for people to interact with.

It is imperative that the collaborative relationship between the photographers and the participants is nurtured and nourished in order to achieve the best outcome and Miriam will be part of the process with each of the pairings from the outset to ensure their success. - The second Empathy Well project we will work on this year takes inspiration from the Small Voices Louder project created by Australian company - Maybe Together. A two-part project, the first part is an interactive installation, a children-only space.

Please note that the details of events listed above are provided by the relevant Local Authorities.