29/07/24
Music Generation, Macnas, Fighting Words, Narrative 4, Extern Northern Ireland and Tallaght Community Arts awarded funding for Shared Island Creative Youth Partnerships.
• €1,070,112 awarded for creative initiatives for children and young people living throughout the island of Ireland as part of the Shared Island dimension of the Creative Ireland programme.
• From Dublin to Belfast, Antrim to Galway and beyond, projects are designed to create connections, promote understanding and build meaningful friendships.
• 6 diverse projects awarded funding to bring young people together.
• Projects include mythical story exchanges, creation of original parades, residential musical hothousing projects, story-telling and interactive theatre performances.
Today Taoiseach, Simon Harris TD, and Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin TD, announced the awarding of funding to 6 successful Creative Youth on a Shared Island projects as part of the Shared Island dimension to the Creative Ireland Programme 2023-2027.
In total, more than €1 million has been allocated to organisations that will join with like-minded organisations North and South on the island of Ireland to bring children and young people together to nurture collaboration, understanding, and hope for the future through active participation in creative projects.
The successful projects were created as a result of direct consultation with children and young people and include:
• “To the Power of Three” which is led by Tallaght Community Arts. This creative exchange between young people in Derry, Dublin and Wexford utilizes performance to explore the importance of cultural connection, diversity, pride of place and what it means to be a young person on the island of Ireland today.
• “The Shared Island Songwriting Project”, a series of residential ‘hot houses’ with children and young people from Laois, Offaly, and across Northern Ireland. Led by Music Generation Laois the project will culminate in the creation of 12 original compositions that will be showcased at festivals and arts centres.
• “Living Legend”, which is a cross-border storytelling project which focuses on the mythical landscape of the Aran Islands and the Giant’s Causeway for inspiration. It is led by Narrative 4 who employ the retelling of the stories of others to create empathy, shatter stereotypes and breakdown barriers.
• Macnas’ “Future Parade”, bringing together young people from Belfast and Galway for a series of workshops and residential experiences to create parades that celebrate their collective creativity.
• Extern Northern Ireland, working with 20 young people from Greater Belfast and Dublin, who have multiple and complex needs by providing a safe space for them to tell their stories using Theatre of the Oppressed techniques.
• “Creative Connections – Shared Writing Across the Island” with Fighting Words, which will engage children and young people aged 15-24 from communities up and down the island through connected creative writing initiatives, including scriptwriting, poetry, prose, and songwriting.
"These projects span a wide range of art forms and demographics, reflecting the diversity, creativity and potential of young people across the island of Ireland."
Taoiseach Simon Harris TD said:
“I am pleased to announce a total of €1million in funding for 6 projects under the Creative Youth on a Shared Island scheme. These projects span a wide range of art forms and demographics, reflecting the diversity, creativity and potential of young people across the island of Ireland. Each of the 6 projects funded will generate new connections between our young people and help create a shared future on this island.”
Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheál Martin TD, said:
“I warmly welcome this funding for projects under the Shared Island’s Creative Youth projects. The Shared Island initiative is about building connections between communities and people, and these imaginative proposals from youth groups across Ireland will have a real impact in creating meaningful connections.
This is a testament to the commitment and enthusiasm of communities to work together, North and South. I look forward to seeing these new creative projects come to life in the months and years ahead.”
Speaking today Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin TD, said:
“The Government’s Shared Island Initiative is supporting engagement across all communities and traditions to build consensus around a shared future. It is so important that those that represent the future of this island have a substantial role in contributing to this. It has been exceptional to see the standard and number of applications received from a diverse array of partnerships. I am therefore delighted to approve additional funding to a total of over €1 million for six creative projects far and wide and look forward to seeing what these young communities achieve.”
"It is so important that those that represent the future of this island have a substantial role in contributing to this"
Notes to the Editor
Creative Ireland Programme
Creative Ireland is an all-of-government culture and wellbeing programme committed to the vision that every person in Ireland should have the opportunity to realise their creative potential.
Shared Island dimension to the Creative Ireland Programme
The Shared Island dimension to the Creative Ireland Programme seeks to deploy creativity on a shared island basis to: Increase opportunities for cross-community cultural and creative initiatives between children and young people; Support local authorities to enhance networks of creativity in support of vibrant and inclusive people-to-people and community-to-community partnerships; Position Ireland as a global leader in demonstrating the value of creativity and mental health including in post-conflict societies; Deepen collaborations for a more environmentally and socially sustainable island.
Shared Island initiative
The Shared Island initiative is a whole of Government priority to engage with all communities and political traditions to build consensus around a shared future on the island, underpinned by the Good Friday Agreement. The Shared Island initiative is backed by the Government’s Shared Island Fund, with at least €1 billion out to 2030 ring-fenced for delivery of all-island investment commitments and objectives in the Programme for Government and revised National Development Plan 2021-30; and informed by a programme of engagement with people across the island through the Shared Island Dialogue series and a comprehensive policy research programme, which provides a stronger evidence base and analysis of the island of Ireland across a range of economic, environmental and social areas. Further details on the Shared Island Initiative, including projects related to the Creative Ireland Programme, are available at www.gov.ie/sharedisland
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