Building Shared Creative Communities: Councils secure more than £43,000

Monday 23 October 2023

The project, entitled ‘Building Shared Creative Communities’ will be delivered over a three-year period and will seek to foster social interaction, engagement and dialogue with the local communities in the two areas. Concentrating initially on the theme of ‘People, Place and Connections’ through areas of commonality in mural art, literature, craft, heritage and wellbeing - both Councils will work to build relationships, professionally and in community settings, that lead to cooperation, connections and mutual understanding.

An existing partnership already exists between Waterford City and County Council and Mid and East Antrim Borough Council, with the Councils already engaged through the Rural Regeneration Framework September 2022 - November 2023. This partnership, funded through the Shared Island Development Fund, involves working together to foster social interaction, engagement and dialogue within the communities of Portlaw and Dunmore East in Waterford, and within the communities of Glenarm and Portglenone in Mid and East Antrim.

Making connections is a key objective of the arts and culture project – linking people to people, communities to communities and creative to creative. The programme will deliver five strands of activity:

• ‘Licked off the Stones’ – a project exploring how towns, villages and communities have unique identities, and documenting what makes them unique and how their home place inspires and shapes them. This will explore the themes using creative forms such as literature, cultural and industrial heritage, architecture, and oral history as tools to unlock memories, stories and to understand local places in a heritage and contemporary way.
• A mural exchange programme based on the theme ‘People, Place and Connections’ as inspiration.
• A travelling creative writer exchange programme where writers will document their travel along the way to the other’s area and deliver creative workshops using community-led engagement to draw out local stories.
• Highlighting the role of arts, crafts and making as creative micro industries.
• Arts and health - demonstrating how sound can be used for health, wellbeing and creativity, as well as examining skills development for creatives.

Speaking about the successful funding award, Mayor of Mid and East Antrim Borough, Alderman Gerardine Mulvenna, said: “Mid and East Antrim Borough Council acknowledges the significant contribution the arts make to our society - contribution in terms of driving social change, tackling difficult societal issues, supporting education, improving health and wellbeing - in particular mental health - and supporting the economy.  

“This cultural engagement programme will not only celebrate and harness the unique and special creative talent that we have in Mid and East Antrim, but also help to connect us to other similar communities in Waterford.

“We are delighted that our relationship with Waterford City and County Council is continuing to thrive.”

The Shared Island Creative Communities funding scheme has awarded a total of £740,000 to nine cross-border creative initiatives, all aimed at inspiring connections between people, communities and places.