Changing Ireland, the national magazine of the local and community development programme

Changing Ireland has mapped over 120 projects in the Local and Community Development Programme

To read the latest the issue click on the link below

http://issuu.com/changingireland/docs/issue_42__changing_ireland__june-ju

A nationwide series of national organic farming open days will take place this summer. Teagasc, the Department of Agriculture,Food and the Marine, and organic organisations invite all farmers, farm family members and members of the public to see organic farming in practice and to meet and speak with the producers and the sector’s experts.

Seminar and Festival of Rural Arts and Culture to Inspire and Renew Communities

Seminar. Pop-Up Space. Community Arts. Crossroads Gathering.

 Date: June 27th & 28th, 2013

Location: Burncourt Community Centre and local areas, near Cahir, Co. Tipperary

 A collaborative project involving a voluntary arts group in South Tipperary and a range of international partners is to culminate with a public seminar and a Festival of Rural Arts and Culture at the end of June. ‘Inspiring Rural Creativity’ is a collaborative project which explores the reality of arts and culture in rural areas and it’s potential to renew communities.

The project was made possible through funding support from the Arts Council Local Partnership Scheme and the INTERREG funded, Green & Blue Futures Initiative and is led by the Arts Office of South Tipperary County Council and co-ordinated by Conor O’Leary of Artlands.

As a result South Tipperary Rural Arts Group are hosting the first International Festival of Rural Arts and Culture on Thursday, June 27^th and Friday, June 28^th, 2013. Key events will take place in the intimate setting of Burncourt Community Centre and The Farmhouse Pub, Graigue, near Clogheen over two days and will celebrate inspiring examples of arts and cultural initiatives in rural areas from home and abroad.

The festival programme starts with the opening of ‘The River Culture Pop Up Space’, on the evening of Thursday, June 27^th in  Burncourt Community Centre.

This installation and exhibition is a collective effort by the artist Deirdre, O’Mahony, the South Tipperary Rural Arts Group, local fisher folk, hunters and the county museum to assemble a collection of museum objects and local collections of tools, flies, rods, traps and hunting and fishing related materials that speak to the specific culture of river life on the Suir and its surroundings. The artist has interviewed local fisher folk and hunters and these will provide the soundtrack to a DVD projection in the shed behind the community center. It’s all curated by artist Deirdre O’Mahony from Clare who will give a talk at 7.30p.m. on the X-PO Project, which she initiated in a former rural post office in Kilnaboy in 2007 and shows the potential of arts and culture to revive rural areas

 ‘Inspiring Rural Creativity’, a public seminar and exchange event, takes place in the community centre on the following day, Friday, June 28^th from 9.30am-4p.m. and will feature guest speakers from across the UK and Ireland present innovative examples of initiatives which tackle the issues of arts and cultural promotion and provision in rural areas and it’s role in regenerating our society.

For example, hear how in Wales the Night Out Scheme brings over 600 shows to local communities every year! And how does the Ballymena Arts Partnership work? Voluntary Arts Ireland will explain how they promote active participation in the arts in local communities, whilst Fragments Ensemble and South Tipperary Rural Arts Group will discuss the experience and outcomes of developing a community film project with young people in the local area and show the film.

Plus it will also explore the role of the community and rural development sectors, the impact of arts networks and volunteer promoters, and the relationship between artists and local communities. Seminar places are limited and cost €10 including lunch. Bookings to the SouthTipperaryCountyMuseum at Bookings 052 6134552 or Email: museum@southtippcoco.ie.

The events will conclude on Friday night with a ‘Crossroads Gathering’ event celebrating the best of rural culture in the region and beyond taking place in the Farmhouse Pub, Graigue, near Clogheen from 9p.m. till late.

The partners in the project are drawn from the Arts Office, South Tipperary County Council, South Tipperary Rural Arts Group, Artlands, Voluntary Arts Ireland, Fragments International Ensemble (UK/Ireland) and the Night Out Scheme (Wales).

For further information contact project co-ordinator Conor O’Leary, Artlands at conor@artlands.ie or 087-9048095 and check out https://www.facebook.com/inspiringcommunities

ENDS

For further information please contact, Conor O’Leary at (087) 9048095 or info@artlands.ie

South Tipperary Rural Arts Group  contact Breeda Fitzgerald, South Tipperary Rural Arts Group at 087-6967661

Conor O’ Leary

Conor is a Level 2 Awardee with Social Entrepreneurs Ireland which supports people with innovative ideas for social change to turn them into a reality. Conor was also shortlisted for the Carnegie Trust ‘Rural Sparks’ Recognition Programme 2009 as one of 15 projects across the UK and Ireland for innovation in sustainable rural development.  And most recently in 2011, Artlands was recognised by Irish Rural link for it’s valuable contribution to Rural Community Development.

www.facebook.com/inspiringcommunities

Galway Rural Development is holding a public seminar and workshop designed to raise awareness of the completion of the Hymany Way through East Galway and integration into the Beara-Breifne Way. We will be illustrating commercial opportunities from walking and cycling tourism, health, fitness and community benefits to having this wonderful historic walking infrastructure on our door step.

The workshop, which will combine expert input with opportunities for discussion and creative thinking, is a free event and is a must for anyone with an interest in tourism, rural communities and heritage. 

Click here for full details and location

Attendance is free but booking is essential:

Please contact Galway Rural Development on (091) 844335

Email to grd@grd.ie to book a place and for further information

The conference theme will be “Irish Food Products – A Historical Perspective”.

In the 1960s, A. T. Lucas, former Director of the National Museum, stated that “… from prehistory to the close of the 17th century, corn and milk were the mainstay of the national food.” The conference will bring to bear perspectives from archaeology, history, folklore, palaeoecology, geochemistry and archaeobotany, to review the basis for Lucas’s proposition, and whether it is still seen to be broadly correct.

To register – contact aghistoryireland@gmail.com

 

Date: 19th & 20th July Location: Strokestown Park, Co Roscommon Cost: €25 including lunch

Power, prayer & public archaeology: A conference in celebration of 750 years since the foundation of the Black Friary

The conference aims to explore the archaeology and material culture of Religious Houses in late medieval Europe, through innovative approaches to new stories.

Where: Knightsbrook Hotel, Trim, Co. Meath

When: July 2nd & 3rd, with a launch event on the evening of the July 1st, and a site tour on the morning of the July 4th; delegates can stay on for the Swift Festival, starting on July 4th.

Register: Registration will open in May – keep an eye on the Registration page for updates!

Through interdisciplinary approaches, we want to address how the introduction of continental monastic orders impacted locally on social order, material culture, economy, burial practice, and the role of men, women and children.

Themes will include European-wide research, Ireland-focused studies, architectural style and technologies and a focus on the Black Friary Dominican site in Trim Co. Meath as a case study. The latter will include papers on community and public archaeology, an integral part of the Black Friary Archaeology Project.

The need for this conference arises, for us, from the work being carried out at the Black Friary Community Archaeology Project. This project is centered on the late medieval site of the Dominican Black Friary in Trim. The Friary, established in 1263, was the third friary established in Trim but was situated outside the town wall, on the north-east side of the town. The friary was in use for over 400 years, but following the Dissolution, it fell into disrepair, disuse, and was eventually sold off for stone.  There is some documentary evidence that tells us when it was established, and by whom (Geoffrey de Geneville), and that it was in important site, hosting a number of significant historical events but beyond that we know very little about the site, the friars that lived there, and what role the friary played in on the town.

Geoffrey De Geneville, Seigneur of Vaucouleurs, married Maud or Matilda de Lacy in 1252.   Matilda had inherited, from her grandfather Hugh de Lacy, vast estates and lordships in Ireland, Herefordshire, and the Welsh Marches. Henry III granted Geoffrey and Maud, and their heirs rights in the land of Meath held by her grandfather, by charter dated 8th August 1252.

The conference will be held in the medieval town of Trim, Co. Meath, home to the largest Anglo-Norman castle in Ireland, and situated on the banks of the River Boyne.

Image from: Great Charter Roll of Waterford (1372), courtesy of Waterford Museum of Treasures

Supported by:

Date: Friday 6th June, 2013

Location: Rochestown Park Hotel, Cork

View Full Programme HERE

Conference Date: 17 May 213

Report & Associated Papers

The problems faced by rural communities came to the fore at a one day conference organised by Irish Rural Link. Hosted by Third Age foundation in Summerhill Community Centre in Meath in association with Carnegie UK; the conference heard that rural communities are in danger of being forgotten by a state, which is wholly focussed on correcting the national debt. Delegates attending from across the country outlined some of the issues facing their areas. These include the reality that:

- At least nine in ten young people have considered emigration and that every family is affected by it.

- Employment opportunities have declined; mainly because of the ban on recruitment in the public sector, the tough credit conditions faced by manufacturing and small business and the difficulties faced by farmers as detailed by the recent Teagasc farm income survey, showing a decline of farm income from an average of €30,000 to €25,000 in 2012.

- Garda stations are closing against a background of fears by people that, alternative policing plans are not in place.

- Services in rural areas are under serious threat, with particular difficulties faced by shops and pubs in small towns and villages.

- Government plans to close more rural schools. Addressing the conference, Mr Billy Murphy Chairperson of IRL, asked delegates to begin a conversation in every community which would discuss the type of future people living in rural communities should expect.

IRL Annual Conference Report 17th May 2013 -read full report here 

for Dr. Conor Skehan’s Presentation click here 

for Billy Murphys Conference Address please click here 

Location: Conference Centre at Croke Park, Dublin  Date: Friday 14th June

The TASC-FEPS Conference ‘Reconstructing the European Economy’ will take place in the Conference Centre Croke Park on Friday 14th June. We hope you can join us at what promises to be a very lively debate on the European crisis.

To register for the event please email Sylvia at sbyrne@tascnet.ie

Reconstructing the European economy will need evidence-based policy making and a willingness to challenge the status quo and prevailing conventions. The annual TASC-FEPS conference is an opportunity to hear progressive, evidence-based ideas on how sustainable economic recovery can be achieved in the European and Irish economies.

The Conference will be opened by Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Pat Rabbitte TD.

Confirmed speakers include: Mr Lars Andersen, Managing Director, ECLM Denmark; Dr Hannah Bargawi, Researcher CDPR SOAS, University of London; Professor Malcolm Sawyer, Professor of Economics at Leeds University; Dr Susan Newman, Lecturer, Department of Economics of Sustainable Development at Erasmus University Rotterdam.

The afternoon keynote address will be given by Professor John Weeks, Professor Emeritus and Senior Researcher at CDPR, University of London.

Context
The European economy remains in crisis. Unemployment in the Euro zone has reached a record high of 12 per cent. Almost one third of Euro zone member states have already been forced into official bail-out programmes, while other member states’ economies remain enfeebled. The financial sector remains dysfunctional and the Euro zone itself is characterised by structural competitiveness imbalances and widely diverging economic prospects. The economic crisis is a systemic crisis that requires systematic solutions. The official response to the crisis has been insufficient and often incoherent. The current responses have been preventive and reactive rather than building the institutional and economic foundations of a system that would put European on a different developmental trajectory where job creation and equitable growth takes centre stage.

A Europe facing the prospect of stagnation and high unemployment needs innovation and reindustrialisation from modern evidence-based industrial policy together with alternative macroeconomic policies. Likewise, the institutions of the Euro zone proved to be inadequate to deal with the scale of the catastrophe in Europe’s financial institutions, and inadequate to prevent the explosion of public and private debt. Fundamental changes to ECB and Euro zone rules may be required if the currency is to assist job growth and a strong European economy in future. Design flaws must be rectified.

The quality of the economic policy debate must be strengthened at national and European level. Reconstructing the European economy will need evidence-based policy making and a willingness to challenge the status quo and prevailing conventions. The annual TASC-FEPS conference is an opportunity to hear progressive, evidence-based ideas on how sustainable economic recovery can be achieved in the European and Irish economies.