Sure Start Mothers & Toddlers at Market Street Community Centre, Belfast
Community Arts Partnership worked in collaboration with Market Street Community Centre, as part of our community arts workshop programme. Market Street Community Centre is situated in the lower Ormeau Road in Belfast, an area which is becoming more and more multi-cultural with residents from a variety of communities. Residents from different communities, mainly Catholic, Indian and Polish avail of the centre’s facilities and services but the interaction between and among communities can often be limited.
Community Arts Partnership engaged with a multi-cultural group based in the centre exploring identities and cultures through traditional and digital media. The group is the Sure Start Mothers & Toddlers, whose members are from Catholic, Indian and Polish backgrounds. They worked with artist Holly Reid and Amita Ravikirana on an arts project combining photography with other visual arts.
The facilitators have helped the group to explore each other’s cultures. Mothers used Celtic and Indian art techniques and photographs to create and share images of their home life. Toddlers were even given disposable cameras so they too can take photos giving the child’s perspective of life in an Indian, Polish or Irish home. The group finished the programme with several mixed media collage art pieces that incorporates multi-cultural images, styles and techniques.
The programme has been a success in bringing these mothers together to explore each other’s culture and gain a further understanding of each other. Staff members have commented that it has been great just to even see the women sitting around the one table, engaging in long conversations and working together for the first time.
Marrowbone Community Association, Belfast
Marrowbone aims to benefit the inhabitants of the Marrowbone area. They run many groups and activities for all ages. A very energetic group of young people have been attending a series of film making workshop facilitated by Lyndsay McVeigh. They have produced there on version of MTV Cribs renaming it Marrowbone TV (MTV). The final piece is very funky and contemporary with the personalities of the young people shining through. Over the weeks that they were involved with the project they shared the highs and the lows of a young person living in the area and their hope for a brighter future. This a quick stop guide around the parts of Marrowbone that are important to them.
Sure Start Mothers and Toddlers at Donegall Pass Community Centre, Belfast
Donegall Pass Community Centre serves the needs of the local community by providing a wide range of activities and facilities including social, educational and recreational development of communities of inner South Belfast. Holly Reid recently delivered an exciting series of photography workshops. The workshops have brought ideas and confidence in creative activities to the group and families and explored ideas around family and memories. The Mothers enjoyed exploring family life ,capturing special moments of their children on camera and working creatively with their kids.
Rathgill Community Association, Bangor
Rathgill Community Association aim to have a community that is confident, caring, educated and healthy. They want to create a safe neighbo urhood that residents can be proud of. A group of approximately ten young people in their late teens to early twenties have been working with a new facilitator on board, Erika Reid. Through working in clay animation they have been exploring anti social behaviour – what it is and it’s consequences. The PSNI attended a Q&A session for the group to ask any questions and discuss the issues surrounding anti-social behaviour.
The young people have really embraced the whole process. They storyboarded, designed their own characters, filmed and recorded and edited audio for the final film. The film will be used as an educational resource for other young people.
River Row Creative Arts Centre
River Row Creative Arts Centre uses the arts as a tool for community development and to promote the wealth of talent that exists in the Omagh area. Community Arts Partnership is joining them on this mission through delivering a filmmaking workshop. The organisation has made several online videos but wish to learn new skills to develop and enhance these to a more professional standard. Cyril Kelly is facilitating this process and they currently have exciting plans in the pipeline for the programme.
The group is planning on doing some short dramatisations of war years in Omagh when the Americans were based there. They are even hoping to get their hands on an authentic US jeep and costumes. With talented scriptwriters, actors and facilitator on board CAP is very excited to see the final piece.