Tell Your Story
abevan May 8th, 2008
To celebrate European Year of Intercultural Dialogue 2008, the Chester Beatty Library and Draíocht Arts Centre, Blanchardstown, are collaborating in a unique project involving primary school children from multi-ethnic backgrounds living in the Dublin 15 area.
The goal of Tell Your Story is to provide positive arts experiences around storytelling in order to build language skills, confidence, arts awareness and multicultural understanding through highlighting commonality and celebrating difference.
The project began on the 31st of March with a field trip to the Chester Beatty Library, and a tour of the library’s collection. Full of inspiration, the children returned to their classrooms to start a series of over 50 workshops in storytelling, poetry and visual arts taking place over six weeks with the project’s skilled artists and practitioners from both organizations.
After six weeks of classroom workshops, the project will finish in Draíocht on Saturday 10th of May, with a Family Day and Exhibition of some of the children’s handmade work including clay face masks, treasure chests and hand-stained and decorated journey scrolls. The families of all 148 children will be invited to Draíocht where the project will be officially closed by Bob Kelly, of RTE’s ‘No Place like Home’.
The entire project is being recorded on DVD by filmmakers Neil Dowling and Paddy Shirley, and each child will receive a copy of the finished film to add to their treasure chest when the project finishes.
Twenty nationalities are represented by the 148 children who are aged between 7 and 12 years, and this project will encourage each child to tell their own individual story. By listening to their class friends, the children can enjoy and explore each other’s cultural heritage, encouraging them to share, create and celebrate the stories that are important to them.
Chester Beatty Library, through its education service offers a variety of programmes designed to foster better understanding of its collections. Draíocht is a multi disciplinary arts centre with a thriving theatre, visual arts and children’s programme, serving the people of Dublin 15 and its environs.
For further information about this project please contact:
Anne O’Gorman (Draíocht) tel: 809 8029 or email anne@draiocht.ie
Or Jenny Siung (Chester Beatty Library) tel: 01-4070775 email: jennys@cbl.ie