NI’s rural communities set to reap the benefits of Arts Council NI investment of £349,553 National Lottery funding
7th November, 2024
Fifty-one community groups and arts organisations in rural communities across Northern Ireland set to benefit from the fourth round of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland’s National Lottery Rural Engagement Arts Programme (REAP), with an investment of £349,553.
The National Lottery Rural Engagement Arts Programme, was established in 2022 with the aim of providing an integrated, cohesive approach to the needs of rural communities as they emerged from the global Covid-19 pandemic. The overarching theme of the programme is to tackle isolation and loneliness and promote social inclusion and wellbeing through participation in the arts for those living in rural communities.
The National Lottery Rural Engagement Arts Programme is one of the Arts Council’s core National Lottery programme areas.
Gilly Campbell, Director of Arts Development, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, commented,
“The Arts Council of Northern Ireland is delighted to make this funding available to rural communities, especially as we celebrate the 30th birthday of The National Lottery. We know that taking part in arts activities brings people and communities closer together, raises self-esteem, boosts confidence and motivation, as well as alleviates isolation and loneliness.
“Thanks to The National Lottery players, this game-changing funding from the National Lottery Rural Engagement Arts Programme has supported 184 rural arts projects with total National Lottery funding of £1,239,633 since its establishment in 2022.
“The programme has been making positive impacts in NI’s rural communities by increasing opportunities for people to engage and participate in meaningful arts activities, enriching their lives for the better. The Arts Council believes that arts, and coming together as communities, can all make a vital contribution to building wellbeing, confidence, and healthy, integrated communities.”
REAP funding has been offered to organisations located in Local Authority Areas across Northern Ireland, with particular focus in some of Northern Ireland’s most rural areas, for example Fermanagh and Omagh, Mid Ulster, and Newry, Mourne and Down. Some of the community and arts organisations that have been offered REAP funding include:
Sliabh Beagh Arts - Fermanagh and Omagh
Funding amount offered: £8,950
Project title: The Nature Table
Sliabh Beagh Arts will create a mixed media forest installation inspired by the unique local upland bog ecosystem, delivering a series of workshops in a variety of artforms within schools and community venues. Activities will include glass workshops, wood carving, coppersmithing, ceramics, felting, hand stitch and applique. The project will culminate in an exhibition bringing participating communities together to celebrate the uniqueness of the Sliabh Beagh ecosystem and the rich diversity that exists in the natural surroundings and local community.
Newry Chamber Music – Newry, Mourne & Down
Funding amount offered: £8,130
Project title: Go Rural
Newry Chamber Music's, Go Rural, initiative aims to bring the joy of classical music to rural communities to combat isolation, loneliness and promote social inclusion. The programme will consist of two strands; Classical Coffee Concerts, where professional musicians will perform in local community venues across the region, and Snowman in Schools, which will involve interactive performances for children in poorly served, rural schools. By providing access to high-quality music and engaging with communities, Go Rural seeks to foster a sense of connection, ultimately improving the well-being and social integration of participants.
CRAIC (Community Recreational Arts in Coalisland) – Mid-Ulster
Funding amount offered: £7,920
Project title: Creative Connections
Craic Theatre's, Creative Connections, project aims to run twenty workshops designed to engage a diverse group of participants, including mid-life women and young people, in various art forms such as dance, drama, and creative writing. This project will tackle loneliness and isolation by providing a supportive forum where participants can increase their confidence, learn new skills, and incorporate these skills into their everyday lives. Utilizing the medium of drama for wellbeing, the project will also foster new volunteer engagement in community theatre, generating a positive ripple effect on participants' wider social circles.
Verbal Arts Centre – Derry~Londonderry & Strabane
Funding amount offered: £8,590.
Project title: SHINE - Stories Healing Isolation and Nurturing Engagement.
SHINE - Stories Healing Isolation and Nurturing Engagement is a specialist creative guided reading programme that has been developed to engage older people who are experiencing a distressing absence of or reduction in social contact, connectedness and belongingness. The project will involve groups of up to 10 people meeting weekly in a community location for an inclusive session where stories are read aloud by a trained practitioner. Delivered within the context of a curriculum developed specifically to address loneliness, at regular discussion breaks in the story, the group is encouraged to reflect on what is being read and to explore how it might relate to their own lives. Engagement is enriched by the spontaneous sharing of life stories and experiences as confidence builds over time.
Smashing Times Theatre Company Ltd – Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon
Funding amount offered: £4,000
Project title: Creative Connections
Creative Connections aims to promote creativity and theatre with four diverse groups in areas designated as disadvantaged. The project will use creativity and the arts to identify collective, shared solutions for bringing the groups together and creating a genuinely integrated society. The project will include theatre workshops and performances, film screenings and post-show discussions plus new digital technologies to promote reconciliation, human rights, equality and anti-sectarianism, building cross border and cross community links
Glenlough Community Choir – Mid & East Antrim
Funding amount offered: £8,689.
Project title: The Intergenerational Pick-Me-Up Choir & The Larks and Crows Festival of Community Singing
In this project, Glenlough Community Choir will consolidate the success of their Pick-Me-Up Chorus by giving their participants in Ballygally, Broughshane and Carnlough/Glenarm, the opportunity to take part in four performances. This will benefit existing participants with friendships and musical skills while building new connections. This is the third time that Glenlough Community Choir has received REAP funding and none of these groups existed prior to that. Their existence has made, and continues to make, a huge difference to the lives of 60 new singers, their family and friends. The first three performances will happen near Christmas with well-known Christmas songs in Ballygally, Carnlough and Glenarm. Then in Ballygally and Broughshane there will be eight weeks of Pick-Me-Up rehearsals in the lead up to the 'Larks and Crows Festival of Community Singing'.
Big Telly Theatre Company – Causeway Coast & Glens
Funding amount offered: £6,592
Project title: Gathering at the Farm
This project will create an extended community residency at Lislagan Farm, using participatory theatre to tackle loneliness, improve mental wellbeing and offer a meaningful opportunity for social interaction. This project is based on Granny Jackson’s Dead, an immersive theatre experience specifically designed to be re-imagined in each community setting. Big Telly are partnering with CAN, a bold and creative user-led organisation which supports adults with learning disabilities, autism and mental health issues to become active participants in their own communities. Granny Jackson’s Dead will take place in Lislagan Farm, CAN’s newly acquired home and project participants will include older people, Men’s Shed, young people and local scout groups. Other groups will be sourced through the Ethnic Minority Forum, Beyond Skin, Causeway Neurodiversity and WAVE Trauma.
BEAMA Education CIC – Antrim & Newtownabbey
Funding award offered: £7,870
Project title: Frame It
The project will primarily target people with a learning difficulty or learning disability to offer them opportunities for social connection through arts participation to combat loneliness and isolation. This group typically find it difficult to avail of safe social interaction due to their individual needs which is compounded within a dispersed rural area. Participants will take part in visual and graphic art workshops to explore connections between colour, behaviour and emotion. They will learn techniques to manage their emotions within the Take 5 framework and will mindfully capture images to promote connection and wellbeing. This enables them to express themselves through art without the pressure of vocabulary. The project will culminate with an exhibition displayed in Pomeroy Forest Building for the enjoyment of the wider community.
Connecting Minds Project – Causeway, Coast & Glens
Funding amount offered: £8,620
Project: Symphony of Cultures
The Symphony of Cultures project aims to enhance intercultural understanding, social integration, and community cohesion in the Causeway Coast and Glens area through music and collaborative workshops. The project will engage adult asylum seekers and Year 8 students from two secondary schools, one predominantly Protestant, Unionist, and Loyalist (PUL), and one predominantly Catholic, Nationalist, and Republican (CNR). The project will use the arts and music as a tool to encourage social integration in rural communities, uniting diverse groups, promoting empathy, respect, and understanding.
Beth Johnson Foundation including Linking Generations NI – North Down & Ards
Funding amount offered: £7,023
Project: REAP what you sow through art
Linking Generations NI (LGNI) will engage older people and school pupils in rural areas to take part in intergenerational arts projects. The project will be delivered by professional artists and the aim is to address loneliness and social isolation and promote positive mental health and wellbeing.
Place to Wonder – Downpatrick, Newry, Mourne & Down
Funding amount offered: £9,000
Project: Home Sweet Home; A Storytelling Wellbeing Programme for Refugee Families.
In response to the 2021 research that the lock down caused early years children to regress within their milestones Place to Wonder created an early years wellbeing programme called Sweet Dreams which used storytelling and live music to translate relaxation tools in a magical child centred language. This new project will be an extended programme, developing a new series of workshops and a relaxation book that directly responds to the needs and lived experiences of refugee children. The programme will be delivered to ten refugee families living in Downpatrick. The project will culminate in a celebration event with all the families taking part where Place to Wonder will present the relaxation book in an immersive storytelling session.