Community Organisations
The Embassy is pleased to support community groups who are organising initiatives as part of the global programme to commemorate 1916. A number of the 110 organisations receiving €6.73 million in funding through the Emigrant Support Programme this year are currently planning commemorations initiatives in the community.
In addition, a total of nineteen projects have received direct financial support for their commemorative projects through the Embassy community funding scheme.
The Embassy is excited to support community groups who are organising events as part of the global programme to commemorate 1916. Supported events fall within the framework of the overall Ireland 2016 programme and are aligned with one or more of the five themes: Remember; Reconcile; Present; Imagine and Celebrate.
A total of nineteen projects have received financial support, and the grants awarded were between £100 and £1200 per project. All in the region of £500 - £2,000 per project. Taking the 1916 Rising as a starting point, each projects will have a community, commemorative, cultural, academic or educational focus.
At the launch of the Global and Diaspora programme in Dublin on 29 June, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Charlie Flanagan said:"The major projects in Britain will be among the flagship events in our ambitious international programme and I know the community groups here will bring imagination and passion to the important grassroots aspect of our celebrations."
Name of organisation |
Project Title |
Brief Description of Project |
Date |
Birmingham Irish Association |
Ceiliúradh |
A commemorative event looking at all sides of the events leading to the Easter rising and its aftermath, featuring the songs of the period and with younger Irish actors playing key roles and reading from documents from the period. |
March 2016 |
Conor Scully Design |
Projections; a 1916 centenary experience |
Supporting the creation of a prototype for a large scale interactive installation. The final installation would allow the public to interact with layers representing each year between 1916 and 2016. |
- |
Council of Irish County Associations London |
Ireland Our True Heart |
A welcoming evening of reflection, commemoration and imagination embracing the culture, story and people of Ireland, at London Irish Centre’s Kennedy Hall. |
April 2016 |
Emerald Centre - Leicester |
‘From Despair to Hope’ – the Easter Rising as a graphic novel |
In partnership with local schools in Leicester, to create a graphic novel of the Easter rising story. |
Tbc |
Haringey Irish Cultural and Community Centre |
The Night Before The Rising |
To create a community theatre piece through workshops involving the local Irish community in Haringey, London. |
March-April 2016 |
Irish Community Services |
From there to here - healing the wounds |
An oral historian and reminiscence worker will record the memories of older Irish people in Greenwich, Lewisham and Bexley, and they will be displayed as part of an exhibition in Greenwich Heritage Centre |
June 2016 |
Irish Cultural Centre Hammersmith |
‘Resurrection’ by Daniel Corkery |
Support towards a production of a short play set on the night after the Easter Rising and tracing its impact on a family. |
Autumn 2016 |
Irish Cultural Centre Hammersmith |
1916 Commemorative Lecture Series |
Support for a series of lectures in association with St Mary’s University, Twickenham, on commemorative topics including the Easter Rising and the Battle of the Somme. |
April-June 2016 |
Irish Elderly Advice Network |
1916 - Memories of London's older Irish generation |
A documentary film focused on the childhood memories of older Irish people in London will be created, looking at the impact of 1916 on Ireland and their own lives and experiences. |
March 2016 |
Irish in Britain |
A letter from here (podcasts and event) |
Letters were often the only way over the past 100 years in which the Irish community in Britain stayed connected to families and lives in Ireland. Now those letters take the form of skype, twitter and texts. This project will create 19 sixteen-minute podcasts in the form of a multi-media ‘letter’ from a person in Britain to a key person in Ireland in 1916. |
Tbc |
Irish Theatre Workshop Leicester |
The Terrible Beauty: Ireland 1916 - a community musical production |
Supporting the development of a community musical production linked to the Emerald Centre Leicester’s 2006 exhibition: ‘From Farmer Boys to Fighting Men’ – Young Irishmen and British Soldiers in Ireland in 1916. |
Tbc |
Irish Tuesday Club Liverpool |
Hands across the Water 1916-2016 |
Support for a commemoration event at St Michael’s Irish Centre including guest speakers and music, song, film and dance focused on Liverpool’s contribution in 1916. |
April 2016 |
Manchester Irish Writers |
1916 The Risen Word |
A series of 12 workshops and 6 lectures focusing on topics including the 1916 Rising and the Irish Cultural Revival. Participants will prepare pieces for performance before an audience at the Irish World Heritage Centre in March 2016. |
October 2015 – March 2016 |
Sandwell Irish Society, West Bromwich |
Commemorating 1916 and visit to Frongoch/Bala |
Support for expert speakers to make a presentation to an Irish community group in the West Midlands on Frongoch internment camp in mid-Wales, which will also be visited by the group in April 2016. |
May 2016 |
St Wilfrid's Comhaltas Branch |
Four Green Fields |
Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann in Manchester will prepare through workshops for a staged performance reflecting the events of 1916 through music, song, dance, poetry and storytelling. |
October 2015 – April 2016 |
The Passage |
Ireland, 100 years in the making |
Members of the Passage’s Irish support group will hold a special event to mark the past 100 years and recognise the achievements of Irish men and women at home and abroad. |
March / April 2016 |
Tyneside Irish Cultural Society |
The Road to the Rising |
A series of lectures at the Irish Centre, Newcastle on Tyne on major events in Irish history to be co-ordinated with the University of Northumbria. |
Jan-June 2016 |
Tyneside Irish Cultural Society |
Brothers in Arms |
A short musical play in two acts set in the Irish National Club in Newcastle in October 1914 and August 1916. The narrative will follow the changing fortunes and opinions of two brothers as the optimism of recruitment for the Tyneside Irish Brigade is followed by the reality of the Rising and the disillusionment and tragedy of the Somme. |
June 2016 |
West Hampstead Women's Centre |
Music and poetry of 1916 event |
To support a performance by Irish women musicians at the Irish Women’s Group in WHWC in March 2016. |
March 2016 |