Project Type:
Book Project, Arts in Education, Community Engagement
Dates:
October 2018–March 2019
Participant Group:
6th Class children from Scoil Íosa, Ballina; and children from Involve Youth Group
Artists:
Cas McCarthy (artist) and Mary Branley (writer)
Partners:
National Museum of Ireland (Country Life); Involve, Ballina; Scoil Íosa, Ballina; Mayo Traveller Support Group; Mayo Traveller Interagency Forum.
Funders:
This Project is financially supported by the National Museum of Ireland, Department of Justice and Equality and by Mayo North East under the Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP) 2018-2022, funded by the Irish Government and co-funded by the European Social Fund Fund under the Programme for Employability, Inclusion and Learning (PEIL) 2014-2020 and Community Foundation.
Travellers’ Journey
Building on our connections in County Mayo, Kids’ Own was delighted to be invited to collaborate on a brand new project with the National Museum of Ireland (Country Life), Involve and Scoil Íosa, to develop a new book with children that would explore contemporary Traveller culture and identity, inspired by the Museum of Country Life exhibition, Travellers’ Journey, which was launched by President Michael D. Higgins on 10th July 2018.
Starting with a trip to the Museum in October 2018, to view the exhibition, 6th class children from Scoil Íosa and children from the Involve Youth Group, Ballina subsequently worked over a period of weeks with artist Cas McCarthy and writer Mary Branley to develop artistic responses to the exhibition and dialogues about identity and culture.
The book publication from this project is currently being designed and will be launched in late March 2019.
Since its inception in 1997, Kids’ Own has published an extensive range of titles with and for Traveller children and families, celebrating and giving visibility to this minority culture. Visit our online shop to browse some of these titles.