WIREDGOV

Young opera singers, film makers and school children in the Derry/Londonderry area are among those celebrating the UK City of Culture thanks to a Lottery windfall from Culture for All.

Six organisations working with people in L/Derry have been awarded a total of almost £42,000 as part of 21 groups across Northern Ireland to receive a total of £160,917 from the Big Lottery Fund and Arts Council of Northern Ireland’s Culture for All programme.

A full list of grants is available here

Culture for All is a small grants programme offering grants of up to £10,000 to communities across Northern Ireland that want to play a part in the UK City of Culture celebrations in 2013. Community organisations could apply for funding up until the end of August to run arts and culture projects and activities linking in with the historic event, encouraging talent and improving the lives of people in communities.

NI Opera received £3,800 for a project that saw two groups of young people from Off the Streets in the Galliagh area of Derry and Morton Community Centre in south Belfast write and perform their own mini operas. Both the Derry group, who were aged between 12 and 15, and the Belfast group, aged five to 11, took part in four weeks of workshops in preparation for a trip to see the Importance of Being Ernest in the Millennium Forum in November. After the show, each group performed their mini operas, using instruments made from recycled materials, at the Verbal Arts Centre.

“They used lots of different recycled materials and came up with some wonderful things. I wanted them to be a little bit alternative because the instruments in the Importance of Being Ernest are pretty wacky,” music teacher Lucia Vernon-Long said. “They weren’t just your average things like triangles and drums, but some quite strange instruments.”

She said that after some initial nerves among the younger children, the two groups became the best of friends.

“When the Belfast lot turned up there were all these tiny little people looking a bit nervous because there were all these big teenagers from Derry. But the dynamic between them worked really well. The older kids were all down on their knees asking the younger ones’ names and questions about their lives in Belfast – it was really lovely. 
                                                                                                                        
“The felt like they were looking after the little ones and the little ones found it all very exciting meeting all these big girls and boys. There was no element of competition because they were so different.”

12-year-old Taleyah Coyle from Derry took part in the project. “We played a few games at the start before we performed our operas and we all got to know each other. It was really fun. We made new friends as well,” she said.

Dearcán Media CIC also received a £10,000 grant from the Culture for All programme to produce a sequel to the 1979 documentary Creggan, which focused on the Derry estate during the Troubles. A number of young people from the area are being trained up in production techniques and will help to make the sequel, which is due to start filming in February.

A number of people who featured in the original documentary and the young people will share their experiences to illustrate the journey that the community has made since 1979.

Producer Deaglán O’Mocháin said: “The motivation behind it is to provide an opportunity for young people to interrogate the past through the film. The contrast is really quite stark when you see the original film. Creggan looks like Beirut.

“We’re not trying to do a puff piece but we’re trying to say things have moved on. Some of that is down to the peace process and the psychological changes that have taken place and some of it is just to do with the physical geography of the area changing. It really is unrecognisable.”

St Patrick's Primary Schoolin Pennyburn also received a grant of £4,300 which it is using to provide cultural, music and physical activities, including a digital project exploring the Siege of Derry/Londonderry. One of the highlights will be African drumming workshops, culminating in a showcase finale in early 2014.

Joanne McDowell, Big Lottery Fund NI Director, said: “The Big Lottery Fund and Arts Council of Northern Ireland are delighted to announce these grants from this programme which is giving communities across Northern Ireland the chance to be a part of one of the world’s most significant cultural events in 2013.

“We are delighted with the range of arts and culture projects from across Northern Ireland that we have been able to support which link to the City of Culture celebrations and benefit their local community.”              

This programme closed to applications on 30 August 2013. For more details on this programme call the Outreach team on 028 9055 1455, or e-mail enquiries.ni@biglotteryfund.org.uk

For further information contact
Lucy Gollogly, Press Office Big Lottery Fund: 028 9055 1432
Out of hours: 07740 284 404

Notes to editors

The Culture for All programme aims to support communities across Northern Ireland that want to play a part in the UK City of Culture celebrations in 2013.
The Big Lottery Fund, the largest of the National Lottery good cause distributors, has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK since its inception in June 2004. It was established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.
The Arts Council of Northern Ireland is the lead development agency for the arts in Northern Ireland. It is the main support for artists and art organisations throughout the region, offering a broad range of funding opportunities through its Treasury and National Lottery funds.