Gaelscoil and Creative Spark and join forces for Euro project
Staff from Creative Spark and Gaelscoil Dhún Dealgan recently travelled to Leeuwarden in the Friesland region of the Netherlands for the start of a three-year project ‘Culture United’, a collaboration between Dundalk ,Leeuwarden, Edinburgh, and Oulu in Finland).
The theatre spectacle ‘De Tocht’ (The Tour) by Stichting Beleef en Herinner based on the Elfstedentocht (Eleven Cities Ice Skating Tour - a famous ice-skating event almost 200 km in length, which follows a circular route along frozen canals, rivers and lakes visiting the eleven historic Frisian cities), is the first subject of this project, which is financed by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Commission.
Culture United focuses on cultural and heritage events as a driver of multidisciplinary teaching in primary education. The idea originated at Learning Hub Friesland when The Giants of Royal de Luxe were in Leeuwarden in 2018. Schoolchildren were so impressed by the festival that they made drawings about it weeks later. This prompted the question: ‘How can this enthusiasm be used to teach children things in a fun and inspiring way?’ In collaboration with Beleef en Herinner en Kunstkade, the project proposal for Culture United was developed and was approved by the European
Commission in July 2019.
The Elfstedentocht, a cultural-historical event so characteristic of Friesland and the Frisians, is something that children may never experience again because of climate change, but the project promoters want it to be preserved in their culture. By involving primary education in the production of the theatre spectacle ‘De Tocht’, children are inspired and activated to learn about their culture, language and history, but also about cooperation, perseverance, organisation and climate change.
Scottish partner Edinburgh will link their ‘Burns and Beyond’, which honours the most famous Scottish poet, Robert Burns, to primary education using the same principle.
Here in Dundalk, local partners will use cultural heritage, drawing on the myths and legends in our culture, over the next three years to develop innovative teaching materials for primary schools.
Sarah Daly, Executive Director of Creative Spark, said ‘ The strength of an international cooperation project like this lies in the fact that concrete results are achieved locally and that knowledge and experience is shared at a European level. We are delighted to collaborate formally with Gaelscoil Dhún Dealgan and our international partners on this innovative project.’ 2
Carols by Candlelight with Dundalk Brass Band takes place tomorrow (Wednesday) night in St Nicholas Parish Church (the Green Church) at 7.30pm. 6
Paddy Mac’s Christmas Party night with The Long Riders, The Outsiders, DJ Padraig Quigley and guests brings all the hits to The Lisdoo on Saturday December 21 night.