Echoes 2014
Upstate Theatre Project
presents
ECHOES
18 September 2014
Droichead Arts Centre, Drogheda
History is often, and necessarily, mediated to us. Someone writes that history, choosing what we need to know and what we don’t. Only through personal intervention can we prevent our individual histories being lost. But where do we start?
Supported by the European Union’s PEACE III Programme, Echoes has attempted to create a large community action research project which seeks to empower individuals, young and old, to research their own personal background and try to find out where their own ancestors may have been during the commemorative decade of 1912 to 1922. The Echoes project is inclusive and has not been tied to the 1916 Rising in Ireland or indeed to being Irish. It may well be that our roots extend as far away as Africa, Europe or other parts of the world – these histories are equally as valid.
In September 2014, Upstate Theatre Project held a preview of the creative content for a mobile application we have developed with the artists, historians and participants of Echoes. Together with Brian Walsh of Louth County Museum, Graham O’Rourke and his colleagues at MOR Solutions, the Echoes project will soon be shared with the wider community, both locally and further afield, through our new mobile application. Upstate hopes to build upon this foundation, and together with community researchers continue to develop and add to the project in the coming years of this significant commemorative decade.
What happened in Ireland between 1912 and 1922 happened in a global context, a turbulent time in human history. Through this project Upstate Theatre Project hopes to begin to uncover this period of commemoration and explore the humanity of our shared histories.
This project is delivered by Upstate Theatre Project and is supported by the European Union’s European Regional Development Fund, through the EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation PEACE III Programme managed by County Louth Peace and Reconciliation Partnership.
Project Historian: Dr Conor McNamara
Local History Expert: Brendan Matthews
Lead Artist: Gary Keegan
Videographer: Kilian Waters
Sound: Jack Cawley
App Design and Development: MOR Solutions
Community Researchers –
Drogheda Workshops:
Noel Hatch, Barry Molloy, Ann Farren, Anthony Gregory, Jeanine Lutzkedorf, Audrey Dunphy, Sean Daly, Patrick Mc Court, Noel Bailey , Maura Mullen, Nuala Mullen, Emmet Doran, Catherine Moore, Sandra Gough, Sean Kavanagh, Paddy Goodwin, Carol O’Brien, Maura Flanagan, Paul Flanagan, Aine Moroney, Mary O’Rourke, Nadine Winters, Olive Hearty, Gerry Hearty, Madge Boyle, Linda O’Reilly, Noelle Bowe, Elma Finn, Peter Finn.
Dundalk Workshops:
Ann Cleary, Martin Gilsenan, Marissa Lucchesi, Rose Cullen, Frank Cullen, Karen McGuinness, Kathleen McGuinness, Ann McParland, Paddy Watters, Derek McDonnell, Kathleen Clarke, Jim Kerley, Louis Callaghan, Marie Agnew, Brian Agnew, Anne Callan, Jason Rice, Emma Savage, Maire Whelan, Joe Crawley, Pat Kerley, Luiana Lucchesi, Helen Owens, Mary Grey, Pat Mc Kenna, Riccardo Lucchesi, Brian McCamley, Danny O’Shea, Brendan Dullaghan.
Schools Workshops:
Ardee Community School, Our Lady’s College, St Joseph’s CBS.