The Stay up all Night Film and Drama Hub is a media literacy course designed for adults with additional needs to enhance their creative participation in their own community.

The project is a collaboration between facilitator, Fiona MacGinty, Meath County Library Service and Down Syndrome Ireland. The programme uses youth theatre techniques and video production to creatively explore how media works.

Participants will be members of the “Stay up all night book club”, a monthly book club that meets in Navan Library. Established in 2023, the book club is a partnership between Down Syndrome Ireland Louth/Meath Branch and Meath County Library Service. At present there are 9 young adults who attend the group with membership increasing year on year. 

In May 2025, Children’s Books Ireland invited the group to attend the Children’s Books Ireland awards where they received a special mention from Rick O’Shea at the ceremony. Some members of the book club were also interviewed by RTE Junior radio. As a follow on from the radio interviews the group were asked to take part in an upcoming radio programme; “DJ for a Day” in early 2026.

This project will provide members of the club with the opportunity to learn how to act and perform for the camera and develop video production skills. They will also create original narratives on topics such as interpersonal relationships, bullying, and socialising and produce educational videos based on their narratives to share with others.

Please note that the details of events listed above are provided by the relevant Local Authorities.