Brilliant Ballybunion began with a simple but ambitious idea: what if food, biodiversity, science, and creativity could come together to imagine a more sustainable future?

Since then, the project has engaged residents of all ages; from first-time gardeners to seasoned farmers, schoolchildren to local chefs and artists to academics. By weaving together practical skills, creative expression, and scientific knowledge, Brilliant Ballybunion has become more than a project. It’s a collective journey of resilience, imagination, and hope.

In its first year, the project invited 14 local collaborators on a shared path of learning and growing. Through the Fridays on the Farm series at The Barna Way organic farm, participants sowed seeds, harvested crops, built a willow room, created nature journals, and reflected with guidance from embedded artist Lisa Fingleton.

Alongside this, the community explored local biodiversity with marine scientist Dr. Joanne O’Brien; recording bird calls, cataloguing insects and plants, and even testing water quality in local streams. These hands-on experiences revealed the richness of Ballybunion’s natural environment and the need to protect it.

Festivals and creative gatherings were central to the journey: Events like Ballybunion Goes Wild!, an evening of radical hospitality, and Sing for Your Supper, wove community voices together through music, poetry, food, and storytelling.

By its second year, Brilliant Ballybunion was rippling outward into the wider community. The North Kerry Sustainability Day at the Tinteán Theatre in February 2025 drew hundreds to themed panels on food, biodiversity, energy, and climate adaptation. And the impact of Brilliant Ballybunion is already clear in the new groups, practices, and passions taking root in the community.

Like the Ballybunion Nature Group, now 40 members strong, monitoring species such as the Ringed Plover, Carder Bees, and the Small Blue Butterfly. Born out of Sustainability Day, this group brings together local residents with the NPWS, Kerry County Council, Ballybunion Golf Club, and Ballyduff Tidy Towns.

The Meitheal group of local growers come together to share knowledge, and tools and techniques, reinforcing the idea that sustainability is a collective effort.

And then came the summer highlight: the Ballybunion Bean Festival. Families across the town received bean seeds, complete with ‘Bean Birth Certificates’, joined WhatsApp bean-growing groups, and shared harvests at a grand Bean Feast where nearly 20 households contributed food for 70–80 people, overseen by Lisa Toomey, a local vegan chef and part of the Bean Team.

There were panels on soil and seed saving, artworks from repurposed oil drums, a play (The Bean Chronicles), and a concert that played on as thunder rolled over the Atlantic.

The festival received an additional buzz this year with a visit from Cynthia Nixon, best known for her role as Miranda Hobbs in Sex and the City. A passionate advocate for climate action, she met with locals, families and growers to celebrate food, biodiversity and creativity in Ballybunion.

One festival goer summed it up:

"I came for the food, but I left with the belief in the power of community."

The impact  of the project is visible everywhere. Children are growing beans and sunflowers at school. Families are bird and dolphin-watching. New gardeners are tending their first vegetable patches. Creative voices are telling new climate stories through art, music, and theatre.

For many, the project has turned climate anxiety into action, and disconnection into collaboration. As one collaborator reflected:

"Working with others on these projects has made me feel connected - like I’m part of something bigger than myself."

What makes Brilliant Ballybunion unique is its creative heart. Artists, musicians, chefs, and storytellers are embedded at every stage, turning climate action into something imaginative and inclusive. This creativity, supported by Creative Ireland, has been central to its success, opening new doorways for people to engage with climate and biodiversity issues in ways that feel joyful and meaningful.

Brilliant Ballybunion shows what’s possible when community, creativity, and climate action come together. From meitheals to bean feasts, dolphin rescues to school gardens, the project is cultivating more than plants and habitats. It’s growing resilience, imagination, and hope for Ballybunion’s future.

Discover more about Brilliant Ballybunion’s brilliant journey at brilliantballybunion.com.