Westport Town hall Theatre are planning to research and development of an intergenerational community arts project called “Éist”. The project encourages young participants to “build” a town based on the stories and memories of an older generation. In the first phase of R&D, artist Mary-Lou McCarthy will reach out to community groups and identify suitable partners for the project. The second phase will involve the development of the idea with community groups, giving them meaningful creative input from the outset. The research involves three key areas:

Research and engage with local history in the area:  We want to learn about existing community projects exploring heritage and learn from their process and outcomes - Connect with “Westport Historical Society'' and request access to their photographic archive. These photographs may be used as support material in the design of our workshops

Work with local community groups: Create and implement two workshops with young people: Work with two classes of school students, introducing the project and getting feedback on the initial idea. This is crucial in supporting the voice of the child in the development of the project. We want their input on the project idea while it is still in its grassroots level .

Create and implement two workshops with the identified participants aged 60+: work with two groups of older people inviting them to have creative input on idea while it is still in development.

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