Songs From Our Lives is an inclusive community arts project that will support a group of adults at the Mullingar Congress Centre, in partnership with the HSE, to write, develop, and professionally record original songs based on their own lives and experiences.

This project is built around direct, meaningful engagement between the creative practitioners and a specific community group: adults who attend services at the Mullingar Congress Centre, supported by the HSE. The engagement will take place through a series of in-person, participatory songwriting workshops designed to be collaborative, inclusive, and responsive to the needs of the participants. Rather than presenting creativity as something led solely by the practitioners, the project places participants at the centre of the creative process. 

The workshops will focus on listening, conversation, and shared exploration, allowing participants to contribute their own stories, memories, humour, and ideas. Jonathan Farrelly will act as a facilitator, helping to shape these contributions into song form while ensuring that each participant’s voice is respected and represented. This approach creates a genuine creative partnership, where artistic work emerges from dialogue and trust. Engagement will also be strengthened through collaboration with professional musicians, who will work sensitively with the material generated by participants to create musical arrangements. 

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