{"id":41271,"date":"2026-05-11T15:50:40","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T14:50:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.creativeireland.gov.ie\/event\/empty-buildings-real-lives\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T15:50:40","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T14:50:40","slug":"empty-buildings-real-lives","status":"publish","type":"event","link":"https:\/\/www.creativeireland.gov.ie\/en\/event\/empty-buildings-real-lives\/","title":{"rendered":"Empty Buildings, Real Lives"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Empty Buildings, Real Lives<\/strong> is a youth\u2011led creative advocacy project that supports teenagers to explore and respond to the housing crisis through research, creativity and civic engagement. Developed in partnership with Cork City Comhairle na n\u00d3g, Derelict Ireland and Creativity &amp; Change (MTU), the project focuses on the visible contradiction between homelessness and derelict or long\u2011term vacant buildings in the city.<\/p>\n<p>Through a series of facilitated workshops, young people become urban investigators. They walk the city, map and document vacant buildings, and ask critical questions about ownership, policy and responsibility. The project places strong emphasis on ethical engagement, focusing on systems, buildings and decision\u2011making structures rather than individuals experiencing homelessness.<\/p>\n<p>As the project develops, participants build skills in systems thinking, creative inquiry and advocacy. They work together to decide how their learning should be shared and how young people\u2019s voices can be heard in public discussion.<\/p>\n<p>The project culminates in a youth\u2011led knowledge\u2011exchange conference hosted by Cork City Comhairle na n\u00d3g, where participants lead panels and workshops for young people from across the city. <strong>Empty Buildings, Real Lives<\/strong> empowers young people to engage confidently with complex social issues, strengthens youth voice in civic spaces, and creates informed, collective questioning as a vital step towards, social change in Cork City.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":41272,"template":"","class_list":["post-41271","event","type-event","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Empty Buildings, Real Lives - Creative Ireland Programme<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Empty Buildings, Real Lives is a youth\u2011led creative advocacy project that supports teenagers to explore and respond to the housing crisis through research, creativity and civic engagement.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.creativeireland.gov.ie\/en\/event\/empty-buildings-real-lives\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Empty Buildings, Real Lives - Creative Ireland Programme\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Empty Buildings, Real Lives is a youth\u2011led creative advocacy project that supports teenagers to explore and respond to the housing crisis through research, creativity and civic engagement. 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