Friars Gate Theatre Outreach

The X-Factory by Tom Swift is a multimedia, intercultural piece of youth theatre featuring local pupils from across the globe who are attending three Limerick schools - Scoil Carmel, Salesians and St. Nessans. The performers are part of Shoulder to Shoulder, a local initiative which fosters integration through the arts. It is a collaborative project by Doras Luimní, Friars Gate Theatre and Limerick County Council. It is co-financed by the European Commission under the European Integration Fund and is supported by the Office for the Promotion of Migrant Integration in the Department of Justice and Equality, and Pobal. Shoulder to Shoulder is led by Fiona Quinn, County Limerick Youth Theatre Director.

The X-Factory xtravaganza will take place in the Halla at Mary Immaculate College at 8pm on December 20th 2011. It promises to be a fun evening of music, dance, comedy, live performance and film footage. And at the heart of it is the moving story of a young girl who wants to make all her hopes and dreams come true...but what is the price of the search for fame and fortune?

From Monday 9th – Friday 14th May, Friars’ Gate hosted the very successful Global Justice Festival – a week long event that included a gathering of national and international speakers on human rights issues who were all been invited by transition year students from schools in the county. The Global Justice Festival which was officially opened by Senator Ivana Bacik was the culmination of a year long programme implemented in 4 post primary school transition years by Friars Gate. The programme which investigates global issues such as Poverty, Human Rights, Gender, HIV and Aids was developed by Friars Gate’s Education and Outreach Director Fiona Quinn, who has over 20 years experience working with young people in the drama field.

‘The starting point for this development education programme,’ explained Ms. Quinn, ‘was a quote from Julius Nyere, former President of Tanzania when he said “Take every penny you have set aside in aid for Tanzania and spend it explaining to people the facts and causes of poverty.” With funding support from Irish Aid and Limerick County Council Arts Office,’ continues Fiona, ‘arts facilitator Kate Hammond and I worked with transition years in Scoil Pol, Kilfinane, John the Baptist Community College, Hospital, Colaiste Iosaf, Kilmallock and St. Mary’s Community College, Charleville. The school programme included 2 sessions each week in each school, with the first session investigating and fact finding on global issues and in our second session the young people were engaged in drama to assist with exploring and understanding of these issues.’

‘One of the objectives of the course was developing an action with the students on one of the global issues,’ says programme facilitator Kate Hammond, ‘with the aim of empowering the young people to promote change locally and globally as opposed to charitable action. These actions, some which have been developed collectively or in solidarity, will feature in the Global Justice Festival and include plays, poetry, speakers, exhibits and films. The week long festival programme,’ continues Ms. Hammond, ‘will highlight and challenge our perspectives on human rights through a mixture of creative and imaginative activities and formal responses to the young peoples’ actions by leading experts in various fields of human rights.

The festival included a ‘Skills4Life HIV & AIDS Awareness Workshop, an international programme which uses the power of dance to inspire, educate and mobilise young people to take action against HIV and AIDS. Other events included the creation of a shanty town; the dramatisation of child labour with pupils from Bulgaden National School, discussion on Child Brides and performance of John B Keane’s Sive, speakers and workshops on child labour, the global drugs trade, inequality and migrant rights, gender equality, human rights, fair trade and much more.

We would like to acknowledge the support of Irish Aid and the Arts Office of Limerick County Council in funding this programme.