Past Projects
Community Projects at Birr Theatre & Arts Centre
Birr Theatre & Arts Centre came from the goodwill of the local community. 22 years later, that community is still at the heart of the theatre. It's the community that trod the boards to entertain, it's the community that brings the arts to the heart of Birr through carefully curated projects.
Over the years Birr Theatre & Arts Centre has engaged various groups of people around arts projects involving a variety of media to facilitate a brand new dialogue within the town. Many of these projects were created and envisioned with the help of professional artists and practitioners who, together, solved problems, built relationships, and got involved in ways that rebuilt social capital.
Click on to explore the art!
Futures Lab
Inter-generational Creativity
Inspired by the transitioning of land usage in Offaly from fossil fuels / greenhouse-gas-intensive industrial processes, Futures Lab creatively responds to the Just Transition Programme to capture stories and methodologies that run the risk of being lost or forgotten in areas where rural peatland was harvested.
The aim is to consider how collected and recorded content can be potentially up-cycled, reused, appropriated within the context of STEAM – how inter-generational engagement can creatively harness information/data for our futures - integrated into new solution focused ideas and assets to contribute to building resilient rural communities.
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Exploring Birr Skies Contemporary & Heritage Astronomy
Inspired by the astronomical heritage and contemporary astrophysical research in Birr, science communicator and creative, Dr. Niamh Shaw collaborated with Birr Theatre & Arts Centre, Birr Tidy Towns and local cross stitchers to map and observe Birr Skies with its celestial objects such as stars, planets, comets, meteors and other objects beyond our naked eye.
This was done through a programme of online workshops, night sky observations, with guest speakers incl. Dr Áine Flood, I-LOFAR, an initiative led by Trinity College Dublin, and site visits to Birr Castle Demesne.
Plant-tastic
Inspired by Nature
Through a creative research process a specific number of "hero plants" will be identified and the botanical features/components that have biomimetic and adaptation features will be creatively replicated/reinterpreted through crafting processes using reusable and recyclable materials. These specific features will be magnified in scale to explore the textures, shapes and unique elements to their botanical structure.
The resulting artworks will not be exact botanical replicas of the original plant but imaginative re-interpretations through the prism of young minds.
The project will culminate with an exhibition at Birr Courthouse as part of Birr Vintage Week & Arts Festival, 29 July – 7 August.
Legitimate Bodies Dance Company
(resident dance company 2007 - 2013)
Legitimate Bodies Dance Company (resident dance company 2007 - 2013), led by artistic duo Nick Bryson and Cristina Goletti, is one of the most thrilling new dance initiative in Ireland.
Nick and Cristina, who are both highly regarded dance artists, met on the Daghdha Dance Company’s mentoring programme and started a choreographic collaboration that ended up with an invitation to perform at the international dance festival “Performatica” in Mexico.
Consequently their second piece was performed as part of the Dublin Fringe Festival 2007 at the DanceHouse to great success of audience and public and has been supported by Dance Ireland under the Incubator Programme.
Youth Theatre
A once in a lifetime opportunity to learn new skills, work with amazing facilitators, and realise your creative dreams!
Birr Youth Theatre gives young actors and directors the basics in acting for film & theatre, script writting and directing.
As a bonus they get to meet similarly artistic minded people.
