Roots

Carlow Arts Festival is on a mission to cultivate long-term in-depth engagement with people across County Carlow.

Carlow Arts Festival is on a mission to search out its roots and to cultivate long-term in-depth engagement with people across County Carlow.

We have identified four locations, our Roots, across Carlow County that we are working with over a 14 month period: Rathvilly, Tullow, Hacketstown and Graiguecullen. We selected these locations due to their relative lack of artistic provisions and services.

Inspired by Encounters Art shops, Roots is mentored and co-designed by artist Ruth Ben-Tovim with creative practitioners Janice de Bróithe and Ciara Harrison from Trasna Productions. Our team are getting to know people by setting up Roots Pop-Up Shops in each area to dig deep and find out about their history, what they're interested in and what gets them excited.

Our Roots Pop-Up Shops are designed to be places to inspire playful creativity and each shop has a range of meaningful activities for young people and adults to do alone or with others.

The outcomes of these activities will help us build up a picture of the people living in each area. We hope to learn how people interact with their place, what they think of the arts, and what they think about the future.

At the completion of this project, Trasna Productions will produce a detailed report outlining each areas’ demographics, interests, local expertise, skills and what people envision for the future of their communities. This report will gather the insights from continuous evaluation and will reflect on the impact that the Roots activities had upon the communities.

Trasna Productions

Trasna Productions CLG is a not-for-profit organisation that supports the production of inclusive, participatory artworks across all art forms.

Trasna has a wealth of experience in this area having delivered the Inclusive Neighbourhoods, Enterprises and Cultural Network Analysis and Development Project by conducting a series of collaborative workshops with over 160 people to create an analysis and development report for Camphill Communities of Ireland funded by Kilkenny LEADER Partnership.

Trasna Productions website

Ruth Ben-Tovim

From 2003 – 2020, Ruth Ben-Tovim was the co-founder and Executive Director of Encounters Arts, specialising in creative community involvement and engagement. She produced and delivered over 80 participatory projects and interventions that invited people from all backgrounds to explore and express creatively their experiences of the past, responses to the present and hopes and fears about the future.

With Encounters, Ruth was part of the team representing the UK at the Venice Biennale of Architecture and delivered projects for the Liverpool Capital of Culture, the Arts Council and the Royal Society of Arts. Currently, Ruth is one of the lead artists in Walking Forest, a ten-year public artwork connecting women, trees and activism.

Supported by LEADER and Carlow County Development Partnership.

Fuair an tionscnamh seo fóir-dheontas ó Coiste um Fhorbairt Pobail Aituil Cheatharlach, Clár Forbartha Tuaithe atá maoinithe ag Rialtas na hÉireann faoi Chlár Forbartha Tuaithe Éireann 2014-2022 agus ag Ciste Talamhaíochta na hEorpa d’Fhorbairt Tuaithe: infheistiú na hEorpa i Limistéir Tuaithe.

This project received grant aid from Carlow Local Community Development Committee under the Rural Development Programme Ireland 2014-2022 which is financed by the Irish Government and by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development: Europe investing in Rural Areas.