In 2023, Glencree’s Community and Intercultural Relations (CIR) Project partnered with the NEIC Intercultural Inclusion Programme and Hill Street Family Resource Centre to undertake a series of participative workshops aimed at supporting social inclusion and diversity of Dublin residents.
Building on earlier work of the Glencree CIR project which used artistic, interactive and immersive workshops to support improved community and intercultural relations, the partnership commissioned Outlandish Theatre to create and facilitate the workshops through a theatre process that focused on diverse concepts.
The resulting series of ‘theatre of the everyday’ workshops, entitled “Dancing Conversations”, brought together diverse Dublin residents and staff of statutory agencies working in the inner city, including members of An Garda Síochána and Dublin City Council.
Across five two-hour workshops, 38 participant engagements featured semi-constructed and set-up individual and group conversations, movement, deep listening and creative writing exercises. These sessions, which were prepared and facilitated by poet Fióna Bolger and co-director Maud Hendricks of Outlandish Theatre Platform, fostered connections between participants with different skill sets, diverse cultural values and languages.
The final performance workshop in Smock Alley Theatre allowed the group to find out how 'Dancing Conversations' perform in the presence of an audience within a traditional theatre space. The invited audience further supported this exploration by actively participating in the event.
Supported financially under the Dublin City Council (DCC) Integration Strategy Framework 2021-2025, the focus of this work was to investigate the manner in which we inhabit the physical and natural worlds in which we exist together.
“This creative, interactive workshop series highlights the importance of taking a partnership approach and embracing creative, participative processes as a means of promoting social inclusion and supporting cultural, ethnic, linguistic and religious diversity. We are delighted to also work with Dublin City Council yet again, in support of their integration and intercultural strategy.”
Glencree CEO Naoimh McNamee
Intercultural & Refugee Programme Manager Nadette Foley and Programme Administrator Amina Hadj Ameur participated in the final interactive workshop. Their experience was of a unique, liberating and joyful atmosphere that facilitated synergies between people of diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds, facilitating unself-conscious, emotive and dramatic movement. The discussion afterwards succeeded in creating a ‘brave’ space, thanks to skilled facilitators who moved conversations throughout the space whilst acknowledging different opinions.
