Martin Beanz Warde: Racism towards Travellers has been evident in Irish comedy for years

Martin Beanz Warde: I believe we are all products of our environment and upbringing, and some people have learned more about people than others.

I grew up in County Galway and I have three younger brothers. I remember living in a caravan when I was six or seven.

One day, I tried to learn to cycle a bike and I came down a laneway which was on a bit of a hill and I didn’t know how to use the brakes. I crashed the bike into the caravan and cut my knee.

I think in some respects, we are all born with certain skills, but grow into particular hobbies and interests.

It was down to nurturing and encouragement that I explored my creative side. Something I give full credit to Mrs Ann Silke for, a remedial English teacher who told me I didn’t need remedial help. She encouraged me to write more creatively about the world around me. She told me that every step in a story contains information that could be expanded, which is why I write in a very descriptive way to this day.

The performing side of my life came as a fluke, but it was the confidence I had built up from earlier years that kept me from doubting myself.

In 2019, I was organising a comedy tour, the first time in my career where I had more fans looking for tickets than I had seats to hold them. I was either refused or ignored by over 50 different venues. Some of these venues were at the time hosting comedy shows by other comics on the circuit.

It was also a time when comics were boycotting venues for racism and sexism, the boycott never extended to include racism towards Travellers. Something that has been evident in Irish comedy for years.

This was a very difficult time for me as it reinforced the level of acceptance towards excluding Travellers. It motivated me to reach out to the Arts community publicly, to ask them to open their doors to me.

I was never going to give up, but if it wasn’t for the Arts community, I wouldn’t have stepped into the world of theatre.

My proudest achievement was when myself and another Traveller were nominated for SMEDIA awards for work we submitted through our journalism courses in UL. I picked up an award as a director for the TV news segment.

More recently, I am very proud of being the first Traveller to hold a photo exhibition with the Photo Museum of Ireland.

My greatest quality is the ability to not let others’ behaviour or attitudes dictate how I react. I have sat with and debated with people who hold very strong anti-Traveller views. I approach these interactions with empathy, trying to understand why this person acts the way they do.

I believe we are all products of our environment and upbringing, and some people have learned more about people than others. I think my ability to meet hate with empathy is my strongest quality and one I am still learning to master.

I tend to ask for advice from people with more knowledge than I, of which there are many. I’m lucky enough to have great friends, colleagues and family. I’m not short of an ear to listen, or a finger to wag if I’m going off track.

The life lesson I would like to pass on is to take every opportunity available, even if you don’t have the skills yet. Learn as you go and don’t be afraid to ask for advice or guidance.

I would also say that a great lesson for life is to realise that everyone you meet has some sort of sadness or stress in their life, no-one is perfect. So, treat everyone like you’re the only one that has been nice to them that day. It may very well be the case.

The greatest advice I have ever been given is that you lose all of the opportunities you don’t go for and if you’re not hungry enough to chase your dreams, someone else will take your seat at the table.

I would like to be remembered as someone who didn’t pull the ladder up behind themselves and someone who believed that empathy and understanding does far more for the world than hate and anger.

If I could change something from my past, I would have started recording my granny and her stories of the past months before I had planned to. Life is too short and in the case of my granny, it was short by just a few months. I shouldn’t have waited and I should have made time, because time is not something we can ever bank on.

Climate change has made me more conscious of the use of electricity at home, switching lights off, TV, PC etc.

My greatest skill is the ability to learn about something that I am clueless about. If I don’t know something, I tend to Google it straight away. If I want to become proficient in something, I study it. There are free tutorials and lectures on nearly every subject. Not pursuing free knowledge is our greatest weakness as humans.

Dogs surprise me. They are the greatest gift to our species. They sometimes endure the worst treatment, yet they love unconditionally. I am always surprised when I hear of people mistreating their pets, it just doesn’t make sense to me.

Climate change becoming irreversible scares me most in life. We are headed that way and we are seeing signs of severe weather change in other countries like Pakistan.

If I took a different fork in the road, I think I would have been either a psychologist or lawyer, although I have always wanted to be an actor.

• Through Our Eyes, an artist-led Traveller wellbeing through creativity project is on display in the Artists’ Project Space at Photo Museum Ireland until November 30.