Arts Council should back writers’ centre
The centre has managed, on very little, to carry out a programme of readings, events and initiatives which are unique in this region.
It established the first ever writer-in-residence in a Galway hospital, working with elderly long-stay patients to produce an anthology of poems, something never done in the west before. Their outreach work included running a poetry workshop with the traveller support group, in the process working up a radio play written by Julia Sweeney, a member of the Travelling community.
As a teacher of Travellers for many years, I can only applaud an initiative that reaches out and enables a marginalised group to find its voice. (The play was subsequently broadcast on local radio). I welcome, too, their prominence in the art-in-education programme run in the Galway region.
I recently attended a weekend publishing seminar, organised by the centre, which was so successful that some who turned up had to be turned away. I’ve also attended readings, including the recent successful and much publicised Desmond Hogan reading at Galway library.
All of which begs the question: why is this centre, the only one of its kind in the west being starved of funds?
The Western Writers’ Centre has proven its worth: isn’t it time for the Arts Council to recognise this and reverse its decision?
Maureen Gallagher
55 Castlelawns Heights
Galway
