Creative engagements lifting spirits to great new heights

"These music, arts and creative initiatives are keeping our communities strong"

Several award winners in this year's Ignite Fund have found new technologies invaluable in offering creative opportunities to their workshop participants. Picture: iStock

With the definition of ‘ignite’ to ‘spark’ or ‘set in motion’, the objective of Rethink Ireland’s Ignite Fund is to set meaningful social impact in motion in communities across Ireland. The fund provides support across four separate categories under the themes of ‘Empowering Families’, ‘Youth Resilience’, ‘Harnessing Ability’ and ‘Music to Impact’.

Each Awardee was supported through cash grants, business support and a place on a world-class Accelerator Programme, which focused on building Awardees’ capacity and equipping them to scale so they can reach more people in need of their work.

“Awardees came from a wide range of backgrounds and sectors in Irish society but they all have one thing in common, to create meaningful social impact in communities right across the country,” said Deirdre Mortell, CEO, Rethink Ireland. “From supporting children and mothers recovering from domestic abuse to creating music ensembles with young people with disabilities, each of our Awardees have been delivering incredibly important work.” 

This €550,000 Ignite Fund was made possible by Rethink Ireland (formerly known as Social Innovation Fund Ireland) in partnership with several private philanthropists and the Department of Rural and Community Development via the Dormant Accounts Fund.

Ignite Awardees making a big difference 

COMMUNITY & FAMILY SERVICES: NFRC 

The Community & Family Services project addresses the impact of trauma as a result of living in deprivation and poverty for children and their parents. This essential support will be enhanced by the Ignite Fund through the recruitment of a ‘theraplay’ therapist who will support parents to take control, reducing dependency on agencies and becoming their child’s therapist.

“The aim of ‘theraplay’ is to re-establish the parent-child bond following loss, trauma or separation, while the sunshine circles introduces trauma-informed practice into school work,” said Mary Mulcahy, Coordinator of Community and Family Services, Northside Family Resource Centre (NFRC). 

“It’s a complex project with huge benefits, and the support from the Ignite Fund was essential. The work is all about improving that parent-child relationship, which underpins a lot of the behavioural issues for the child. This relationship is so important and the theraplay is a proven way of improving and strengthening that.” 

TLC KIDZ, BARNARDOS 

Barnardos supports children whose wellbeing is under threat, by working with them, their families and their communities. TLC Kidz is a 12-week group evidence-informed programme for children and mothers in recovery from domestic abuse, with the award enabling Barnardos to develop their trauma-informed response to this silent issue within families.

“The Accelerator Programme asked us tough questions about our impact and measuring the work, which was so valuable to developing a national standards framework,” explained Aine Costello, Coordinator for National Childhood Domestic Abuse Project. 

“Children not only witness ‘domestic violence’, they experience it on every level, and are traumatised by it. We are moving towards our goal that every child who has experienced domestic violence and abuse and is no longer living with the perpetrator, can access the TLC Kidz project.” 

LE CHÉILE, ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY OF MUSIC

 Led by the Royal Irish Academy of Music in partnership with Ulster University, Le Chéile is a series of music ensembles for young disabled musicians from every province in Ireland culminating in the foundation of the Open Youth Orchestra of Ireland (OYOI), the first national youth orchestra for disabled musicians in Ireland.

“Philanthropic funding gave the Academy the chance to reach out further to bring this programme to people across Ireland,” according to Brendan Breslin, Project Lead for Le Chéile and Head of RIAM Connect. “We were able to develop a handbook of what a Le Chéile group looks like, how it’s facilitated and how you can develop a local community to engage with this. Now if we want to expand the model, it gives us exactly what we need to make that happen.” 

Ignite award winners: (top row) Mary Mulcahy and Ciara Kane of Community & Family Services; Aine Costello from TLC Kidz, Barnardos; Brendan Breslin, Le Chéile Royal Irish Academy of Music. (bottom row) Sr Bernadette Sweeney and Denise Ni Dhuibhir, St Agnes’ Community Centre for Music and the Arts; Sinead Stack of Step Ahead, Acquired Brain Injury Ireland; and Tammy Darcy and Cyrill Darcy, of The Shona Project's Online Programme.

ST. AGNES’ COMMUNITY CENTRE FOR MUSIC AND THE ARTS

 As an intergenerational centre embedded in the Crumlin community, it offers affordable access to high-quality arts programmes and music tuition to people of all ages across a number of instruments. It is a grassroots project that aims to bring all members of the community together to enjoy affordable music classes and other music and arts activities.

“The Ignite Fund came at a critical point for us,” Denise Ni Dhubhir, Assistant Administrator pointed out. “It allowed us to put in place all the things we needed to allow ourselves to grow even further. Over the past difficult months, we used various other ways to keep the link going, because the music was the way we keep the community strong. The music and the arts is that tie, that common ground that brings them all together.”

STEP AHEAD, ACQUIRED BRAIN INJURY

Step Ahead is Acquired Brain Injury Ireland’s new vocational assessment service to help young people affected by brain injury return to education, training or work. Based in Dublin and Cork, this is a national service offered free of charge to brain injury survivors aged between 18 and 29 years old, providing one-to-one assessments led by a senior occupational therapist and supported by vocational facilitators.

“The Step Ahead programme helped me with my job skills and gave me a lot more confidence,” said Michael, a Step Ahead participant. “It gave me that kind of push to apply for more jobs and to know that I have the backing of Step Ahead, that they’re there to help me, to support me with my employers. The fact that I’ve found Step Ahead is something I couldn’t imagine.”

 THE SHONA PROJECT, ONLINE COMMUNITY

 The Shona Project aims to educate, empower and inspire today’s Irish girls to become tomorrow’s strong, confident and curious young women. To complement their school’s programmes, they will build an online, interactive platform that provides girls with information, advice and a sense of community.

“We wanted to create a more immersive experience and a more interactive community, and the funding allowed us to explore the best way to go about that,” explained Founder Tammy Darcy. 

“For the girls we work with, it’s all about allowing them to be themselves and creating that space for them online, without an expectation of a filter or a perfect life, somewhere without that pressure that they are faced with so often. We are working towards a world where every girl feels a sense of community with each other, that they are unified and that they find the strength in that, and then they pay that support forward to other women and girls.”

 Deirdre Mortell added: “We would like to thank the Department of Rural and Community Development and the philanthropists who believed in and supported the Ignite Fund. We believe in the power of the regions and believe the capacity for innovation is present in every community. With that in mind we are calling on families, trusts, companies and individuals to get involved in the next Ignite Fund which will focus on the MidWest Region.”

Rethink Ireland are calling on those interested in donating to this Mid West Fund to visit rethinkireland.ie  or contact Pádraic Vallely at [e-mail]

Seán Canney, former Minister of State for Community Development, Natural Resources and Digital Development, joins in with St Agnes’ Community Centre for Music and the Arts, Dublin, at the announcement of Rethink Ireland's Ignite Fund Awardees.

rethinkireland.ie/ignitefundawardees