Grants Allocated For Awareness Based Initiatives

For further information on each event simply click on the event name below:

Altnaveigh House Cultural Society, Appointment of Cultural Officer
Derry City Council, The Walled City Culture Trail
Balnamore Primary School,  Ulster-Scots Music and Culture Workshop
Bready and District Ulster Scots Association,  Strategic Plan for Cultural Centre

Organisation:  Altnaveigh House Cultural Society
Event:             Appointment of Cultural Officer
Date:               November 2002 (for 3 year period)

Following on from discussion with the Ulster Scots Agency and Foras na Gaeilge, Altnaveigh House sought funding for the appointment, over three years, of a Cultural Officer to develop the Ulster Scots and Gaelic school of music and traditional cultures.  This is a joint cross-border project between Altnaveigh House and the North/South Language Body.

The role of the cultural officer is to promote the study and development of Ulster Scots as a living language and the development of the Ulster Scots Culture, including music and song in all its forms, dance, literature and drama.

The role will also have an attendant archiving role to preserve both the oral traditions and the historic material.  With the traditional Irish cultures, Altnaveigh House, in partnership with the two agencies, seek to encourage mutual understanding and reconciliation.  This project is seen as a pilot for other groups throughout Ireland that have an interest in traditional culture and a desire to promote and improve mutual understanding between communities.

Organisation:   Derry City Council
Event:               The Walled City Culture Trail
Date:                1 July – 31 August 2002

The Walled City Cultural Trail took place in July and August 2002.  The purpose of the Trail was to integrate the programmes on offer during the summer period for locals and visitors while providing as important platform to showcase the range of cultural talent available in the City.  The Trail was promoted through flyers, brochures, press releases and media features, familiarisation trips for trade and media and was managed through a number of dedicated staff during the summer months.  A total of 7,381 visitors took part in the trail, greatly exceeding the original target of 5,000.  It is known that 45 of the visitors using the Trail were from the domestic market, with the balance of visitors from throughout Ireland, Scotland, Europe and America, reflecting the visitor profile for the City.

This year the Walled City Cultural trail introduced a number of new features, including the Café Club at the Millennium Forum, and evening lectures.  It was within these new features that included musicians and a guest speaker from the Ulster Scots tradition.  The main focus of the Ulster Scots programme was a guest lecture evening at the Verbal Arts Centre.  This included music, refreshments and an informative talk on the Ulster Scots Language.  It was very well received and attended by local interest groups, tour guides and members of the public.  Thirty-nine people registered for the event, which included music from Robert Watt and Emma Culbert, and a lecture by Mary Delargy.

In addition, the Café Club had two Ulster Scots performances.  This is a more informal setting with visitors and local people enjoying music over the lunchtime period.  Over the eight Saturday’s, almost two hundred people enjoyed the Café Club, with fifty-four attending the Ulster Scots lunchtime events.

The culmination of music and guest lecture at the Verbal Arts Centre ensured that the event could rightly be promoted as an Ulster Scots evening.  In addition, the Café Club coincided with the Ulster Pipe Band Championships, and this was used as an opportunity to introduce Ulster Scots through direct promotion on the Shuttle Bus used for that event.

Although this was the first year that Derry City Council has introduced a themed programme within the Trail, the Council believe there is an opportunity to extend in the future years.  It is the ambition of the Council to include an enhanced series of lectures and lunchtime music for 2003, representing the Ulster Scots tradition. 

Organisation:  Balnamore Primary School
Event:              Ulster-Scots Music and Culture Workshop
Date:                21 February 2002

The Principal of Balnamore primary School, Mr Jackie Morrison, organised that the Ulster Scots Folk Orchestra should visit the school on Thursday 21 February 2002, to give a performance to the whole school, which was to be followed up by a workshop session with Key Stage 2 pupils.  It was agreed that with all the pupils attending the performance, it provided the younger pupils with the opportunity to experience the orchestra’s music and learn about the various instruments, as well as allowing an interest for Ulster Scots to filter through Key Stage 1. 

Key Stage 2 pupils were encouraged to discuss the orchestra’s visit in the Ulster Scots After-School Club, where pupils from P5, P6 and P7 joined together to consider pieces of Ulster Scots literature and poetry.  The culmination of their work was a short performance at the End of Year Assembly.

Mr Morrison hopes to continue the Ulster Scots After-School Club in 2002/03, and to build on the existing interest within the school.

Organisation:   Bready and District Ulster-Scots Association
Event:               Strategic Plan for Cultural Centre
Date:                18 April 2002

Bready and District Ulster Scots Association applied for funding to form a strategic plan for the development of the Association and to provide a framework upon which to utilise the potential of the numerous affiliated groups.

This organisation was already actively engaged in a wide range of commendable cultural ventures such as Highland Dancing, piping and Drumming classes, Historical lectures and Educational Classes etc.

As the Group had recently applied to the Rural Development Council (RDC) for financial assistance towards the building of a community and cultural centre in Bready, the strategic plane also details how the centre will function as the focal point for cultural activity in the community.  It was agreed that the consultation process for the strategic plan would commence before the end of April 2002.

The proposal had, as its primary focus, the development of Ulster Scots activity in the area, and the continuation of a long established Ulster Scots cultural tradition in the local district.