Two creative Limerick projects are awarded IHF SEED Grants

IHF SEED Grant Limerick recipients are ‘Sorry for Our Troubles’ and ‘Dying to Know’

 

Two creative Limerick projects are awarded IHF SEED Grant

By I Love Limerick Correspondent Tara Byrne

Two Limerick projects were chosen by the Irish Hospice Foundation (IHF) in its announcement of the recipients of its new Seed Grant scheme after a national callout last month. Over 70 applications were made for funding to the project which is in partnership with the Creative Ireland programme to inspire and support creative responses to the themes of dying, death and bereavement during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The first project chosen from Limerick is ‘Sorry for Our Troubles’, a collaborative project from Jennifer Moran Stritch of Limerick Institute of Technology Loss and Grief research group/Death Café Limerick and Dave O’Neil and Jantien Schoenmakers of Limerick City Community Radio with corporate support from Elive Internet Business Solutions.  

‘Sorry for Our Troubles’ wants people from all over Ireland and across the world to send in recorded voice messages via a dedicated WhatsApp number (083-028-5415).  These messages can be as long or as short as people want.  The ‘Sorry for Our Troubles’ team will listen to these messages and process the message through soundwave software, creating an individual image that is unique to each sound recording.  They will also superimpose words or phrases of text from the message itself and then host these images online so that they can be viewed by the public.  There will also be a space for people viewing the online images to leave a message of condolence, solidarity, and support inspired by the images.

Thank you @IrishHospice & @creativeirl for selecting #SorryForOurTroubles as 1 of the 10 seed grant recipients. Along w/ @nerdontherocks & Dave O’Neill from @LCCR1 we’ll be capturing voice messages&transforming them into images for an online memorial #IHFSeeds #deathcafeLimerick pic.twitter.com/2b2W8QQ8MB

— JenniferMoranStritch (@stritchj) February 22, 2021

“There is so much pent-up grief and sadness to let out from the past year, and yet we have very few places to do so,” said the project coordinator Jennifer Moran Stritch. “Funerals and removals and Month’s Minds have all been limited, postponed, or even cancelled because of COVID and social distancing, and many of us are missing things and experiencing losses that aren’t necessarily connected to death. We need a space to let out all those sadnesses, big and small, so they can be acknowledged and supported. So, we wanted to create a project where anyone from anywhere in the world who wanted to send us an anonymous voice message talking about what they were grieving, what they felt they had lost, and we would take their words and turn them into art that could be shared.”

The WhatsApp number (083-028-5415) is open and accepting voicemail messages and the images will be available online by March 30, 2021.

Limerick theatre practitioner Joanne Ryan is also one of eleven successful applicants receiving funding across the

country as part of the Irish Hospice Foundation’s new SEED grants programme. Her project ‘Dying to Know’ is also supported by the Lime Tree Theatre.

In collaboration with thanatologists and death historians, Joanne will develop parts of a new performance interrogating issues around death that combines autobiography, documentary, and research. As part of this current strand of development, Joanne will be working with people with life-limiting illnesses, people at the end of life, and professionals working with the dying.

“I’m honoured to be a recipient of a SEED grant and extremely grateful to The Irish Hospice Foundation, Lime Tree Theatre, and Limerick City and County Council for their support. It’s just amazing to have so much belief in a project in its early stages and to be working with such brilliant partners and collaborators. I’m very grateful and very excited to see how the work evolves in the coming weeks and months,” said Joanne.

Limerick theatre practitioner Joanne Ryan (@boscamilis) is one of 11 successful applicants receiving funding across the country as part of the @IrishHospice new SEED grants programme.

Her project Dying to Know is also supported by the Lime Tree Theatre. pic.twitter.com/mc32Q7ZvYk

— Lime Tree Theatre (@LimeTreeTheatre) February 22, 2021

IHF’s Art and Cultural Engagement Officer Dominic Campbell says, “From the rural GAA club and the village choir creating murals and choral works reflecting loss in their communities, to the potter making personalised urns for an individual’s ashes. From the illustrator explaining a grandparent’s death while apart to a child, to the playwright talking to people facing the end of life, to the digital and architectural memorials which will invite Ireland to share their losses; all illustrate what IHF’s People’s Charter on Death, Dying and Bereavement revealed and the pandemic reinforces – people are seeking more opportunities to talk about and process death, dying, and bereavement. Our Seed Grants are growing into places where we can be with each other in loss.”

Tania Banotti, the Director of the Creative Ireland Programme adds, “We are delighted with the sensitive and thoughtful response from the creative community to this important project. We look forward to hearing more about the outcomes of these projects and congratulate all involved.”

For more information go HERE 

For more stories on the Irish Hospice Foundation go HERE