The Big Connect
The Big Connect promotes volunteering and participation in the arts and crafts in the counties of Derry/Londonderry, Donegal and Tyrone in 2011-12. It is part of a joint volunteer project involving the Church of Ireland, the Gaelic Athletics Association and City Church Belfast which highlights the impact of volunteering in sport, arts and faith-based groups.
Some of the impacts are highlighted in this presentation given at Living Together, Giving Together event in the Long Gallery, Parliament Buildings, Stormont, Northern Ireland
The project has 4 main aims:
- Connect voluntary arts groups to their wider community and in particular to sports and faith based groups so as to contribute to community cohesion and a shared future
- Celebrate the volunteering of young people (aged 16-25) in the arts and crafts so as to contribute to them having a stronger voice in civil society
- Encourage more volunteering and more volunteer opportunities in the arts and crafts in Derry/Londonderry, Donegal and Tyrone so as to contribute to the volunteering programme for the City of Culture 2013 in this region.
- To learn more about why people volunteer in sport, arts and faith based groups
During the project we use Up for Arts as a way to bring diverse communities together to create new art and during the process get to know a little more about themselves and their fellow citizens.
We are also building the involvement of young people by establishing young voluntary arts groups , and dipping our toes into the new phenomenon of micro-volunteering – bite-sized opportunites to do some good.
Our contribution to Derry/Londonderry’s City of Culture 2013 Programme includes a national Voluntary Arts Week and we are looking forward to the first edition in Ireland on 12-20 May 2012.
As with all of our projects we adopt an open-source approach. If you would like to collaborate, find out more or share knowledge then get in touch with the project officer, Pauline Matthew on pauline@vaireland.org or any of the team at Voluntary Arts Ireland on 028 7127 2501.
