The Together Project – Connecting Generations through Creativity is a new intergenerational initiative by Kerry Writers’ Museum and Fighting Words Kerry bringing young and older people in the community together through a programme of creative workshops including:

1. Storytelling – Share your stories and life experiences with each other.

2. Creative writing – From the shared stories, you will work on creating a piece of written work. For example, you may create a short story, poem or theatrical piece. You will be supported by our professional workshop directors in developing your work.

3. Traditional music & song – Working with professional musicians and singers you will develop an intergenerational performance of traditional Irish music and song.

4. Digital Media/Film – Finally, you will use digital media to record the work recorded. Professional film makers will help you to produce a documentary production on your participation in the project. You will learn new technical skills in digital media and film.

Workshops will be provided free of charge and our workshop directors include storytellers Maria Gillen & Godfrey Coppinger, writers Gabriel Fitzmaurice & Marian Relihan, traditional musician Matt Dean and film maker Chris Fitzgerald.

If you are between the ages of 8 to 16 and 55+ and would like to get involved in The Together Project please call us at Kerry Writers’ Museum on 068 22212 or email kerrywritersmuseum@gmail.com.

IMPORTANT: Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, The Together Project workshops will soon be commencing online via ZOOM. Please follow our social media pages – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for updates.

Until our online workshops commence below are some projects we are launching to share stories among younger and older generations.

The Together Project is supported by Creative Ireland and Creative Kerry through Kerry County Council Arts Office.

Did you know that in the 1930s thousands of stories were collected from school children throughout Ireland by the Irish Folklore Commission?

For the duration of the project, more than 50,000 schoolchildren from 5,000 schools in the 26 counties of Ireland were enlisted to collect folklore in their home districts. This included oral history, topographical information, folktales and legends, riddles and proverbs, games and pastimes, trades and crafts. The children recorded this material from their parents, grandparents, and neighbours.

WE NOW ARE LOOKING FOR YOUR LOCAL STORIES

The Together Project at Kerry Writers’ Museum is launching a project to gather together local folklore stories from today’s generation of school children.

If you are aged 7 to 12 years, your are invited to document the folklore of your community by way of written story and illustration. To help you with this we are encouraging you to write your story with a grandparent or older neighbour.

Your stories will be published on our website for the wider public to read.

Key information

• Submissions can be in English or in Irish
• While there is no maximum word count requirement we recommend a maximum of 1,000 words per story
• We also welcome illustrations to accompany your story
• Photographs of you with your grandparent/old neighbour who assisted you are also welcome (optional)
• Submissions will be accepted on a rolling basis for the foreseeable future
• Send your stories in an editable format (e.g. Microsoft Word). Illustrations should be sent as JPEGs.

How to submit your story

Email your submissions to kerrywritersmuseum@gmail.com with LOCAL FOLKLORE SUBMISSION in the subject line, with the following information included:
• Name of author
• Age of author
• County where you live
• Title of story
• School name and class
• Parent/Guardian/Teacher name
• Parent/Guardian/Teacher contact telephone number

You can also post your submissions to: Kerry Writers’ Museum, 24 The Square, Listowel, Co. Kerry, V31 RD93. Please ensure that your stories are typed before sending and illustrations are drawn on A4 blank paper.

Kerry Writers’ Museum reserves the right not to publish any story whose content is deemed inappropriate for publication.

‘Memories of Yesteryear’ is a new initiative as part of The Together Project at Kerry Writers’ Museum and involves recording to film the memories and stories of older people in the community to create an archive of times past for future generations to explore. If you are aged 60 or over and would like to recount stories from your childhood and growing up in Ireland please contact us. Our aim is to record as many stories as possible to give young people a sense of what it was like to live in a time before computers, the internet and even television. It is important to record our past from those who lived it.

Please contact the Museum on 068 22212 or email kerrywritersmuseum@gmail.com for details on how to participate.

IMPORTANT: In the interest of the health and safety of participants, filming will be subject to current Covid-19 restrictions.