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Earagail Arts Festival: Looking for Volunteers
The 19th Earagail Arts Festival which runs from the 7th to the 22nd July 2007 in various venues across the North West is looking for volunteers to ensure the success of this dynamic festival. Volunteers with the Festival will meet like-minded festival goers and gain valuable experience within the arts in Donegal. Volunteers are needed to put up posters, meet and greet visiting artists, be hosts at festival venues, help out in the office or just make sure everyone they meet knows all about the Festival and the event they are going to see.
Something for Everyone
This year’s Festival promises to deliver an eclectic mix of music acts from folk to traditional, classical and popular music. As well, it will bring many family activities to locations throughout the county, including a tour of Donegal beaches by a true to life 50 foot inflatable sperm whale. The whale will exhibit traditional Irish hospitality by welcoming people into its belly to see the stunning seascape from within and hear extraordinary fishy tales while inside. The shared culture and heritage of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland and Donegal will be celebrated through song, poetry, traditional verse and story telling. Scots Gáidhling singer, actress and writer Beathag Mhoiresden will join acclaimed Irish traditional story teller Niall De Burca and local narrator Gearóidín Breathnach to present a wondrous voyage through tales of oceans, giants and magical rocks. This event which will be held in An Chúirt Hotel and Heritage Centre on Friday 20th July will be presented in Scots Gáidhlig, Irish Gaelige and English.The Festival also offers some real theatrical highlights with the theme of migration, the timing perfectly reflecting the anniversary of the Flight of Earls. The 400th anniversary of the Flight of Earls is also being marked by the display of a number of exhibitions and installations .Tory Island will be the venue for a weekend long event on Tory Island ending with a performance from the legendary Hothouse Flowers front man Liam O’Maonlai with Lillis O’Laoire and a number of singers from the island.
Your County Needs You
If you can offer any time to volunteer with the Festival and help it continue to be the wonderful event it has become for our county, as well as having a great experience in the process, please register to volunteer by completing and submitting your details on our register to volunteer page.
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Report of the Taskforce
on Active Citizenship - March 2007
The Taskforce Report which was launched at the end of March 2006 by the
Taoiseach Mr Bertie Ahern will result in the creation of a non-statutory
Active Citizenship Office to oversee the implementation of the recommendations
of the report.
The Report sets out a vision of what it means to be an active citizen and how individuals might be encouraged and supported to be active citizens. The Report defines an Active Citizen as someone who is aware of, and cares about, the welfare of fellow citizens, who recognises that we live as members of communities and therefore depend on others in our daily lives. Among other key indicators, the Taskforce lists “supporting and becoming involved in different types of voluntary and community activities” as a key indicator of an active citizen.
The Report cites a strong interest by many people in the topic of Active Citizenship but also a strong shared view on what the barriers to Active Citizenship and civic participation were. The main obstacles listed were time, new patterns of work and leisure, changing values and choices, as well as practical barriers such as insurance, bureaucratic burdens and lack of facilities. Despite concerns about the decline in community involvement the Report found that there is no clear evidence that people in Ireland are less involved than before. Since 2002 there have been increases in proportions of people in the adult population who say they do unpaid and regular volunteering outside the home. However, it was also noted that for every adult who is involved in their community, there are at least two who are not involved. The Report stated that the unique contribution of many different types of voluntary and community organisations needs to be better acknowledged and supported: voluntary and community organisations were seen by many contributors as the backbone of active citizenship, with the ability to achieve trust, cohesion and confidence in ways that government cannot achieve on its own.
An important finding for projects such as the ME4U Volunteer Project in Donegal is the awareness that the nature of volunteering is changing with a greater emphasis on responsibilities and skills and, with this, the Report states, new ways need to be developed to attract, support and recognise the role of volunteers and to support the organisations they are involved with.
