Scoil Scairte is the Irish School you always dreamed of with a brilliant line-up for the upcoming fifth edition which will shine a spotlight on the inspirational people, places, songs and stories of Dublin (Baile Átha Cliath) for this Scoil Scarte journey.
Created in 2021 by The Trailblazery in collaboration with Manchán Magan and supported by Foras na Gaeilge, this series is also part-funded by Dublin City Council. Each week a new guide will takes participants on a journey into the soul of the Irish language through a broad range of shared experiences from storytelling and music to dancing, folklore, hip hop, hurling, knitting, sean nós singing and other creative practices.
Commenting on the concept and its autumn programme founder Kathy Scott said, “It is incredible to witness the rise of ár dteanga dhúchais in Ireland and all over the world. This is our fifth Scoil Scairte edition and this time we will be shining a spotlight on the people and places, stories and songs of the Dublin region. We have discovered so much about how the language has been kept alive in Dublin over the years. Many waves of activism led to the rise we are experiencing today. People spoke Irish in The Liberties, (Na Saoirsí), up to the early 1900s, and it continued as the second language of many for generations after. Lots of Irish words made their way into the English-vernacular during that period and continue to influence the everyday speech pattern of Dubs to this day. We have gathered a brilliant tuatha of Dublin based Gaeilgeoirí to guide this 9 week learning journey.
“Many waves of activism led to the rise we are experiencing today. People spoke Irish in The Liberties, (Na Saoirsí), up to the early 1900s, and it continued as the second language of many for generations after.”
“People are joining our Scoil Scairte family for many reasons. Those on the island of Ireland are taking part so that they can reclaim what they may have lost along the way. We are also welcoming so many people with Irish heritage from the US, Canada, Australia, Europe and the UK who really want to connect with their ‘mother tongue’. And we are also delighted to see people participate who feel a calling to take a deep dive into Irish cultural heritage and learn some of the language along the way. The community is transforming into a global village of connection and kinship. Ní neart go cur le chéile … There is no strength without unity.”
The series will be guided by a host of inspiring bilingual multidisciplinary artists, activists, creatives, educators, culture makers and indigenous language keepers including Kathy Scott (Founder, Host, Creative Director of The Trailblazery), Manchán Magan (Writer, Presenter), Mairéad Ní Chonghaile (Presenter, Actor, Múinteoir), Siobhán O’Kelly (Actor, Gaeilgeoir), Colm Mac Con Iomaire (Compose,), Irish with Mollie (Teacher, Influencer), Niall Morahan (Social Entrepreneur), Roxanna Nic Liam (Actor, Writer, Singer), Colm Bairéad (Film Director of OSCAR & BAFTA-nominated An Cailín Ciúin, Screenwriter), Cleona Ní Chrualaoí (Producer of OSCAR & BAFTA-nominated An Cailín Ciúin), Prof. Michael Cronin (Researcher, Lecturer), Jenny Ní Ruiséil (Musician, Teacher, Writer), Tiokasin Ghosthorse (Member of the Cheyenne River Lakota Nation of South Dakota, Speaker), Mary Kennedy (Irish TV Presenter, Writer), Deirdre Ní Chinnéide (Psychotherapist, Composer, Singer), Fay’d (Rapper, Musician, Gaeilgeoir), Rising Appalachia (Songwriters, Musicians), Mícheál Ó Nualláin (Director of BÁC le Gaeilge, Footballer, GAA Manager), Róisín Chambers (Sean-nós singer, Fiddler), Liam O’Connor (Fiddler, Director of the Irish Traditional Music Archive), Sinéad Ní Uallacháin (Journalist, Presenter, Actor), Macdara Yeates (Singer, Producer, Filmmaker) and Osgur Ó Ciardha (Co-founder of Pop Up Gaeltacht, Hotelier, Presenter).
This wonder voyage of discovery invites a host of guides from, in and of Dublin; home to the most Irish speakers of anywhere in the world with half a million gaeilgeoirí living in the region today. Situated in the east of Ireland, Dublin stretches from the Irish Sea to the southerly wilds of the Wicklow Mountains and out to the ancient Boyne Valley, home of some of Ireland’s finest and earliest archeological heritage.
Some of the history of this iconic city and county can be revealed in what it has been called. In Irish, it is known as Baile Átha Cliath, translating literally to ‘town of the hurdle ford’, in honour of the settlement of Áth Cliath, near today’s Church Street Bridge. In English, we know it as Dublin since a Viking settlement rose up around the spot the River Poddle emptied into the River Liffey, creating a ‘black pool’ – literally translated as dubh (black) and linn (pool).
Offering a national stage for civil and language rights movements in Ireland, Dublin is recognised as a UNESCO City of Literature, producing more Nobel laureates than any other city and nurturing such creatives as James Joyce, Sinéad O’Connor, Luke Kelly, Oscar Wilde, Samuel Beckett, U2, Maeve Binchy, Imelda May, Sally Rooney, and, of course, The Dubliners.
An Ghaeilge (The Irish language) has experienced many waves of activism in Dublin across the years. The revolutionary Gaelic League, or Conradh na Gaeilge, was founded in 1893 to blaze the trail in reclaiming our ancestral inheritance. Dublin is also home to the worlds’ most famous post office, the GPO, where Pádraig Pearse proclaimed a new vision of Ireland. Famed for the phrase “Tír gan teanga, tír gan anam” – “a country without a language is a country without a soul”. Today, a new wave of Irish language activism has inspired creative movements like the Pop-up Gaeltacht and urban Irish-speaking GAA sports club Na Gaeil Óga who continue to kindle and tend to the fire of our native language, cultural heritage and shared dúchas.
Scoil Scairte is an award-winning cultural programme that weaves heritage, language, placemaking, creativity, folklore and indigenous wisdom with individual, social and ecological wellbeing. The Irish language is alive and flourishing in many creative pockets of Dublin – we look forward to sharing this and more with you this Autumn.
Bígí Linn – Join Us
How To Join:
If you are curious about connecting to this rich language and culture in a participative way – this is for you. Places are limited and the 9-week programme is priced at €225.
To sign up see: https://www.thetrailblazery.com/scoil-scairte-spiral-5.
