The FCJ Concert Hall in Bunclody, Co Wexford, was filled to capacity last Saturday night. The audience of travellers and members of the settled community members were there for a show that marked the latest phase of a unique community arts education project.
The 35 participants in Too Together were travellers aged 10 to 25, whose confidence has grown by leaps and bounds through this ongoing project.
The scripts, lyrics and music were written and composed by the Bunclody Drama and Music Group, which has involved travellers from the district working with drama facilitators, musicians and dancers for a year.
The comments of the participants indicate the far-reaching benefits it has generated.
"The reason I like the project is that it gives us a chance to show what we are and what we can do. We enjoy the company and learn more about ourselves," says Celine Connors (19), a core member of the group. Another member of the cast, Nan Connors, adds: "Our five teachers and us here - we made a team together."
John Connors (15), one of the principal characters both in singing and acting, explains : "I went to primary school for nine years, but I learned more here in a few weeks."
Elizabeth Connors adds: "The settled people have things up here every day, but the travellers were ignored. This is the travelling community offering something and inviting the settled people to come in and see it."
The simple, human interest story, devised through the participants themselves, explored themes and issues around the traveller families and their relationship with others within their community.
Substantial funding has been invested in the project by Wexford County Council, the Co Wexford Partnership, the Arts Council and the Wexford VEC.
"They're a community that never felt it was part of anything with respect to the arts. They didn't feel they could go to things, they weren't invited to things," says the council's arts officer, Lorraine Comer,
The long-term educational value of the project is far-reaching. This year a number of the participants are aiming towards accreditation of the work they have done to date by preparing for their NCVA certificates, and two of the group are seriously considering sitting the Junior Certificate English exam in 1999.
"They now want to see themselves having a role to play in facilitating others in the next phase of the project. They're taking over now. Hopefully this will be a model of practice - they can go into other travelling communities and facilitate them.
"There is also very worthwhile bridge-building taking place between the settled and travelling communities within Bunclody as a direct result of this," says Lorraine Comer.
Drama facilitator Elizabeth Browne points out that the travellers have been working for three hours every Tuesday since last November to develop and perfect the production.
"They got experience of a lot of different art forms and decided that drama with music was their preferred medium. The arts are a non-competitive form of personal development. Even within the past year, working with this group, I've seen amazing changes - in the way they communicate with each other, in their self-esteem and so on," she says.
The project has also acted as a literacy programme. All the work done has been documented through photographs and text, written up by the participants.