Today, Wednesday, 4th May, Temple Bar Cultural Trust (TBCT) launched a first project of its kind in Ireland, SceneNotHerd, where a dynamic group of 15 to 19 year olds can investigate what is on offer in the arts and cultural sector for their age-group.
98% of people in the 15-19 year old age group believe that arts & culture are important to Ireland but only 46% feel that arts & cultural organizations cater to their age group with events they are interested in, it was revealed in a survey conducted by TBCT with 396 respondents.*
SceneNotHerd officially launched today with an energy filled, inspiring and informative talk ‘Turning your hobby into a career in arts/culture and becoming an artist, writer, actor, or musician’ featuring personal accounts from professionals in the arts and cultural sector including actress Donna Dent, writer Jack Harte, artist Isabel Nolan,singer-songwriter Ann Scott and YouTube musical sensations Harry & Alfie, at The Culture Box, Temple Bar.
“The aim of SceneNotHerd is to bring together a group of young people who investigate what is on offer in the arts and cultural sector and evaluate what works and what doesn’t work from their perspective. SceneNotHerd are given www.templebar.ie as their platform to relate and document their reviews, interviews, ratings, videos and images which allows like-minded people in their age group to find out what quality cultural events and programming is taking place across the city. It also gives us a much better understanding of what interests this age group so that we at Temple Bar Cultural Trust can cater for them with engaging programming that encourages 15 – 19yr olds into Dublin’s Cultural Quarter”
“41% of respondents to the survey said that they would attend more arts and cultural events if there were more events aimed specifically at their age group which demonstrates the importance of the work being carried out by SceneNotHerd. Arts and culture is a fundamental part of society, especially inIreland where we have such a rich history in both areas; involvement in arts and culture both inspires creativity as well as providing a social and community cohesion regardless of where you are from or where you grew up. ” said Eimear Chaomhanach, Audience Programmes Manager at Temple Bar Cultural Trust.
The survey also revealed that the majority of the age group go to arts and cultural events with friends (74%) while only 8% go with college or school and half (50%) go to an arts and cultural event once a month. ‘Music’ was named as the type of arts and culture event the group most enjoyed (58%) with ‘Theatre’ and ‘Film’ coming equal second (14% each).
Anyone between 15 and 19 years of age can join the SceneNotHerd initiative for free and share their experiences of arts and culture in Dublin. Information can be found on the website, www.templebar.ie, on Facebook www.facebook.com/SceneNotHerdDublin or Twitter, www.twitter.com/scenenotherd.ie .TBCT has been recruiting for SceneNotHerd over the last number of weeks and already has an established group of 20 young people who have been out and about at cultural venues across Dublin visiting exhibitions, attending shows and sampling what is on offer in the arts and culture arena. The group are regularly reviewing, interviewing and uploading their accounts, features and experiences on the TBCT website www.templebar.ie .
SceneNotHerd is one of three exciting audience development programmes run by TBCT. For further information on the Culture Club for Kids and Get Active group for older people visit www.templebar.ie/getinvolved.
This year Temple Bar Cultural Trust is celebrating the 20th anniversary of Temple Bar’s regeneration as Dublin’s Cultural Quarter and is marking the anniversary with an exciting range of cultural events throughout the year designed to appeal to all age groups to show why Temple Bar is so special to both Irish people and visitors to the area. The programme includes the two week celebration ‘Made in Temple Bar’ in July (15th – 24th) which will feature a host of cultural surprises. Meeting House Square is undergoing the construction of a new retractable canopy so that from September visitors will be able to enjoy an amazing array of outdoor entertainment, all year round, while still remaining nice and dry!
* The survey was conducted during April and May 2011 via www.surveymonkey.net with 396 respondents