Dear Community Development & Social Inclusion Team,
We’re writing on behalf of the One Town One Voice Community Singing initiative, a nationwide solidarity-through-song movement which focuses on bringing people together in communities across Ireland, including those who have moved from other countries.
We are hosting an online information session on Thurs April 20th at 10:30am, and welcome you, your colleagues or community organisers to attend by registering here.
As you know,12-15% of Ireland’s population is made up of people who were born outside of the country. This diversity of nationalities already exists in towns across Ireland–but is rarely reflected in existing community groups.
This however goes against the desire of many Irish towns, where people of Irish and other backgrounds would like to know each other and develop meaningful friendships – but lack opportunities to do so in their busy day-to-day lives.
Our singing groups provide this opportunity; they can enable and enhance community integration in your area and can be a solution towards greater community engagement by, and for, all. Through singing, socialising, and performing together on an ongoing basis, our groups foster meaningful connections between members while involving the wider community. They promote respect, diversity and inclusion, while bringing vibrancy to local events and developing a positive sense of local pride across the town.
Partner with us to launch a singing group in your area – and we’ll make it easy! One Town One Voice will assist each group via our toolkit, seed funding, recruitment materials, musical advice, and in-person supports. In return we ask that you contribute your local knowledge and connections, helping us identify and recruit group leaders and participants, or source a venue – setting the group up for success.
Please register here for our information session. Or if that date does not suit, let us know and we’ll gladly schedule a separate call.
Meanwhile, perhaps have a watch of this RTÉ Today Show segment on our founding group The Fermoy International Choir, or read Member Stories on our website. Thanks to partnerships with county councils, FRCs and LDCs, we’ve launched groups in Fermoy and Swords, with more on the way in counties Kildare, Cork and Galway. We’d love to work with you as well!