By Clodagh Lavelle, Digital Museums Coordinator at Reimagine, Remake, Replay
Reimagine Remake Replay (RRR), the Northern Ireland based youth project which I coordinate, has strived to maintain and nurture a sense of community and connectivity for its participants throughout and since the lockdown period.
RRR’S overarching aim is to engage 16-25 year-olds with museum collections using creative approaches and the latest digital technology via a concerted youth-led ethos.
Our project team of six centre the young people in activity and process decisions, an ethos which has, since Covid-19, become even more deeply embedded. Before then, RRR’S structure consisted of inhouse delivery of 6-8 week programmes within 9 museums, spanning across the country, 3 times a year per museum.
RRR’s response to Covid-19 was wisely to cease all in-person activity. We announced a two week regroup period until online only activity resumed, giving ourselves time to process the unprecedented lockdown measures. As of October 2021, we still run the majority of our programmes online using free, accessible software.
Impact of the Pandemic
Initial research showed that young people were significantly affected by the pandemic in terms of loss of social interaction and a negative impact on their mental health. Building an online community and providing consistency for young people in this daunting time was key. The first Covid-safe programme, launched in March 2020 and devised by RRR’s new youth ambassador Niamh Kelly, was a creative writing programme which bolstered those core aims.
The participants had the opportunity to virtually access and respond to closed museums and their collections, as well as the chance to connect and to express their experience of the lockdown through the creation of tweets, blogs, articles and poems.
Following that success, weekly Friday Drawing challenge sessions were set up, fun workshops offering participants creative outlets that support positive well-being and maintain a sense of community. Using artworks from partner museum’s digital collections, pieces were reinterpreted in a light-hearted way.
Mental Health Matters
To coincide with World Mental Health Day 2020, RRR set up its first Mental Health Arts Festival, ‘Head & Heart’ (H&H).
H&H was co-created by RRR’s Youth Engagement Officer, Stephen Millar, and core participant on the project, Sorcha Ni Ceallaigh. The two-day festival explored how the arts can nourish our mental health with a series of talks and practical workshops on self-care, mental wellbeing, and creativity. The level of engagement from young people and the extremely positive feedback that H&H received meant programming another extensive H&H in June 2021 was a foregone conclusion.
H&H 2 was planned, branded, promoted and produced entirely by 9 young people, all members of the project’s 3 youth steering groups; LGBTQIA+, Climate action and ‘the Arts and Wellbeing gang’. One standout achievement of the event was the level of involvement from partner museums and heritage staff members who enthusiastically fed into programming and co-led individual sessions, illustrating the unique value of linking heritage with wellbeing to foster community bonding and cultural understanding.
Social Action
Socially engaged programmes were also a way to provide young people with a sense of connectivity; creating spaces and activities sprouting from their own concerns gave young people a chance to not only connect but to also make a difference.
The formation of the Climate Action group, and programming of Climate focused speakers and workshops were all extremely popular project events.
As a response to the alarming spike in reported domestic abuse cases in Northern Ireland since lockdown, RRR’s collaboration with Belfast-based initiative She Sells Sanctuary (SSS) was established. The SSS initiative hosts an online fundraising platform selling donated artworks from local artists, thereby raising proceeds for the 9 Women’s Aid groups across Northern Ireland.
Led by illustrator Elly Makem, museum-based inspiration for this 6 week illustration programme came from Women in our Culture, a publication released by Northern Ireland Museums council in Sept 2020. Each week via zoom a local museum representative presented an inspirational woman featured in their collections. 15 high-quality illustrations were designed by participants and sold as a bundle via the local charity, with proceeds going towards victims of domestic abuse.
Looking Ahead
Youth-led activities continued throughout lockdown, including, but not limited to: regular Monday night wellbeing sessions; audio mixing archive sessions; online Pride workshops; lockdown photography and two online film festivals.
Now, as lockdown eases, the project, alongside ongoing online activities, is planning limited capacity in person workshops and heritage based activities. Upcoming programmes include a cinema day out celebrating filmmakers The Spence Brothers and The great Newry Bake-off in Newry & Mourne Museum.
The project also looks forward to it’s final showcase exhibition in the Ulster Museum, Belfast from June to October 2022.
RRR has been an important support for so many participants during lockdown. We are now looking forward to continuing to support young people through a rigorous mx of digital technologies, creative programming and innovative approaches.
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