The Bluebell Arts Project is an exciting one-year pilot project based within the Brandywell and Bogside areas of Derry.  The community-based programme of arts activity will primarily focus on visual art, creative writing, film & video and music.  The diverse programme of cultural activity is designed to reflect the distinct identity and experience of local communities.

'Stories of the Streets'- Tile making course.

Creative Writing Course

The Project emerged from a community that has witnessed some of the worst excesses of the recent conflict and suffers an unacceptable degree of marginalisation and deprivation. Bluebell Arts aims to develop an innovative and diverse programme of activity responsive to the concerns and needs of the local community and which offers opportunities to deal imaginatively with complex social issues.

Bluebell Arts is a cultural manifestation of long-term urban regeneration and will act as a symbol of the city’s growing confidence and cultural importance within Ireland and Europe

DJ Course

The artistic programme for year one will be guided by the philosophy and ethos of Bluebell Arts which is very much about building from the bottom up approach, which will also blend the best in contemporary art in its widest sense.  Making this philosophy relevant and accessible necessitates the development of a programme which is radical, varied and sensitive to wide ranging interests. Placing particular emphasis on working with young people projects have been initiated with schools and youth clubs in the vicinity with the purpose of affording young people the opportunity of making a creative imprint on defined areas of the local community.

 Although only in its fourth month several successful 10 week courses have been completed in different art forms.  Any programme which seeks to engage young people must have as a central feature, music. To this end Bluebell Arts have established D.j. proficiency classes ‘Ceol agus Electro’ in conjunction with Derry based DJ promoters Deep Fried Funk. The aim through these projects is that the young people involved will gain a sense of ownership of a new and exciting project, acquire artistic skills and creatively contribute to the growth and regeneration of their local community. 

Other courses have included ‘Battling On’ a creative writing course targeted at women and with an emphasis on giving voice to women’s experiences as we emerge from a conflict situation.  Recently completed ‘Stories of the Streets’ was a tile making workshop involving local primary schools who produced tiles on the theme of community and mapping their neighbourhoods.  Visual art has also been an integral part of the programme several mural projects have been initiated in collaboration with Divert a local youth drug awareness group.  A video production course has also been established.

All aspects of the programme will be monitored and subject to ongoing review.  In addition to all the above Bluebell Arts will continue to consult widely with the local community, existing arts based organisations, groups and interested individuals with a view to continually assessing the content, quality and accessibility of its programme.