*Dublin Port Fest will be divided into five sessions. Further information on each of the sessions is available below. You must register separately for each session you would like to attend. You can do so by clicking ‘register’ and then choosing which session(s) you would like to register for.
NB ‘Na Taoide: A familiar Merry Go Round’ and ‘Port. Poetry. Prose.’ are parallel sessions. As spaces for creative workshops are limited, we ask that you register either for one or the other, and not for both.*
Ports, Past and Present is proud to present the first ever Dublin Port Fest: a day of online discussion about and creative exploration of Dublin Port’s heritage. Join us to find out more about Ports, Past and Present work in mapping and representing Dublin Port’s past, present and future, its connection with the city and its links with port communities on the other side of the Irish Sea. Find out how you can be more involved in discovering, exploring and promoting the port’s heritage. And throw yourself into one of our creative workshops, where you will have the chance to explore this rich and dynamic heritage through poetry, visual art and theatre.
The day will be divided into five sessions, and further information on each of the sessions is available below.
All five sessions are free to attend. Some of the creative sessions have specific requirements, which are listed below.
You must register separately for each session you would like to attend. You can do so by clicking ‘register’ and then choosing which session(s) you would like to register for.
All sessions will be held on Zoom. The relevant link and sign-in information for each session will be forwarded by email to registered participants by no later than `17:00 on Friday 26 March (You may need to review your email preferences to ensure that emails from Eventbrite are not marked as junk or spam).
Project funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the Ireland Wales Co-operation Programme
10:00 – 12:30 ‘Ports, Past and Present Presents’ and ‘Doing Heritage in Dublin Port’
10:00 – 10:50
Ports, Past and Present Presents
Members of the Ports, Past and Present project team will introduce the project, and discuss some of their work in investigating and representing Dublin Port’s past and present.
10:50 – 11:00
BREAK
11:00 – 12:30 Doing Heritage in Dublin Port
During this roundtable discussion, we will hear from a number of groups, projects and organizations involved in exploring and promoting the natural, built, social and cultural heritage of Dublin Port. Find out more about these groups and their work and hear more about how you might get involved! Speaking on this roundtable will be:
- Dean Eaton, Dublin Bay Biosphere
- Maryann Harris, Parks, Biodiversity and Landscape Services, Dublin City Council
- Thomas Carolan, Local Authority Waters Programme
- Lar Joye, Dublin Port Company
- Declan Byrne, Dublin Dock Workers Preservation Society
- Shannon Wilson and Nathan Mannion, EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum
13:15 – 14:15 ‘Vintage Postcards and Textured Prints’ with Julie Merriman
This workshop will explore images of Dublin Port in vintage postcards, before participants are invited to explore their immediate environment through the print method of Frottage: a print process that use various objects and surfaces as printing plates. These textured prints will then be cut up to form an image, referring back to vintage postcards and engineering images of Dublin Port.
The workshop will be suitable for all ages, although children will need to have an adult present.
Workshop participants will need:
- A soft pencil – Any ‘B’ grade pencil will be suitable
- Wax crayons
- A4 copy paper, or any other paper you have to hand (e.g. baking parchment, newspaper, tracing paper, brown paper bags)
- Scissors
- Pritt Stick or similar paper glue
- Textured materials (e.g. Bubble wrap, corrugated cardboard, feathers, lace, leaves, twigs, coins, textured wallpaper, string, etc.)
Julie Merriman is a visual artist whose work explores the history of mark-making and makes use of obsolete office copying materials, including carbon paper, typewriter film and wax stencil paper.
14:30 – 15:30 ‘Na Taoide: A familiar Merry Go Round’ with Rua Barron and Hannah Power
The wild and magical Irish Sea separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain and it holds a treasure trove of stories that spans centuries. It acts as a source of inspiration; Irish writers have made reference to the nature of the Irish Sea in a variety of works, both prose and poetry. Join us as we investigate the function of the Irish Sea; exploring trade, radioactivity and the sea’s inhabitants through a theatrical presentation and discussion. The workshop will include an open discussion among participants and the theatre makers as well as the chance to watch a short performance.
The workshop will be suitable for all ages, although children will need to have an adult present.
Rua Barron and Hannah Power are experimental theatre makers from Dublin. They use documentary and verbatim theatre as a way to explore the world around us.
14:30 – 16:00 ‘Port. Poetry. Prose.’ with Jon Gower
In this writing workshop, participants will explore Dublin’s connections with the sea and how these help make the city special. In particular we shall look at the creative use of lists to both organise and present material. Workshop participants will aim to produce a long poem or prose poem by day’s end and share it with festival goers.
This workshop is open to those who are 18 or over. Registered participants will be contacted by Jon in advance of the workshop and asked to undertake a very short creative exercise in preparation.
Work from this session will be presented at the end of the festival. As such, participants might also like to ensure that they register for the session, ‘Creative Showcase and Festival Wrap-up’.
Jon Gower is a Welsh writer with over thirty books to his name. He has conducted creative writing workshops around the world. He is currently writing a book about St. George’s Channel and its facing coasts.
16:15 – 17:00 Creative Showcase and Festival Wrap-up
This final session of the day will include a performance of the long form or prose poem produced in the ‘Port. Poetry. Prose.’ workshop, as well as a review of the day’s events.
Project funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the Ireland Wales Co-operation Programme
