QCAP, alongside our community partner the Market Development Association (MDA), have been working with the Market community in South Belfast on an innovative programme that uses the Arts to tackle complex health issues such as substance use and intergenerational trauma, to improve health and wellbeing.

Áine Brady (QCAP) stated:

“Today marks the beginning of our next phase of work which will build on the success of our recent programme, ‘The Market: A people’s tapestry’, a powerful exhibition, co-curated and designed with residents of the Market Community, that has provided poignant insights into the power of a creative community in confronting challenges of trauma, legacy and substance use”

This next stage will see the community come together through a series of storytelling workshops and songwriting sessions which will culminate in the development and staging of a play in the Waterfront Hall, Belfast. The workshops will serve as a mechanism to explore the stories which the community want to share, the outcomes and aspirations that matter most in relation to community challenges such as substance use, trauma and wellbeing; whilst also exploring aspects such as community, resilience and aspiration.

Dr Karen McGuigan (QCAP Community Health and Wellbeing Lead) explained more: 

“This upcoming programme of work will focus on the power of the Arts to address stigma and break the silence that exists in relation to substance use, trauma and mental health issues. The songwriting sessions allow a novel mechanism by which this stigma can be addressed, but also one which reflects a more traditional means of sharing stories and conveying the emotion behind them”

 

Introducing programme collaborators: Onóir

The songwriting sessions will see the involvement of modern Irish folk group Onóir, known for their harmony focused songs and music arrangements. Onóir brings together the individual talents of Donegal based musicians: Tom McHugh, Declan Gaughan, Deane Connaghan and Diarmaid McGee. Onóir have been touring throughout Europe, the UK, and Ireland, celebrating the release of their self-titled debut album earlier this year. Working together with the Market community, Onóir will develop music that will energise the play, using music and song to amplify the community voice and share local stories on a wider stage.

Diarmaid McGee (Onóir) reflected on the upcoming collaboration:

“We are looking forward to the start of the programme and working with the community to understand more about the lived experience in the Market, and to translate those stories into the universal language of music allowing them to be shared with everyone”.