Community Participatory Art

Celebrating arts in the heart of communities

Festival in a Van is committed to promoting participatory art. Our unique approach - and our trusty van - allow us to bring the arts directly to the heart of communities everywhere, encouraging engagement and co-creation from performers and audiences of all backgrounds, interests and cultures. The result is that our events are a celebration of the essential role the arts play in our communities, and are a focus for the production of new work, and new shared arts experiences.

Feedback from some of our wonderful performers

"It was a very special experience, and brilliantly organised. The whole project really has a heart, and it was an honour to be presenting ourselves as pop-up performers within an initiative that so compassionately seeks out its audience. Inside the windows of the two homes in Mulranny and Achill Sound there were men and women engaging (some were dancing) and accepting the apparition of the van as the most natural and welcome thing. That was part of the magic I think: we landed like a spaceship and very quickly were made to feel at home. As we left, we wished them Happy Halloween and Happy Christmas, and everyone waved like old friends."

MARTIN DYAR, Poet

 

"To be honest I thought it was going to be a challenging gig as most of the audience were driven from their homelands, and were probably facing difficulties finding adequate housing, employment etc. I was not expecting smiles or any movement but our performance and other artist's performance on the night was well received. And there was a lot of applause and appreciation from the residents I spoke to on my way out. The kids danced from beginning to the end of our performance which was my highlight."

JUSTINE NANTALE, Musician

"Once again, I wanted to congratulate the team on the incredible work you are doing. It was such an honour to play for the people at Citywest. There was a powerful moment when just after my performance, a little Ukrainian girl of around 9/10 years old walked over to me and handed me a picture she'd drawn of me performing. She didn't have any English but through the help of an adult we had a little chat, and I gave her a CD of mine. It was a moment I won't forget."

KIRRU, Musician
(Event: Shared Music Sessions, November 12th, Citiwest, Dublin)