Fèile Foghlama Chorcaì
Cork Lifelong Learning Festival and Féile an Phobail Belfast Cork Lifelong Learning Festival has built up a connection with Belfast and has been committed to developing stronger relations between the cities in the context of the Peace Process and the Good Friday Agreement, since a Co-operation Ireland programme featured during the festival in 2008. In 2010 the partnership between the two festivals was formally announced, following initial joint events with Féile an Phobail - the Festival of the People – held in Cork and Belfast the previous year. Now 13 years later we celebrate and acknowledge the links and the friendships that have subsequently developed between the two festivals over the years. Highlights during those years included the President of Ireland Mary McAleese welcoming the link as she officially opened the 2011 Cork festival; 2012, when the Lord Mayor of Belfast Niall O’Donnghaile jointly launched the festival with the Lord Mayor of Cork Terry Shannon, and in 2018 when the Cork Lifelong Learning Festival helped celebrate Féile’s 30th birthday, at its launch by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Lord Mayor of Belfast Deirdre Hargey. Because of the strength of this partnership, exchanges and projects have happened over the years, among them: mural painting by Mahon Community Development Project’s Men’s Art Group working with Belfast mural artists including the late Frank Quigley; building and rowing traditional currachs when young people from nationalist and unionist areas in Belfast and Lisburn visit Meitheal Mara in Cork annually; and ‘Scribes’ events, bringing writers from different parts of Ireland together to read from their work. Relationships have built up between the individuals and organisations involved, so they continue year-round, including participation by Belfast in the Cork City Marathon and vice-versa.
During the Covid years the connections continued with a series of Cork events featuring in the online Féile 2020. These included a number of Music Generation performances, one which featured GMC and Cork rappers with a Palestinian rapper MCAbdul, whose music video was shot in Gaza. Another was an audience with Cork author Cónal Creedon, following the screening of his documentary film The Burning of Cork. During the August Féile in 2022 a delegation of leaders of cross community programmes in Cork travelled north, where it was hosted by Resurgam Community Development Trust, the Mayor and Lisburn City Council. The delegation included representatives of Meitheal Mara, Cork City Marathon and other Cork Lifelong Learning Festival cross border programmes. They were invited to Lisburn to acknowledge their contribution to the young people of Lisburn for over a decade, and to plan future collaborations. Currently the relationship between Cork Lifelong Learning Festival and Féile an Phobail is playing a key role in the Shared Island Programme – Our Learning Island – which Cork and Belfast are committed to, together with the other members of the Irish Network of Learning Cities – see page 82 for more details. Bringing together even a few individuals together to work on projects can forge understanding and co-operation as people learn a little about each other and recognise what we all have in common. So in 2023, after more than a decade of building connections as a shared community, this work and these connections continue to develop. Plans are underway to mark the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement this year with events organised by Féile an Phobail and the Cork Lifelong Learning Festival. All involved look forward to many more years growing together as ‘festival cousins.’
CORK LIFELONG LEARNING FESTIVAL MON 27TH MARCH - SUN 2ND APRIL
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