Episode 19- Getting creative in Balbriggan

It has been compared to a youth club for adults. That’s a fair comparison, as there is even a table tennis table in the Warehouse Balbriggan. The Warehouse has been the home of the Sceal arts collective. It was a vacant building with no water, no toilets, not much of a roof acquired by Fingal Council and handed over to the group to facilitate the creative arts.

Sceal arts brings local creatives together to meet and exchange ideas. Since founding just two years ago, dozens of projects have emerged. In fact, this very podcast is a product of the Sceal Collective. I put a call out for collaboration on making a local interest podcast series and I received a reply from just the right person – David West, sound engineer. What I think is great about Sceal is that it is open to anyone, who can come down on a Wednesday evening or whenever something is one and find out, be open and possibly being involved. I failed art in the Intercert but even I feel comfortable in this space.

I spoke to some of the key people involved to find out more. Among those I spoke to were Akville Sims and Violeta Savickiene, two artists involved. Unfortunately the sound quality of my recording was so bad I could not use, but among their art works are Akville’s mosaics at Balbriggan beach and on Quay street made out of recycled materials. This work involved 60 people. Violeta teaches children art at the Combined Clubs and in Flemington Community Centre and one of her public works of art is the Swans memory mural at the back of the Combined Clubs, because at this location at one stage there was a lake with swans and some locals will even remember it.