About
NOTTINGHAM IRISH STUDIES GROUP
the story so far…
The group was formed in 1991 by a group of first and second generation Irish people in Nottingham. At the time there was some optimism that The Troubles in the North of Ireland might be coming to an end. There was also a sense of dynamism and creativity about Irish arts and culture, particularly in literature; and in the theatre a new generation of young Irish playwrights were having a huge influence on Irish and British drama.
We wanted to explore some of these issues and to make the debate accessible to the whole Irish community in a way that university-based academic Irish Studies courses tend not to do. We also wanted to reflect the whole spectrum of the local Irish Diaspora, first and second generation, Catholic, Protestant and dissenter and those with strong political views or none at all. We ran courses in Irish politics, literature, drama and film.
We had classes in Irish cooking, drama and language. We invited speakers from every conceivable discipline - and some very very ill-disciplined ones! We had some memorable moments: Ronan Bennett and Glenn Patterson on alternate weeks debating culture in the north of Ireland and The Troubles; Christine Kinealy on the 150th anniversary of The Famine; and Brian Behan on … well, on Brian Behan. As with most community groups, the direction of what we do is determined by those who have the time and energy to develop projects. In 2000 we produced Making it Home, a book and photographic exhibition looking at some of the memories of Irish people living in Nottingham.
We have also organised three very successful conferences in the last few years: Changing Ireland (2003); Changing Ireland 2 (2004) and Insiders/Outsiders (2005). Members of the Group have helped to develop Irish language, reading and drama groups (see website for more details), and we run storytelling and literature sessions as part of Patrick’s Day celebrations.
We recently held our Annual General Meeting where we reviewed what we have done and discussed plans for 2008. If you are interested in getting involved, please get in touch using the contact link on this web site, or email info@nottinghamisg.org.uk with your suggestions or comments.
