Fis Uladh

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The Fis Uladh project was established to enable 16 – 24 year olds from Belfast and the Gaeltacht area, Gaoth Dobhair to learn about the culture and history of their area and to share it through multimedia and TV Skills, taught by professionals who are working in the Media Industry entirely through the medium of Irish. The project also facilitated a cross border network between the young people who participated to develop their knowledge of Rural/Urban life and recruited 64 young people in total between the ages of 16 – 24 from both areas. Fis Uladh was set up to encourage young people who had an interest in the Television Industry to develop skills in order to enhance their chances of progressing into a media course or indeed finding work in the freelance media industry. Since then, Fis Uladh has also gathered old archive and logged all the footage shot on the course to date to develop a Visual Library in Gaoth Dobhair and North Belfast. The initial idea came from Sonia Nic Giolla Easbuig who is a TV Producer /Director who has worked with major broadcasters on the Island of Ireland, from RTÉ, TG4 and BBC NI. Fís Uladh came from an idea in 2003 to give young people the chance to develop skills in the television industry while at the same time documenting their own area, the people in it and, in the process, learning about their own culture and the concept of archiving came from all the interviews that Sonia had filmed over the years and the stories that never got to air or perhaps lost forever. With Fis Uladh established in Donegal to facilitate the project, Cumann Culturtha Mhic Reachtain (CCMR), Belfast also came on board. CCMR was formed to promote the Irish Language in North Belfast and to encourage its growth in music, literacy and teachings. It annually runs an extremely successful summer school that facilitates children, young people and adults on a wide variety of courses through the medium of the Irish Language. The combination of these two organisations has facilitated a very successful TV Skills course for the young people who were involved. The course also gave the students an opportunity to gain hands-on experience on live shows and interview celebrities such as comedian Des Bishop, Q&A with Pat Butler -RTÉ, and work alongside a professional studio crew on the Music show Deis Roc for TG4. Since the project finished, several students have progressed towards accredited qualifications and some securing work placements within the media.

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