The Liverpool Irish Festival are pleased to announce the recruitment of ArtsGroupie CIC as the lead facilitator of its History Research Group. This group will inform work on the Liverpool Irish Famine Trail.
John Maguire, Director of ArtsGroupie CIC, has been recruited to the position of History Research Group Lead for the Liverpool Irish Festival led,National Lottery Heritage Funded project to revitalise the Liverpool Irish Famine Trail. The group will focus on research about the historic Liverpool Irish Famine Trail; bringing a significant period of Irish -and Liverpudlian- history in to the public realm.
In the 1990’s, the Great Hunger Commemoration Committee identified key sites of significant historic and social importance, memorialising Irish influence and impact, forming the Liverpool Irish Famine Trail.
This trail highlights the path taken by Irish Immigrants, and the ancestors of many Liverpool citizens, during the Great Famine; a period of mass starvation, disease and political upheaval in Ireland in the mid-1800s.
ArtsGroupie will be responsible for the overall development of research material to help explain the Trail. The project is currently recruiting for volunteers to join this group, with a view to compiling and digitising important information from the Great Hunger Commemoration Committee archives at the Liverpool Records Office. These will help us to tell the story of the Trail.
Anyone who would like to get involved in this group, is encouraged to visit our volunteer page, for more information. if you have specific questions about the History Research Group, email John Maguire on faminetrail@liverpoolirishfestival.com
John Maguire, Creative Director of ArtsGroupie CIC said:
‘ArtsGroupieare delighted to work with the Liverpool Irish Festival on this important and much needed heritage project. Collaboratively, we will build a core team of volunteers, consisting of passionate and enthused individuals to rejuvenate, the physical Trail; give voice to Irish perspectives and conserve the Trail’s history for future generations’.
Emma Smith, Artistic Director and CEO of Liverpool Irish Festival said:
‘After over two years of planning, we are delighted to start working on materials which bring the Trail to life. ArtsGroupie have been selected for their creative ability to interpret history in to tours; distilling complex histories in to tangible stories. This is a significant part of Liverpool -and Merseyside’s- history, affecting large numbers of its citizens. It is important to involve the region in building this national asset and we are proud to be working with one of the city’s great creative producers to help us do this’.
Founded in 2003, the Festival brings Liverpool and Ireland closer together, using arts and culture. As the
most diverse celebration of Irish culture in the UK, we have become a ten-day festival of music and song; visual arts; performance arts; culture, history and identity sharing, talks and tours and film.
