Being Irish in Birmingham today
Irish Heritage and Culture into the future?
It is estimated that (up to) 100 000 people living in Birmingham were either born in Ireland or have Irish parents or grandparents, which makes them the 3rd largest minority group in the City.
What does it mean to be Irish in Birmingham today? What does it mean to young people with Irish parents or grandparents? What does it mean to those who have lived in Birmingham for a long time? What will, can or should it mean in the future?
A number of Irish Organisations in Birmingham (Irish Community Forum, the Birmingham St Patrick's Festival and Birmingham Irish Heritage Group) funded by the Digbeth Trust, have commissioned a small piece of research to find out more about the culture and heritage aspirations of the Irish community.
The research attempts to understand the elements that make people identify with their Irish heritage and what of that Irish heritage they would want, need or like to keep, grow or develop. The organisations want to create projects that emphasise and celebrate Irish culture and heritage as well as move an understanding of 'Irishness' forward to make it relevant for contemporary life in multi cultural diverse Birmingham.
Interviews with community organisations, young people and key individuals will explore the topic and a questionnaire to be distributed in January.
This is an opportunity for the Irish and wider community to inform the three organisations about what Irish Culture and Heritage they would like to see in Birmingham in the future . There are already a number of established elements such as music, dance, pub culture, sport and food culture. If there are any other areas that people feel should be developed we are inviting contributions by using any of the method below.
The Birmingham Irish Community Forum, the Birmingham St Patrick's Festival and the Birmingham Irish Heritage Group will be evaluating the results in March. Having secured funding for a Cultural Heritage worker via Dion, they will be working together to translate the findings into new cultural and community activities.
The results of the research and any planned activities will be published on the Birmingham Irish Community Forum's website in March.
To request questionnaires or find out more please contact:
Jutta Stahlhacke (People and Organisation) on 0121 693 8897
John Johnson (Federation of Irish Societies) on 0121 622 4169
Or visit www.birminghamirishforum.org.uk