On Friday the 1st of April Offaly’s first ever community based TV station will be launched in Crinkle as part of public art project conducted by artist Michael Fortune. The project is supported by Offaly County Council’s “Per Cent for Art Programme” which is a specific budget arising out of capital works that Offaly County Council has undertaken in Grove St. over the past few years, and it is being produced in collaboration with the residents.
The community based TV station will feature a rolling programme of short films, animations, news, sports and documentaries which will be based around life on the estate. This is the first round of programmes and features a selection of short animations that were made by young people from the estate since the beginning of the year.
This will be the countries first ever community TV station and has been purposely developed by Michael in conjunction with the local community to address their needs, concerns and aspirations. Following an open call in the estate in January , Michael recruited various groups of young people who have being undertaking film and animation workshops with him in the Handball Alley since. During workshops, the young participants are introduced to the various methods and techniques involved in film and animation and are encourage to produce their own shorts outside of the workshop setting.
Older residents will also be taught to use cameras and editing software and in a bid to harness and maintain these newfound skills, it is hoped to establish a video edit suite which will be used by the community once the project is complete.
All workshops are free and if you would like to get involved please contact Michael directly. Michael is also interested in speaking to anyone from the locality who may have their own ideas for local films or local people who they feel should be recorded. You can email Michael at micfortune@gmail.com
The website will be officially launched a community event in the Handball Alley on Friday the 1st of April at 5pm. Admission is free and all are welcome to attend. The website will be be officially live following the launch.
More information can be found at www.grovestreet.tv
