Thanks to Joanne Hunt for listing us in the Irish Times 50 to Watch in 2026. It has been an amazing two years with Briliant Ballybunion and we are very grateful for the support of the Creative Climate Action Fund, managed by Creative Ireland. So many wonderful moments including the Ballybunion Bean Festival and the work of the newly formed Ballybunion Nature Group. I have loved my role as embedded artist with the project and am really looking forward to launching our new book “What if We Were Brilliant?” in the coming weeks.
“Nature, food, creativity – that’s Brilliant Ballybunion‘s recipe for community climate action. The enormity of climate change and biodiversity loss can leave the individual feeling disempowered, but by coming together and acting locally, we can transform how we feel and create change, the group believes. Brilliant Ballybunion began with a call out to the north Kerry community for those passionate about nature, food or creativity to collaborate. Nature-lovers, farmers, bird watchers, photographers, sketchers, writers and ecologists came forward and so began a journey of creative climate action.
Outputs so far include the Ballybunion Nature Group, a 60-strong collective that has carried out a survey of the Ringed Plover, a tiny ground-nesting bird in decline in the area. The group protects nests and talks to walkers about the importance of keeping dogs on lead Journaling and sketching helps collaborators to record and process what they are seeing, and inspire action. “If we don’t know the names of the birds, the trees or the animals, how will we know when they are gone,” says artist and grower Lisa Fingleton. “If our eyes are not open to nature, we just don’t see the loss.”
