Brilliant Ballybunion - Lisa Fingleton

https://lisafingleton.com/project/the-barna-way/

Brilliant Ballybunion is an exciting new project under the Creative Climate Action Fund. Over two years, the project is working with local community collaborators and the wider community to explore ways to grow food, protect nature and be creative, all at the same time.

The projects ask: What is the future be want to be and how do we create it?

Every event is focused on these three different elements: Food, Biodiversity and Creativity. Working with local chefs and creative collaborators, the project provide nourishing, delicious and locally grown food. Collaborators are growing much of the food themselves or sourcing it from local growers. They are learning to grow their own and learning how to protect seeds for the future at The Barna Way, a wild life sanctuary, woodland and organic farm just outside Ballybunion.

The project is working with ecologist Dr Joanne O Brien to make connections with the biodiversity of Ballybunion through a Wild about Life. Ballybunion is at the mouth of the Shannon estuary which is a Special Area of Conservation, home to a large colony of bottlenose dolphins. It is one of only 10 protected sites in Europe. Some of the group had the privilege of seeing Humpback Whales off the Kerry Coast on a recent expedition with Joanne. The group is also really interested in water quality and are developing projects in this area.

Creativity is central to the project and Lisa Fingleton is the embedded artist with Brilliant Ballybunion. She encourages each of the collaborators to draw and process their journeys through their journals which were co-created with Badly Made Books. She also works with them to create films and video diaries of the events and their perspectives.

Lisa is currently working with Siamsa Tire in Tralee on a new show called The Square Tomato, which features new works created with Creative Climate Action Projects (Brilliant Ballybunion & A Creative Imagining), Kerry Visual Artist in Residence programme and a recent trip to Navdanya with Dr Vandana Shiva

For the next two years The Barna Way will be a hub for the new Brilliant Ballybunion project funded under the IGNITE, Creative Climate Action Fund, which is managed by Creative Ireland. The project will engage the local community to creatively explore the future for Ballybunion in terms of protecting biodiversity and local food systems. The project will work with diverse community collaborators to grow food, protect habitats and create a vision for the future in the context of climate change and biodiversity loss. This project will have multiple elements in terms of creating long term transformative change in 4 stages: Information; Exploration; Inspiration and Expression. The project is coordinated by Grainne Toomey from Ballybunion Community Forum in partnership with The Barna Way, Lisa Fingleton (Artist), Rena Blake (Photographer/Grower), Dr Joanne O Brien (Ecologist) and Dr Clare Watson (Evaluator). Rena is one of the coordinators of the ‘Ballybunion Community Market’ every Saturday morning in July and August. The Barna Way also works with people with disability through the Kerry Social Farming Project. Lisa and Rena host a number of creative experiences and workshops in conjunction with the MOYA festival including ‘Art in Nature’ ‘Songs for the Spirit’ and ‘Living Lens’. In their respective studios, they create work that reflects their passion for food and their commitment to biodiversity and climate action. Lisa recently published her highly acclaimed new book ‘The Local Food Project’, about the power of eating local food to increase health and well being; to reduce plastic and carbon; and to support local food producers. The Barna Way welcomes artists/writers in residence, volunteers and interns from all other the world who are passionate about creating a sustainable and inclusive world. Lisa and Rena have travelled extensively and have lived in many countries. They value intercultural exchange and the sharing of knowledge through ‘thinking global and acting local’. They strive to ‘BE the change they wish to see in the world’ though their work in 'The Barna Way' and welcome others to join them in their journey.

Press release at start of the project:

Brilliant Ballybunion is a exciting new Creative Climate Action project, supporting the local community be creative, grow food and protect nature.

Brilliant Ballybunion is one of 19 projects funded under the IGNITE strand of the Creative Creative Climate Action Fund II – Agents for Change. Supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media in collaboration with the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications and the Department of the Taoiseach, the Creative Ireland initiative supports creative, cultural and artistic projects that build awareness around climate change and empowers citizens to make meaningful behavioural changes.

Brilliant Ballybunion is coordinated by Grainne Toomey from Ballybunion Community Forum in partnership with The Barna Way, Lisa Fingleton (Artist), Rena Blake (Photographer/Grower), Dr Joanne O Brien (Ecologist) and Dr Clare Watson (Reflective Learning Evaluator).

According to Project Manager, Grainne, “The project will work with the community

to grow food, protect habitats and create a vision for the future in the context of climate change & biodiversity loss. Community is very important to us. There is a great community spirit in Ballybunion. We are really looking forward to this opportunity to work together to learn how we can best protect the plants and animals in our biosphere”.

According to Grainne, “We are so lucky to have The Barna Way, 19 acres of beautiful native meadows and woodland on the doorstep of Ballybunion and we are really excited to have the opportunity to share the magic of Barna and grow healthy food for the community”.

Lisa Fingleton, the artist with the project says she is very excited about the creative elements of the project. “I believe very much in the power of creativity and imagination. It can be quite overwhelming to think about all the impacts of climate change. It is really important for communities to create a vision of how we would like the world to be in the future and how we can do this in a way that ensures a just transition for everyone”. Lisa was the lead artist in the last round of the Creative Climate Action fund working with farmers on the Dingle Penninsula.

Lisa and Rena Blake are very committed to growing food and sharing skills with the local community at The Barna Way. Rena says, “Over the last year and a half we have also learned a lot about growing and preserving food from the Ukrainian community here in Ballybunion and we hope they will get involved in this project too”.

The project will also run a Wild about Life programme with ecologist Dr Joanne O Brien. Ballybunion is at the mouth of the Shannon estuary which is a Special Area of Conservation, home to a large colony of bottlenose dolphins. It is one of only 10 protected sites in Europe.