This week on Sparking Change, Dil talks to Mary Moynihan. Mary is the artistic director for Smashing Times Theatre and Film Company (more info here). Smashing Times Theatre and Film Company is a not-for-profit, human rights based organsiation that uses creative process, theatre and film to promote human rights, gender equality, reconcilliation and social inclusion for all. In 2018, the company established the new Smashing Times International Centre for the Arts and Human Rights, a hub for creative activity, community engagement and social inclusion for all at local, national, European and international levels. A new Women in an Equal Europe creative documentary was made exploring themes of women, feminism and Europe. The documentary was directed by Mary. It includes interviews with twelve women (including Dil!) from Ireland, Spain, Croatia and Serbia along with a series of nine Vox Pops or statements from women and men exploring women’s lived experiences of life in Europe and the intersection between the arts, feminism and equality. In this episode, Dil and Mary discuss the origins of Smashing Times, how artists can use their work to ask questions of society, the Smashing Times International Centre for Arts and Human Rights, as well as the process of picking the stories for the Women in an Equal Europe Documentary. They also discuss Margaret Skinnider, the mostly-unknown stories of women in the Second World War, as well as what's next for Smashing Times,and how theatre and comedy can be great for learning.

This week on Sparking Change, Dil is joined by an extremely impressive group of women: Grace O'Sullivan, Melanie Lynch, Amy de Bhrún, Donna Gilligan and Eileen O'Sullivan. As it is a hundred years since women gained the right to vote in Ireland, Dil’s guests are at the Waterford Walls Festival to discuss stories of creative women a hundred years ago, who fought for change through creative thinking. Grace O’Sullivan is an elected member of Seanad Éireann. As well as this, she is a mother of three, an ecologist, an environmental education specialist, a former Greenpeace activist, a former Irish surf champion and green entrepreneur. Melanie Lynch is an award-winning creative and social entrepreneur with a passion for justice, equality and storytelling. She is founder of Herstory, whose mission is to tell the multi-faceted, lost, forgotten and untold life stories of Irish women past and present; to capture their individual characters, achievements, and the patriarchal dogma they challenged. Amy De Bhrún is an actress and writer. She moved to London at the age of 19 to pursue her actor training at The Bridge Drama School. As well as her most recent show “Till Death We Part”, she has written 5 other one-woman shows—and performed them throughout Dublin, London, LA and New York. Donna Gilligan is an Irish museum archaeologist & material culture historian, as well as historian of the Irish suffragette movement. She is the Curator of Print, Protest & the Polls: The Irish women’s suffrage campaign & the power of print media. Eileen O’Sullivan is an artist. An NCAD graduate, she also studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, Belgium. Her work is concerned with the personal: her subjects include family, the familiar and everyday objects. Together, the ladies discuss the lack of promotion for the hundred-year anniversary of women gaining the right to vote, the importance of documenting the great achievements by women past and present, Melanie discusses some of the projects that Herstory has been conducting and Amy discusses the evolution of the acting industry in its treatment of women.

This week on Sparking Change, Dil brings us another episode from the sunny south-east, at this years’ Waterford Walls street art festival. Waterford Walls is an international street art festival started by The Walls Project that transforms Waterford City into an open-air gallery. Waterford Walls invites over 50 artists again in 2018 to transform the city walls, continuing to make Waterford an essential cultural attraction and International go-to destination for street art. This year’s festival ran from August 17th – 26th, so unfortunately it is now over. But make sure to mark it in your calendar for next year! In this episode, Dil talks to Edel Tobin, Louise Flynn and Joe Caslin. Edel Tobin is the founder and project manager with Waterford Walls Project. In 2014, she founded New Street Gardens, a pop up garden built on a derelict site in the city. In 2017, she launched Patterns of Light: a lighting display along the Quay in Waterford. Dil and Edel discuss the progress the festival has made in just four years, with fifty artists and over two hundred applicants for this year’s festival. Louise Flynn is a visual artist who works in Waterford and Kilkenny. She has curated many mural projects and artwork for festivals and exhibitions. She was recently invited to create a mural for Wynwood Embassy in Miami. It is this experience that drives her passion to see this art form transform Waterford City and capture the imagination of the community, as artists and people work together. Dil and Louise discuss the origins of the festival, the changing perception of street art, as well as street art’s ability to spark change. Check out Louise’s tattoos—she is a tattoo artist—here! Joe Caslin is an illustrator, street artist and teacher. He is also responsible for some of the most talked-about and thought-provoking street art seen throughout the cities of Ireland. He has a piece in this year’s festival called ‘Consent’. Dil and Joe discuss Joe’s piece in the festival: his departure from the theme of mental health amongst men to the very relevant issue of consent, as well as the Save Nonso campaign he is also working with. Check out Joe’s Instagram to see his amazing work.

This week on Sparking Change, Dil takes some time from her holiday to speak to Niamh Darcy, one of the owners of Morriscastle Strand Holiday Park (more info here). Morriscastle Strand Holiday Park is a 4 star Fáilte Ireland recommended tourist Caravan, Camping, Motorhome and private Mobile Home Park located in the Sunny South East of Ireland, Co Wexford. The Holiday Park is owned and operated by brother and sister – Hugh and Niamh Darcy – with this present generation carrying on the family business that was started by their entrepreneurial parents Ed and Ria Darcy in 1969\. Their brothers Riain and Eoin both worked in the business at different times over the years lending their expertise to various aspects of Morriscastle. Ria was the financial wizard and it was her backbone, strength and accounting skills that kept the Park going through difficult times supporting Ed’s determination and belief in Morriscastle, bringing the Holiday Park to where it is today. Ed will never retire so they’ll be building and developing the Morriscastle dream for years to come! In this episode Dil and Niamh talk about all sorts, from the mental health benefits of an outdoor-style holiday to Niamh’s advice for beginner campers, as well as the best type of tent to buy. Niamh also discusses the charities that the campsite supports, including the 4,000 euro they have raised the each of the past four years for the local Hope Cancer Support Centre. They also discuss peoples’ reluctance to camp and why everyone should give it a try.

This week on Sparking Change, Dil records from the VISUAL in Carlow, as she is joined by Joanne Donohoe of the Carlow Community Development partnership, and Hayley Fox Roberts, the consultant and author of the LGBTI voices report. The LGBTI Voices report was a research report into the needs and capacity of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex population of Carlow. The study was conducted through online surveys, one-to-one interviews and focus groups. Dil, Joanne and Hayley discuss the findings of the report, including what the needs of the LGBTQI+ community in Carlow are—which were found out by asking members of the LGBTQI+ community within Carlow—as well as how something can be put in place to meet these needs. Dil, Joanne and Hayley also discuss potential problems of the LGBTQI+ community with doctors, and ways that these problems can be fixed, as well as prejudice for minorities within minorities, and internalised inferiority within the LGBTQI+ community.

This week on Sparking Change, Dil joins us from the Gutter Bookshop as she first interviews Sarah Williams, the chairperson of GAZE LGBT film festival (more info here). The Gaze LGBT film festival has striven over the last 25 years to provide a platform for screening the best of LGBT cinema. The Festival is a place for the LGBT community and allies to come together to have fun, be moved, be challenged and become energised. The legacy of GAZE is a vibrant record of a changed Ireland. Dil then interviews Beth Hayden, Ryan McConnell and Pamela Connolly, all of Glitter HOLE. These three drag artists performed GAZE film festival’s inaugural Drag Queen Story Time. Drag Queen Story Time is self-explanatory: drag queens reading stories to children in libraries, schools, and book shops. Drag Queen Story Time captures the imagination and play of the gender fluidity of childhood and gives kids glamorous, positive, and unabashedly queer role models. In spaces like this, kids are able to see people who defy rigid gender restrictions and imagine a world where people can present as they wish, where dress up is real. We then hear a recording of the fantastic performances by Glitter HOLE for the kids—such great fun for both kids and adults! Be sure to see more of Glitter HOLE’s performances at the upcoming Dublin Fringe Festival this September, where they perform their new show, ‘Fianna Fellatio Party Launch’!

On this episode of Sparking Change, Dil is joined by photographer Brian Teeling to discuss his latest exhibition, Uncover, which has recently finished in Dublin, and will be at The Lavit Gallery in Cork from the 2nd–9th of August (more info here). Uncover will feature over fifty portraits of subjects drawn from a diverse cross-section of Irish LGBT+ life. The subjects of the exhibition are drawn from all walks of Irish society and include politicians, musicians, artists, activists and unsung heroes. Figures include: Senator Fintan Warfield; theatre director, Garry Hynes; drag artist, Veda Beaux Reeves; and broadcaster and designer, Brendan Courtney. Funds raised through the sale of the prints, will go towards Gay Switchboard Ireland, accompanied by the sale of limited edition Gay Switchboard Ireland merchandise (to be sold in a pop-up shop at Hen’s Teeth Prints). Founded in 1974, Gay Switchboard Ireland is the oldest LGBT+ community service in the Republic of Ireland. The helpline has seen an increase in calls since 2015\. Currently, the organisation relies solely on the goodwill of the community it serves to stay in operation. As well as Uncover, Brian and Dil discuss further improvements that can be made for LGBTQI+ rights post the marriage quality referendum, the HIV crisis amongst young gay men in Ireland and how sex education needs to be improved to help combat this, the arrival of the Pope, and Brian’s way of protesting, and Brian’s experience of talking to his mother about the Abortion referendum this year. Dil also advises on renting children! See Brian’s work here and here, and be sure to see Uncovered in the Lavit Gallery, Cork from Thursday the 2nd until Saturday the 11th of August!

In this episode of Sparking Change, Dil interviews Uche, Mika and Daniel of the Discovery Gospel Choir. We then hear their amazing performance of ‘The Elephant in the Room’ at the Peacock Stage Theatre. Formed in 2004, Discovery Gospel Choir is home to a community of creatives from across the world. With over 30 members, this Dublin-based choir has become renowned for its unique fusion of gospel, folk and world music. Using music as a way to create and connect, audiences delight in hearing its inspirational message: ‘discover beauty in everyone’. From humble beginnings, today the gospel group continues its journey as Ireland’s leading intercultural choir. Dil speaks to Uche, Mika and Daniel about the representation of different cultures on stage, and they discuss the creative process behind ‘Elephant in the Room’ as well as the message behind it. They also discuss Discovery Gospel Choir’s message of integration and the sense of community—and family—that Discovery Gospel Choir provides for people of all cultures and nationalities through the simple joy of song.

On this episode of Sparking Change, Dil is joined by Senator Fintan Warfield, Paula Fagan, CEO of LGBT Ireland, as well as Dil’s wife, founder and clinical director of Insight Matters, Anne Marie Toole, to discuss the passage of the Children and Family Relationship Amendment Bill, as well as further improvements that need to be made. Yesterday, the Children and Family Relationships (Amendment) Bill 2018 was passed in the Seanad after it passed through the Dáil last week. This will allow same sex female couples, who have a donor conceived child, to apply for a retrospective declaration of parentage. However, LGBT Ireland explains there is still work to be done: the commencement of Part 9 of the Act is necessary to enable both parents to register on their child’s birth certificate and that responsibility lies with the Department of Social protection. LGBT Ireland is committed to working with Minister Doherty to have this part commenced after the Dáil’s summer recess. As well as this, the Children and Family Relationships Act does not include surrogacy. Provisions relating to the regulation of surrogacy are included in Part 6 of the General Scheme of the Assisted Human Reproduction Bill 2017. There are other parenting pathways that need to be addressed so that all families can be legislated for by the state, so that no children are left without legal protections and recognition of their families.