Date:
2020
Location:
Online
Collaborators:
Sing Ireland
Supporters:
Age NI, Alone, Atlantic Fellows, Bealtaine Festival, Dementia Understand Together, Healthy Ireland, Folklore.ie, Global Brain Health Institute, RIAM
Dawn Chorus
During the pandemic, connection and community was more important than ever. The Dawn Chorus was an idea originally devised by Age & Opportunity the national organisation working to improve the quality of life of people aged 50 to 100+ for the Bealtaine Festival. The Festival celebrates the arts and creativity as we age, traditionally as a broad programme of in person events and activities nationwide. Together, the Bealtaine Festival and Age & Opportunity, reimagined the Dawn and Dusk Chorus as part of Bealtaine At Home.
We knew we could help. Our singular aim was to encourage as many people as possible to keep singing and stay connected to each other. Our focus was to make it easy and fun to take part. We collaborated with many organisations and people who contributed their skills, their passion and funding to help people across Ireland come together to sing in May 2020.
We started by choosing five songs. Our supporters then went to work to help us. For each song, a video was created that told the song’s story and included a fantastic performance. Others recorded backing tracks and provided both lyrics and sheet music. We then built a website so that these great assets and tips for joining in could be accessed by any one, any where at any time.