Smashing Times International Centre for the Arts and Human Rights New Website Press Release

Launch of new website for the Smashing Times International Centre for the Arts and Human Rights featuring the new Women in an Equal Europe Documentary and Book

Smashing Times are in the process of setting up a new Smashing Times International Centre for the Arts and Human Rights and we aredelighted to announce the launch of a new website supported by the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Arts and Culture Capital Scheme. The new website provides information on the arts, human rights and gender equality, and features the launch of a new Women in an Equal Europe Documentary and Women in an Equal Europe Book, the latter of which is available to access free of charge here.

The launch of the website, documentary and book will take place as follows:

Date: Wednesday 15 August 2018

Time: 6 to 9pm

Venue: Oak Room at the Mansion House, Dawson Street, Dublin 2

All are welcome to attend.

To book for this exciting event, visit Eventbrite.ie by clicking here

About theWomen in an Equal Europe Book

As part of the European project Women in an Equal Europe, twenty-one women were interviewed – six from Ireland, five from Spain, five from Croatia and five from Serbia. The interviews are contained in the Women in an Equal Europe Book,which can be read by everybody, to promote a remembrance of women’s equality and experiences of life in Europe, ensuring women’s voices and stories are equally heard and acknowledged. The interviews are a fascinating insight into women’s experiences, capturing the uniqueness and strength of the women as they speak about their lives and the importance of gender equality for all.

Read interviews with influential women working in Ireland today, including Olwen Fouéré, Actor, Director and Creative Artist; Senator Ivana Bacik, Barrister and Reid Professor of Criminal Law at Trinity College Dublin and Labour Party Senator; Mary Lawlor, Human Rights Activist, Founder and current board member of Front Line Defenders and Adjunct Professor, School of Business, Trinity College Dublin; Dil Wickremasinghe, journalist, broadcaster and co-founder of Insight Matters; Mary Moynihan, Writer, theatre and filmmaker, Artistic Director, Smashing Times and Lecturer, DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama; and Sinéad Burke, writer and activist. The book is created and edited by Mary Moynihan and contains a foreword by Senator Lynn Ruane andarticles relating to gender equality in Europe today as well as interviews with women from Ireland, Spain, Croatia and Serbia.

The Women in an Equal Europe Bookcan be accessed free of charge here.

About the Women in an Equal Europe Documentary

A new Women in an Equal Europe Creative Documentary was made exploring themes of women, feminism and Europe. The documentary is directed by Mary Moynihan, theatre and film maker, edited by Mark Quinn, Highwire Ltd, and features interviews with twelve women 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. Women interviewed in the documentary include Olwen Fouéré, Actor, Director and Creative Artist, Ireland; Dijana Milošević, Artistic Director, DAH Theatre, Serbia; Dil Wickremasinghe, Journalist, Broadcaster and Co-founder of Insight Matters, Ireland; Orla O’Connor, Director of the National Women’s Council of Ireland; Sinéad Burke, Writer and Academic, Ireland; Mirjana Renduli, Actor, Writer and Facilitator, Croatia; Constance Short, Visual Artist, Arts Organiser and Cultural Conduit, Ireland; Vanessa Ogida, Broadcast Journalist, Motivational Speaker, Writer, Trainer and Entrepreneur, Ireland; Pom Boyd, Actor and Writer, Ireland; Róisín McAtamney, Actor and Theatre Director, Ireland; and Dr Shirley Graham, Visiting Associate Professor of Practice in International Affairs at George Washington University.

About the Women in an Equal Europe Project

The book and documentary are created as part of Women in an Equal Europe, a European art-based project using creative processes of theatre and film and online digital resources to promote a greater understanding of women’s rights and the positive changes that have come about in relation to gender equality as a result of belonging to the European Union. The project was implemented by Smashing Times in partnership with IFES, Valencia, Spain; Youth Peace Group ‘Danube’ (YPGD), Vukovar, Croatia and DAH Theatre Research Centre, Belgrade, Serbia, with activities supported by the Europe for Citizens Programme of the EU, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Reconciliation Fund and the Arts Council Young Ensembles Scheme.

About the New Website for the Smashing Times International Centre for the Arts and Human Rights

Smashing Times, founded in 1991, plays a leading role in the development of the arts to promote human rights, gender equality, peace building, active citizenship and positive mental health and well-being through high quality artistic processes. The company is lead partner on a range of transnational European projects and is highly experienced in using the arts to promote issues at local, national and European levels linking with organisations in Ireland and Northern Ireland and in countries including the UK, Spain, Germany, Poland, Turkey, Serbia, Croatia, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Sri Lanka, Greece and Latvia.

In 2017, Smashing Times won the daa Arts Award at the Allianz Business to Arts Award Ceremony which took place at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin. The daa Arts Award is described as a reward for an ‘arts organisation that has particularly impressed the judges in a given year’ and Smashing Times were delighted and honoured to receive this award.

Smashing Times are in the process of establishing a world-class Smashing Times International Centre for the Arts and Human Rights dedicated to the promotion, protection, study and practice of the arts, human rights and gender equality. The centre willoperate as a world class arts space and digital hub for artists, communities and the general public across Ireland and internationally, providing a resource service and networking agency and an annual inter-disciplinary arts programme. Smashing Times are delighted to launch the new website for the SmashingTimes International Centre for the Arts and Human Rights featuring theWomen in an Equal Europe Documentary and Book. The website is a unique resource providing information and welcoming contributions from artists and citizens from Ireland and around the world in relation to the arts and human rights.

The new website can be accessed here.

For further information contact:

Freda Manweiler, Company Manager

Smashing Times International Centre for the Arts and Human Rights incorporating Smashing Times Theatre and Film Company and Smashing Times Youth Arts Ensemble

Coleraine House, Coleraine Street, Dublin 7, Ireland.

Tel:+ 353 (0) 1 865 6613          Tel: + 353 (0) 87 221 4245

Email: freda@smashingtimes.ieor info@smashingtimes.ie Website: www.smashingtimes.ie

Facebook: www.facebook.com/smashingtimestheatrecompany

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Smashing_Times