Hawk's Well Secures IHREC Funding For Work With People With ID

Hawk’s Well Theatre has been awarded funding from IHREC Human Rights and Equality Grant Scheme 2022 for its proposed Shine programme: a Drama Participation Programme with Young Adults with Intellectual Disabilities.

This project aims to achieve greater equality of accessibility by supporting people with intellectual disabilities to access theatre as participants. A series of immersive drama workshops for young adults with intellectual disabilities will be provided, along with training for local artists to work in this area. Engagement with community groups and support services will shape the programme. The artist training programme devised will be available to other Arts venues in the future who are interested in integrating accessibility into their practice.

A drama workshop for young people with intellectual disabilities in the Sligo area took place at the Hawk’s Well in April of this year and was facilitated by artists from Kildare based ‘Run of the Mill’ ahead of their show ‘Making a Mark’ at the theatre. Run of the Mill are an award-winning inclusive arts organisation committed to supporting people with intellectual disabilities to access high-quality experiences in the arts as artists, makers and participants.

This funding from IHREC will enable Hawk’s Well Theatre to bring Run of the Mill to Sligo again this year to work with this group of young adults and to train artists who are

interested in working in this area. It is hoped that regular drama workshops for young adults with intellectual disabilities will then take place at the theatre later this year and into 2023.

The grant application was awarded to Hawk’s Well Theatre who were partnered for the application by the HSE Training Service, National Learning Network, This Ability and Down Syndrome Sligo.


Marie O’Byrne, Director of Hawk’s Well Theatre, was delighted to hear about this funding and commented: “We are absolutely delighted to be in a position to roll out both this artist training and the drama workshops for people with disabilities in Sligo that will follow thereafter. We are on a mission to encourage the full diversity of our community to engage with the Arts through our work and we see this opportunity as a key step in that journey. The work that Run of the Mill Theatre are doing is incredible and we are honoured to in a position to bring them to Sligo to share their practice with us.”

Local Theatre Artists interested in participating in this training opportunity on the 25th and 26th of October at the Hawk’s Well invited to send a short statement of interest to director@hawkswell.com by 17th October 2022.