Online Cultural Resources
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From: Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
- Published on: 3 April 2020
- Last updated on: 30 October 2020
The COVID-19 crisis has rapidly changed how artists present their work and reach audiences.
With science and technology, our capacity to create, to innovate, and to share our culture and heritage has never been greater.
Our culture has never been more diverse, more able to draw on the many traditions of our island, our continent, and our world.
The Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht is working with key stakeholders – the National Cultural Institutions, the Arts Council, Screen Ireland, RTÉ and TG4 – to ensure that the best of our artistic, cultural and creative resources remain available to the public in the days and weeks ahead.
The department wants to continue to support artists and other cultural workers to share the fruits of their labour with their fellow citizens, albeit in a very different way and is progressing a number of new initiatives, such as:
- new Arts Council COVID-19 Artists Fund
- Department through Culture Ireland match funding €100k support with Facebook Ireland for the online showcasing of artists’ work
- partnering with RTÉ, TG4 and others to bring a broad range of cultural, heritage and language content to the public from archive and new sources in partnership with organisations such as Druid and Other Voices
- Abbey Theatre commissioning writing and performance of 50 new monologues during April
- a new Creative Ireland partnership with Healthy Ireland to promote wellbeing and creativity, including sharing of new Design & Crafts Council Ireland online resources to engage young people and adults in home-based making activities
- TG4 to partner with Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann for a reimagined Fleadh Ceoil and TG4 Molscéal to showcase language based Arts and stories from Gaeltacht communities in collaboration with Ealaín na Gaeltachta, TechSpace and others
Many community groups, cultural organisations and individuals have already responded to the situation and have re-purposed many of their work programmes to facilitate online access.
As so many of our people will be staying at home in these coming weeks, we would like to highlight many of the online resources available to them. This trying time may be a moment in which people rediscover their love of the Irish language.
It may be a time to uncover some of the treasures in our national collections preserved in our National Cultural Institutions.
We are bringing these resources together below so that people can easily see and access what is available to them. The list below is not exhaustive, some items are still in development and others will be added in the coming days and weeks.
Irish Language and Gaeltacht
This section details the Irish language resources available online.
Meitheal Dúchas.ie
Dúchas.ie are inviting users of the site to transcribe, on a voluntary basis, the stories that were collected as part of the Schools’ Collection. Dúchas.ie hopes that this work will increase community participation in the project and make the material more accessible.
Click here to visit Meitheal Dúchas
Fáilte Ar Líne
Fáilte Online provides online courses in Irish language and culture for ab initio learners from across the globe.
Click here to visit Fáilte Online
TechSpace
Log in here to access the online TechSpace Members area and download resources, guides, programmes and more! Access other TechSpace Educators and see if there are any inspiring projects happening near you.
Meitheal Logainm.ie
Logainm.ie are inviting the public to enter Irish and English names, as well as other data, regarding minor placenames on this website. This is an opportunity for people to preserve and share the minor placenames in their native areas.
Click here to visit Meitheal logainm
Míle Glór – Abair.ie
Trinity College are working on speech recognition for Irish (think, for example, of Alexa). To achieve this they need as many recordings as possible. It would be of great help to them if you could record a couple of sentences.
Cartlann an Oireachtais
A collection of recordings of seanós singing from TG4 and An tOireachtas.
Click here to visit Cartlann an Oireachtais
Comórtais Liteartha an Oireachtais
An tOireachtas's literary competition includes 23 different competitions this year - 15 directed at adult writers and 8 directed at young writers. The syllabus covers a broad range of genres, including; novels, short stories, fiction for adult learners, prose, poetry, drama and more.
Click here to visit Comórtais Liteartha an Oireachtais
Local Development organisations in the Gaeltacht
Local organisations are providing a range of supports in their communities - shopping deliveries, meals on wheels, email/WhatsApp groups, prescription deliveries, gteic (digital hubs) spaces.
TG4 Player
Irish language programming, available all over the world.
Click here to visit the TG4 player
BLOC & Molscéal
Social media channels. Content for young people, aged 15-25 is available on BLOC. Molscéal publishes online content covering current affairs, communities, lifestyle, culture, and so on.
Edcite as Gaeilge
Edcite As Gaeilge is an initiative to share a bank of Irish digital resources with teachers. This initiative has developed 200+ digital tasks that can be used in the classroom as well as two translated educational platforms: Edcite.com and PhET science simulations into Irish. All materials are free and available for primary and secondary teachers to use in their classrooms.
Click here to visit edcite.com
Vifax
Videos and lessons for Irish language learners. During the school term, video clips featuring from Nuacht TG4’s bulletins are uploaded on the platform, along with Irish language lessons based on the news reports.
Séideán Sí – An Gúm
A collection of digital resources and activities is available on the site. The course compliments the primary curriculum – Irish language. It is based on the communicative approach and combines four skills – speech, listening, reading and writing.
Click here to visit Séideán Sí
Corpas Stairiúil na Gaeilge and Historical Irish Corpus
You can search here for words and phrases in a range of over 3000 texts published in Irish between 1600 and 1926. Search results can be selected and words and phrases can be read in the context in which they were originally written.
Siamsán sa mBaile
Tuismitheoirí na Gaeltachta, in cooperation with Tuairisc.ie, are providing daily Irish language activities for families who are out of school.
Click here to visit Siamsán sa mBaile
COGG
You can search online through the resources known to COGG (An Chomhairle um Oideachas Gaeltachta agus Gaelscolaíocht.
Seó Bóthair Chonradh na Gaeilge
The Seó Bóthair roadshow is an interactive workshop which makes use of games, discussion and debates to promote the Irish language in a positive way. We discuss where Irish can be used and discuss their language rights. Conradh na Gaeilge are developing an online interactive seminar for the weeks ahead, available free. Teachers can register here.
TG4 Foghlaim
An audiovisual educational tool developed for Irish language learners of all levels to help develop their language skills. Lessons are based on video clips from TG4's programming, and are based on topics included in the Leaving Cert syllabus. Available free online.
Gaeloideachas
Online resources available to parents/teachers. Weekly programme providing daily content via social media.
Click here to visit Gaeloideachas
Gael Linn
Conversation circle on the phone. Digital versions of their publications available online.
Be Prepared Grant
The Be Prepared Grant is available to Údarás na Gaeltachta clients (microenterprises, small and medium businesses) who would benefit from additional research and external expertise in preparing a contingency plan in relation to Covid-19 and examine how to reduce risk, manage cashflows, human resources and marketing. This support grant is up to €5,000 or 50% of the total cost.
Act On Initiative
The Act On Initiative support will be available to Údarás na Gaeltachta's client companies which export and whose businesses will be affected by the virus. It will provide access to 2 days consultancy engagement at no extra cost to assess financial management, strategic sourcing and transport and logistics advice.
Mentoring Scheme
The Mentoring Scheme provides support for a business mentor to assist you in the initial stage of your business or who will give advice on specific areas of your business plan.
Finance in Focus
Finance in Focus offers Údarás na Gaeltachta's clients funding of up to €7,200 to cover third party consultant’s fees. The grant supports the development of a financial and business plan that identifies funding needs and potential sources of funding.
Conradh na Gaeilge - Employment Information Sessions
Online information sessions for third level students, discussing the future and possible opportunities available to them.
Click here for further information
Glór na nGael
Glór na nGael are publishing videos, activities, crosswords, challenges, etc on their social media channels for parents and children at home.
Seinnteoir Cúla4
Irish language children's programming, available all over the world.
Cúla4 ar YouTube
Mini-series for children; dance, art, story of the day, science, clubs, book reviews, and so on.
Click here to visit the Youtube page.
Ealaín na Gaeltachta
Facilitating the programme for traditional arts via online classrooms. Singing and musical instrument tutorials will be made available online.
Slán leis an mBunscoil
Tuismitheoirí na Gaeltachta, supported by An Comhairle um Oideachas Gaeltachta agus Gaelscolaíochta, are compiling a special book focussed on sixth class students, which will be published before the end of this school year.
Sixth class students from Gaeltacht schools around the country are invited to submit their own written pieces, focusing on themes relating to the years they have spent in primary school. A copy of the book will be made available to each student and school involved in the project.
For further information, contact eolas@tuismitheoiri.ie
Heritage
This section details the heritage resources available online.
Archaeology in The Classroom
The online teacher manual Archaeology in The Classroom programme is available for teachers and students.
Click here to visit Archaeology in the Classroom
Biodiversity Drawing Competitions
The Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht is running an online children's art competition. Each week we will announce a nature topic on the Notice Nature Facebook page as inspiration for the art pieces.
Click here for further information.
Fanlights
A social media-based series on the history of fanlights.
Learn more here.
Heritage Webinars
Lectures and talks to be provided by 10 different speakers online, focusing on different aspects of our heritage.
Stories from the Bog
Everybody in Ireland has a bog story to tell, so now that families are gathered together, here is your chance! The Living Bog project is asking young people to record their family’s memories of the bog – whether it was helping grandad cut the turf, or investigating rare plants and animals, chasing butterflies or watching birds. The Living Bog website will publish the best stories, and a selection of young story-tellers will be invited to read their story at a national Living Bog event during Heritage Week.
[external-link www.facebook.com/LIFEraisedbogs | Click here to visit Stories from the Bog ]
Thatch 'n' Tin
A social media-based series on the Built Vernacular Heritage of Ireland.
Click here for further information
Adopt a Monument
A digital media campaign showcasing the work of Adopt a Monument scheme with interpretation by community based participants
Click here to Adopt a Monument
Bake a Monument
People are invited to send in photos of their bakery constructions in a weekly competition held on Facebook.
Bog of the Week
A social media campaign that shares images and facts on our bogs.
[external-link www.facebook.com/LIFEraisedbogs | Click here to visit Bog of the Week ]
Caption This!
Work on the Dublin North City Suburbs book is underway. Photographs of buildings will be posted daily, with users asked to caption it. The best captions will be used in the book, the authors will be credited in the final publication, get a free copy and be invited to the official launch. We also invite users to submit their own images of buildings of note in the area.
Click here for further information
Celebrate 20 years of Planning and Development Act 2000
A series of articles by the Architectural Conservation Officer (Aco) network showcasing the "good news" built heritage stories resulting from the Planning and Development Act 2000.
Click here for further information
County Highlights
Daily social media posts on architectural highlights of individual counties finishing with a link to NIAH Introduction for that county
Click here for all publications
Drone Imagery/ Images of National Monuments by County
The National Monuments Service will share video footage on Facebook of about 15 monuments taken last year on social media, including an introduction to each site.
Dublin City Survey
Publication of Stage 4 of NIAH Survey of Dublin City with Ministerial Recommendations issuing and access to online records.
Learn more here.
Historic Environment Viewer
The public can find information on their local monuments online using the historic environment viewer.
Buildings of Ireland
The public can find information online on protected structures and historic buildings in their locality on the website.
Forgotten heritage
The department is asking the public to share images of buildings now no longer standing, for example churches, houses, even old villages/towns, and so on.
Click here for further information
Heritage Week
The coordination of Heritage Week is being altered so that organisors at local level will be able to coordinate events within the current situation.
Click here to see the Heritage Week website
Hidden History
Release of appropriate National Monuments Service archive material with stories about Ireland’s past. This would include informative posts on some of our collections such as the Topographical Files, site files, O.S. 1st Edition maps, and also preservation techniques and stories of historical interest.
Click here for further information
Irish Walled Towns Network
The Irish Walled Towns Network is developing a social media campaign around Irish Walled Town Network to hightlight the significance of historic towns.
Click here to visit the website
Local History Toolkit
The Heritage Council s developing a toolkit to help local heritage groups to conduct online research into local history.
Learn more here.
Monument / Building / Historic Wreck of the Week
The Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht will continue to publish our monument, building and shipwreck of the month on our social media channels.
Monument images from 1950
The National Monuments Service will publish images from Rathmichael Historical Society. There are large prints of monuments taken by then department photographer Jim Banbury - the prints are about 70 years old and were exhibited around Europe at the time.
Learn more here.
Weekly Heritage Photo Competition
A photo competition, images to be submitted on social media, focusing on Irish Heritage.
Peatlands Community Engagement Scheme
The Peatlands Community Engagement Scheme supports initiatives by local peatland communities, local groups, local schools and individuals in relation to the conservation and revitalisation of raised bog Special Areas of Conservation, Natural Heritage Areas and other raised bog areas.
Click here to learn more about the Peatlands Community Engagement Scheme
Creative Play Videos
Heritage in Schools expert will record video about flowers and explanations about each flower. Heritage in Schools expert will develop a series of videos helping children to draw different species of birds.
Click here for further information
Heritage Emoji creation
Building on Heritage Ireland 2030 schools competition held last year, ask school kids to develop more heritage emojis and submit to us.
Click here for further information
Heritage Games
Online jigsaws of prominent heritage sites and buildings are posted on the National Monuments Service social media channels.
Learn more here.
Make a Monument
We are asking young people to submit images of national monuments that they have created at home using lego/minecraft.
Learn more here.
Heritage Podcasts
A tutorial on making podcasts on heritage themes etc using the technology that children have in their have in their homes.
Learn more here.
Let's talk
Online tutorial on how to access the Schools Folklore Collections - includes activities where kids have to ring grandparents with questions about what they have read about their locality, family, etc.
Click here for further information
Drawing on our Architectural Heritage
A drawing competition for younger people linked to our architectural heritage.
Click here for further information
National Parks Social Media
The National Parks and Wildlife Service social media pages are where you can find a wealth of videos, activities and other content to keep you up to date and connected with our National Parks.
Wicklow Mountians National Park
Wild Nephin - Ballycroy National Park
Sea Eagle Nest Cam
This live-streaming webcam was set up by the National Parks and Wildlife Service to monitor a pair of white-tailed sea eagles breeding in County Cork.
Culture
This section details the cultural resources available online.
National Gallery of Ireland
Learning and exploration material.
Click here to visit the National Gallery of Ireland
National Library of Ireland
Series of educational podcasts available along with Leaving Certificate History downloadable research guide.
Science Gallery Dublin
Planned educational interactive material working with 15- to 25-year-olds.
Click here to visit the Science Gallery
Meath County Council
Delivery of the FEÁCH (furthering enterprise, arts, culture and heritage) – artists' training and mentorship programme through online platforms where possible.
Click here to visit Meath County Council
The Abbey Theatre
Planned performance recording from BlindBoy, Deirdre Kinahan, Rosaleen McDonagh, Frank McGuinness, Enda Walsh and Carmel Winters.
Click here to visit the Abbey Theatre website
Chester Beatty Library
The Chester Beatty's browsable curated digitial collections, galleries and repositories are available here.
The Chester Beatty library also offers a collection of digitised photographs available worldwide here.
IMMA: Irish Musuem of Modern Art
Click here to access the Irish Museum of Modern Art SoundCloud
IrishGenealogy.ie Website
The public can search for records of family history for past generations.
Click here to access the Irish genealogy site
National Library
There are 100,000 manuscripts relating to Ireland that can be accessed here.
The National Museum of Ireland
The National Museum of Ireland has a range of resources available to the public online, including virtual tours of the Natural History Museum and educational resources.
You can find further information on some of the museum's exhibitions and collections at the links below.
Frongoch and 1916: Recreating a lost landscape
Screen Ireland: Curated playlists of short films
Screen Ireland can be accessed here.
Marsh's Library
Archbishop Marsh's Library offers a number of online exhibitions here.
Little Musuem of Dublin
A series under the hashtag #FunIrishHistory which is a look back at some of the highlights of our lecture series over the past 8 years. There will be full talks which can be streamed via youtube.
Click here to visit the website
Science Gallery Dublin
A large amount of virtual tours and 360 walkthroughs can be accessed here.
Other Voices
A large archive of prior Other Voices performances can be accessed here.
Galway County Council
A portal for over 40 heritage groups in County Galway who have digitised various aspects of their local heritage can be accessed here.
Irish Museums Association
The #IrishMuseumsOnline campaign is aimed at helping the wider public and the media to connect with the work you going on in Museums.
Get Ireland Making
As part of co-ordinated activities, DCCI plans to launch a ‘Get Ireland Making’ initiative which will invite our clients and member organisations to develop content for a series of online activities, video interviews and live classes.
National Concert Hall
National Concert Hall are inviting musicians’, both Irish and international, to create special content & small-scale performances for us to share with our on-line audience.
Click here for more information
Design & Crafts Council Ireland: Helping micro, small and medium enterprises
Design & Crafts Council Ireland: Enabling emerging craft designers to develop skills via online resources Design & Crafts Council of Ireland.
Click here for further information
Design & Crafts Council Ireland: Design & Innovation companies: Irish Design Challenge 2020
The Irish Design Challenge 2020, a competition that invites proposals from Ireland’s smartest designers and innovators who are driven to find solutions to the current challenges presented by COVID-19. The initiative will profile Irelands ‘hero companies’ who use design and innovation to problem-solve on a daily basis.
Click here for further information
National Library of Ireland
Children’s literature with Tall Tales & Deadly Drawings can be accessed here.
Kildare County Council
Colouring Kildare's Heritage an Online Colouring Book can be accessed here.
National Print Museum
Virtual tours, digital exhibitions and online resources for children are available here.
Crawford Art Gallery
You can learn more about exhibitions in the Crawford Art Gallery on their website. They also have resources available for children and their parents, young people, students, teachers as well as community groups.
Comhaltas Live
Comhaltas Live is a daily programme, accessible to all free of charge, on the Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann website featuring the best of Irish music, song and dance. available to view here.
Online Music Programme for Music Students
Comhaltas have launched an online resource for all students of traditional Irish music at all levels to learn repertoire.
You can access the site here.
Cois na hAbhna Archive
The Cois na hAbhna Regional Archive hosts a library of Irish traditional music, song, dance, and folklore relating to the Meitheal region of Galway, Clare, Limerick and Kerry. Available here.
Comhaltas Ciarraí- Kerry Comhaltas
CCÉ Coiste Chontae Chiarraí are inviting members to submit video recordings of themselves playing music or singing for the Kerry CCÉ Facebook page. Available here.
Comhaltas Archive
The Comhaltas Archive is available online.
Comhaltas Concert Tours
This page provides video links to live the Comhaltas Concert Tour of Ireland 2019 and Concert Tour of Britain 2020 performances.
Bannow Branch of Comhaltas in County Wexford
This branch of Comhaltas has set up a virtual classroom where notes, song words and recordings are uploaded for everyone to learn common tunes and songs.
Tune-A-Day and ‘Song Saturday’
These initiatives by Comhaltas na Breataine are available on the Comhaltas na Breataine Facebook pageand website.
Online Academy - Youghal Comhaltas
The Brú na Sí Online Academy enables members to learn tunes and hone their skills from their homes.
Enrolment for the new academy, for branch members only, is by email at youghal@comhaltas.ie
Fleadh Nua Festival Archive
You can catch up on some rare performance down through the years on the festival’s archive section here.
Dánta agus Scéalta Bunscoile
This resource contains many Irish language poems and stories.
Munster Comhaltas
The Munster Comhaltas archive is an online resource for Irish Traditional Music followers in Munster.
Creative Ireland Programme
The Creative Ireland Programme is an all-of-government programme focussed on how participation in creative and cultural activities contributes to national and individual wellbeing.
A wealth of free creative resources for people of all ages is available online via #createathome. The emphasis is on activities that contribute to mental health and wellbeing during this period.
https://www.creativeireland.gov.ie/
Cruinniú na nÓg
Cruinniú na nÓg is Ireland’s national day of free creative activities for children and young people under the age of 18. Online supports and resources are being provided by the Creative Ireland Programme in partnership with Áirc Damhsa, The Design and Crafts Council of Ireland, Great Lighthouses of Ireland, Fighting Words, Whizz Kids Training and RTÉ to enable children and young people to unleash their creativity.
Learn more here.
Galway City Museum
Galway City Museum have many resources that you can use to explore their collections from your home. Visit their past exhibitions and galleries; listen to their podcasts and explore of some of their artefacts.
Learrn more here.
National Archives
The National Archives of Ireland is the official repository for the state records of Ireland.
Census Online
The 1901 and 1911 censuses are the only surviving full censuses of Ireland open to the public. Both censuses cover the island of Ireland.
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/
Decade of Centenaries – The National Archives
The National Archives' Decade of Centenaries website charts the historical development of Ireland from 1912 to 1923, a decade which was the most turbulent and transformative experienced by Ireland in the 20th century.