Scoil Scairte is back once more to bring you on an immersive Irish language journey like no other.
This 9-week voyage of discovery invites people to gather together online to explore the heart and soul of Irish culture, heritage, and language from October 5 - November 30, 2023.
The fifth edition of Scoil Scairte - the hugely successful Irish language course presented by The Trailblazery in Ireland - will shine a spotlight on the inspirational people, places, songs, and stories of Dublin. Ireland's capital city is home to the most Irish speakers of anywhere in the world with half a million "gaeilgeoirí " (Irish speakers) living in the region today.
Situated in the east of Ireland, Dublin stretches from the Irish Sea to the southerly wilds of the Wicklow Mountains and out to the ancient Boyne Valley, home of some of Ireland’s finest and earliest archeological heritage.
An Ghaeilge (the Irish language) has experienced many waves of activism in Dublin across the years. The revolutionary Gaelic League, or Conradh na Gaeilge, was founded in 1893 to blaze the trail in reclaiming our ancestral inheritance. Dublin is also home to the world’s most famous post office, the GPO, where Pádraig Pearse proclaimed a new vision of Ireland. Famed for the phrase “Tír gan teanga, tír gan anam” - “a country without a language is a country without a soul”.
Today, a new wave of Irish language activism has inspired creative movements like the Pop-up Gaeltacht and urban Irish-speaking GAA sports club Na Gaeil Óga who continue to kindle and tend to the fire of our native language, culture and heritage.
What's Involved:
9-week online course with 30+ hours of live & recorded content
- 22 inspirational gaeilgeoirí guides & guest contributors
- 9 live gatherings with cultural guides, music & language teaching
- 9 care packages with slides, recordings & resources
- 3 months of tutorial sessions for beginners & intermediates
- 3 months free Meitheal community membership
- 3 months access to Language Lab of pronunciation recordings
- 1 guided meditation series by Kathy Scott & composer Brian Crosby
- 1 interview series with Manchán Magan
You will be guided by a host of inspiring bilingual multidisciplinary artists, activists, creatives, educators, culture makers, and indigenous language keepers including Kathy Scott (Founder of The Trailblazery), Manchán Magan (Writer, Presenter), Colm Bairéad (Film Director of OSCAR & BAFTA-nominated An Cailín Ciúin), Irish with Mollie (Teacher, Influencer), Tiokasin Ghosthorse (Member of the Cheyenne River Lakota Nation of South Dakota, Speaker), Mary Kennedy (Irish TV Presenter) Róisín Chambers (Sean-nós singer, Fiddler) and many more.
Scoil Scairte will bring you on an immersive Irish language journey
Why Scoil Scairte?
In the 1700s, Irish education was outlawed and the process of learning took to the land. Hedge Schools or Scoileanna Scairte gathered wherever people could find shelter, in hedgerows, in fields, by rivers, and under the stars.
Irish is one of the oldest living vernacular languages in Europe. It has shaped the cultural identity of the people on the island of Ireland for thousands of years. If a language dies we lose access to meaning, memory, and our ways of being human. Despite a turbulent history the Irish language has survived and is encoded with a wisdom that can help us today.
The Scoil Scairte program was created in 2021 by The Trailblazery in collaboration with Manchán Magan and supported by Foras na Gaeilge with part funding by Galway City Council through its Creative Ireland Programme.
If you're looking to reconnect with some of the traditions and practices that supported and nourished our ancestors - this is for you.
Join Scoil Scairte and explore how language can shape how we see the world and our place in it, click here for more information. You can also keep up to date with The Trailblazery on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
