Post by FKoE on Aug 12, 2004 13:00:52 GMT -5
IRISH travellers in Merseyside are to take pictures of their everyday lives in a £15,000 experiment.
Fourteen families will receive 20 digital cameras and full training to take pictures which will be exhibited in central Liverpool in the new year.
The Commission for Racial Equality have put forward the money for the Getting Results project which will make sure that one in three people at the Vauxhall Road travellers site has access to a camera, including children.
Run by the Novas Group, alongside Irish Community Care Merseyside (ICCM), families will be taught the skills over the next six months and will be able to download the pictures on computers provided by the organisers.
Exhibited pictures will be displayed alongside an oral and written exhibition examining the history of Irish travellers.
Executive director and founder of Novas Michael Wake said: "Travellers and gypsies, as a group are perhaps more marginalised, discriminated against and subject to racism than any other ethnic group in the UK.
"This wonderful and innovative initiative will allow Irish travellers themselves to have a voice in the local community and begin to break down the prejudices they face every day, whilst also providing valuable and meaningful training that can be expanded upon."
Demand for money from the CRE was high with bids totalling £10.9m being submitted and more than £3.8m actually being awarded.
Since 2002 Novas have campaigned for the rights and needs of traveller and gypsy communities at a local and national level, providing sustainable long-term housing and employment solutions that take into account their diverse cultural needs.
Novas is one of the only registered social landlords (RSLs) to own and manage traveller and gypsy sites.
In total, Novas manages 11 sites, working with over 650 people and providing 135 units of accommodation in the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland.
Over the past three years, Novas has used photography to help excluded individuals and communities document the issues that affect them.
The Liverpool 8 Law Centre and the Network for Change also received funding in this round of Commission for Racial Equality grants.
Site worker at Irish Community Care Merseyside Geraldine Judge said: "I am really excited about this project.
"Irish travellers are an invisible community and not many people realise the level of prejudice and discrimination they face on a day-to-day basis.
"The Getting Results project will substantially raise the profile of Irish travellers in Merseyside and will for the first time allow them to tell their own experiences and life stories."
Labour MP for Riverside Louise Ellman said: "The pictures that are taken, to justify the use of that much money, should be displayed and used to understand the travelling community."
<<SOURCE>>
The Irish Travellers are an ignored minority group in the UK and often victimised, and in Ireland they are often reviled ...
Its about time we gave them a chance to change these perceptions ..
Fair play I say !
Fourteen families will receive 20 digital cameras and full training to take pictures which will be exhibited in central Liverpool in the new year.
The Commission for Racial Equality have put forward the money for the Getting Results project which will make sure that one in three people at the Vauxhall Road travellers site has access to a camera, including children.
Run by the Novas Group, alongside Irish Community Care Merseyside (ICCM), families will be taught the skills over the next six months and will be able to download the pictures on computers provided by the organisers.
Exhibited pictures will be displayed alongside an oral and written exhibition examining the history of Irish travellers.
Executive director and founder of Novas Michael Wake said: "Travellers and gypsies, as a group are perhaps more marginalised, discriminated against and subject to racism than any other ethnic group in the UK.
"This wonderful and innovative initiative will allow Irish travellers themselves to have a voice in the local community and begin to break down the prejudices they face every day, whilst also providing valuable and meaningful training that can be expanded upon."
Demand for money from the CRE was high with bids totalling £10.9m being submitted and more than £3.8m actually being awarded.
Since 2002 Novas have campaigned for the rights and needs of traveller and gypsy communities at a local and national level, providing sustainable long-term housing and employment solutions that take into account their diverse cultural needs.
Novas is one of the only registered social landlords (RSLs) to own and manage traveller and gypsy sites.
In total, Novas manages 11 sites, working with over 650 people and providing 135 units of accommodation in the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland.
Over the past three years, Novas has used photography to help excluded individuals and communities document the issues that affect them.
The Liverpool 8 Law Centre and the Network for Change also received funding in this round of Commission for Racial Equality grants.
Site worker at Irish Community Care Merseyside Geraldine Judge said: "I am really excited about this project.
"Irish travellers are an invisible community and not many people realise the level of prejudice and discrimination they face on a day-to-day basis.
"The Getting Results project will substantially raise the profile of Irish travellers in Merseyside and will for the first time allow them to tell their own experiences and life stories."
Labour MP for Riverside Louise Ellman said: "The pictures that are taken, to justify the use of that much money, should be displayed and used to understand the travelling community."
<<SOURCE>>
The Irish Travellers are an ignored minority group in the UK and often victimised, and in Ireland they are often reviled ...
Its about time we gave them a chance to change these perceptions ..
Fair play I say !
