SoloSirens: Artists explored the theme of care in society

The topic of discussion, workshops, and performances at SoloSIRENs’ second festival, ‘How Do We Care?’ was the concept of caring in our society, reports Ryan Butler.

In addition to a piece created by the intercultural, intergenerational community collective SoloSIRENs that explores their own interpretations of care, the festival, which spanned three weekends, featured works by artists Jenny Macdonald, Tatiana Santos, and Veronica Dyas that explore the theme of care in society from personal experience.

Tatiana Santos investigated what it’s like to be an invisible immigrant in Ireland.Jenny McDonald discussed her breast cancer journey and the lessons it taught her about community and self-care.

Veronica Dyas questioned whether it is morally and practically feasible to produce theatre in a society where socioeconomic disparities are widening. Each of these issues were positioned within the global narratives of women through the efforts of the SoloSIRENs collective.

Throughout the festival, the artists supported and promoted each other’s work, emphasising collaboration and equitable exhibition.

SoloSIRENs aimed to raise the voices of women who identify as female by bringing academics, artists, and South Dublin communities together to debate issues that are relevant to everybody.

This week, we sat down with Arts and Culture Communications Manager Jeanette Keane to discuss ‘How Do We Care?’ which ran in the Civic Theatre last month.

What was the main idea of ‘How Do We Care?’

SoloSIRENs was formed four years ago to amplify female-identifying voices onstage and in society. We wanted to address gender inequality in the arts and beyond.

As we have explored gender inequality, we have also explored other inequalities in our society, such as class status, citizenship status, and economic disadvantage.

We have shared stories and experiences reflecting the lack of care in many of our systems and institutions.

And we know that care is needed to create transformation.We wanted to explore the aesthetics of care, how we can be more caring as artists and creative people, and how putting care at the forefront of thought and decision-making can transform our society.

What inspired this festival?

Festivals are an important part of SoloSirens’ work.They give us a chance to bring audiences, artists, community participants, and academics together to make theatre and to consider issues that are important to us all.

The theme for this festival was inspired by our work with the Irish Hospice Foundation’s Compassionate Culture Network. The IHF asked us to be part of the inaugural year of the network in 2021-2022.

The idea was for artist-facilitators around the country to hold spaces where grief and loss could be considered. We discovered that we couldn’t explore loss without exploring love. And in many ways, care is love in action.

This festival built on the model of our first festival. A key aspect is presenting professional and community artists at different career stages on par with one another.

We are all at different stages, but we are all equal. In addition to performances and discussions, we have added workshops and readings of new work in 2023. This will allow even more time for us to play and learn together.

How much time has been dedicated to it?

A lot! We began exploring ideas and potential programming last winter. It takes a lot of research, conversations, and considerations to find the right mix of artists, facilitators, academics, and participants to make the work dynamic and exciting for all.

This festival involved more than sixty people living in Dublin, Ireland, and internationally who were making the work happen.

That means that the core production and programming teams were coordinating and bringing together a lot of different people, each needing different support to facilitate their best contribution.

What kind of work is involved in festivals like this?

In many ways, putting a festival together is like weaving a beautiful tapestry.

We draw threads of our practice and our networks together so that they can be refined and inspired by one another. So, there is a lot of effort in bringing the right people together and supporting them with time, space, and resources so that they can collaborate with us fully. Putting a festival together also involves a lot of practical work, like raising funds, engaging partner organisations, and communicating widely about the work.

And of course, there are weeks of rehearsals and planning for each show and workshop.

What are SoloSIREN’s future plans after this festival?

After any big project, including a festival, we hold a symposium.

The symposium will allow us to reflect on all the learnings from the festival and to hear an academic response from our festival researcher at Trinity College, Dublin, Yingjun Wei. We will be in residence at the Civic in Tallaght for the next three years.

During that time, we will continue to create work with our intercultural, intergenerational community collective. We will also continue to create mentorship opportunities for emerging artists from intercultural communities in South Dublin County.

And we will continue to explore the interconnected relationship between our theatermaking and our feminist aesthetic.

Who is to thank for ‘How Do We Care?’

When our festival director told the South Dublin County Council arts office about her idea for the ‘How Do We Care?’ festival, they were instantly supportive.

They helped us apply for funding from Creative Ireland.We were also supported by our Civic Theatre bursary and residency and by the Irish Hospice Foundation through a writer’s residency and seed grant for one of the festival shows, ‘The Tightrope Walker’.