Ballymoney marks Community Relations and Cultural Awareness Week

The Ballymoney area is set to mark this year's Community Relations and Cultural Awareness Week, with a number of events taking place in the local area.
Jacqueline Irwin, Chief Executive,  Community Relations CouncilJacqueline Irwin, Chief Executive,  Community Relations Council
Jacqueline Irwin, Chief Executive, Community Relations Council

Coordinated by the Community Relations Council (CRC), it is running from Monday, September 18 – Sunday, September 24, with more than 160 events taking place across Northern Ireland.

The initiative, which supports the Northern Ireland Executive’s Together: Building a United Community (T:BUC) strategy, sees government departments, community groups, local councils, charitable organisations and authorities among many other organisers, host a wide range of events from exhibitions, talks, discussions, concerts, workshops and more – all based this year around the theme of ‘Safe Space: Shared Place’.

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Seven events are taking place in the Causeway Coast and Glens Borough including those organised by Causeway Coast & Glens Borough Council, Corrymeela, Beyond Skin, and the Building Communities Resource Centre.

Events include the ‘Have your say on Good Relations’ event taking place at Ballymoney Museum. Tackling sectarianism, racism and other forms of intolerance, residents of the Causeway Coast & Glens Borough are invited to this event to feed into the consultation for the Council’s new Good Relations strategy.

Jacqueline Irwin, Chief Executive of the Community Relations Council, says: “We have chosen the theme Safe Space: Shared Place to allow us to show how many safe and shared spaces we have here. Not just physical spaces, but space in how we think about each other”.

“We want to draw attention to the work that is going on all the time to broaden and deepen our sense of safety and to create even more spaces that are shared by all of us.  The week is an opportunity to showcase the ways in which people are making room for each other and getting involved in helping people feel safe to share sport, drama, film, food, arts, culture, music, debate, talks, tours and everything that can make life good here.

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“The number and variety of independently organised events that are part of Community Relations and Cultural Awareness Week 2017 is testament to the work undertaken by members of our local communities each and every day and the positive change it is making for all of us here,” she adds.

Community Relations and Cultural Awareness Week is coordinated by CRC with support from The Executive Office, the Department for Communities, the Department of Justice and other government agencies.

For more information on events happening in your area, visit community-relations.org.uk where a copy of the programme is available for download.

You can keep up to date with Community Relations and Cultural Awareness Week 2017 on Facebook and Twitter and by using the hashtag #CRWeek17.