A small, motivated group of budding entrepreneurs were the first to be hosted at EurAV’s new Drogheda premises this week as part of transnational project.
“It feels very appropriate that our work on Fair Street has started with a multicultural group,” said a EurAV spokesperson. “Social integration is one of the four social pillar’s that are at the heart of all we do at EurAV so I feel that we’ve launched the facility on the right foot.”
The premises is both the administrative offices of EurAV and a small community media studio, where the non-profit organisation will create content on its core areas of climate action, social integration, media literacy and cultural creativity.
“The studio is tiny,” explained the spokesperson, “but it has a wrap-around green screen, so the background can be changed to pretty much anything – from a newsroom setting to a late night talkshow.
“We’re not going to be filming choirs or football teams, but we can certainly have an interviewer and an interviewee chatting on a coach,” he laughed. “We’re aiming to create social content both for online and for community television.
EurAV executive director, Declan Cassidy, is a committee member of Dublin Community Television which broadcasts on Virgin Media channel 802 and is currently undergoing a revamp that is expected to see it accessible online also. EurAV has been developing training on community media production which will be carried out at the new Drogheda facility, which also boasts a small training room. This is where the young entrepreneurs gathered.
“This first meeting was part of a transnational project, “New Horizons”, that we’re involved in,” explained the spokesperson. “We’re one of three partner organisations who are working to support young immigrant entrepreneurs to develop their business ideas.”
The project, which is funded by the EU under the Erasmus + programme, and led by Das Afghanistan-Komitee für Frieden, Wiederaufbau und Kultur e.V. in Berlin, also includes Training Academy – a training development organisation in the Lazio region of Italy. EurAV are also working closely with another local non-profit organisation, Hands 4 Unity, whose members come from 25 different countries.
“When we were approached about this project, we saw that it fits perfectly with our core work,” explained the spokesperson, so getting involved made perfect sense. This meeting concentrated on ‘needs analysis’, where we spoke little and listened a lot, taking notes about what challenges stand in the way of immigrant entrepreneurs. This will help us to make sure that the training we provide is appropriate and targetted instead of developing something that we think is needed but actually misses the mark.”
April will see the official launch of EurAV’s Drogheda premises.
“We’re really looking forward to working in Drogheda,” said the spokesperson. “Although it’s the biggest town in Ireland, it still manages to hold on to that sense of community. A large part of what we do is working with other organisations across Europe and that involves visits from partners. Drogheda, with its rich history and culture, is a place that we’ll be proud to show them.”
