Kilkenny Traveller Community Movement hold event celebrating Traveller culture, heritage and art

Traveller Pride Week is an opportunity to highlight and celebrate the rich cultural heritage of the community throughout Ireland. Members of the College were there to meet with REFOCUS member, Helena Power, who was instrumental in organising the Kilkenny Traveller Community Movement’s event at the Butler Gallery, Kilkenny on Tuesday, 11th July 2023.

President, Dr Lorcan Martin and REFOCUS Co-Chair, Dr Mia McLaughlin – a Kilkenny local – joined Helena and KTCM to mark the achievements of the local Traveller population. The event featured displays of art, craft and song and culminated in an awards ceremony in recognition of the contributions of individual members of the Traveller Community to the local area through various social, sporting and artistic initiatives.

Building on her committed and passionate advocacy for the Traveller Community, we are delighted that Helena is now part of REFOCUS, a group that works to represent lived experiences of serious mental illness through equal collaboration between patients/service users, family members/carers and psychiatrists. The group encourages diversity of experience and opinion in both its membership and activities, and along with the College as a whole, recognises the importance of publicly marking events such as Traveller Pride in furthering the conversation around inclusion in Ireland and beyond.

For more information on KTCM, see Twitter or Instagram.