National Heritage Week 2024 /// Cultural Crossroads: Irish Traveller Heritage in the Museum Landscape – whose story?

For National Heritage Week 2024, join us for this online conversation featuring a dialogue between Oein DeBhairduin, Traveller Culture Collector, Assistant Keeper Grade II, National Museum of Ireland, and Catherine Joyce, Joint Manager, Blanchardstown Traveller Development Group, focusing on the representation of Irish Traveller heritage in museum environments and collections. 

Oein and Catherine will explore the definition of borders and networks within Irish Traveller community and discuss the impact of inclusion and representation in Ireland’s collections, heritage, and preservation efforts. The dialogue will be moderated by Margarita Vásquez Cárdenas, Programme Manager, IMA.     

The Irish Museums Association (IMA) is the all-island network for the Irish museum community. The IMA promotes and supports the museum sector through activities that highlight the value of our collections and the contribution of museums to our society as places of learning, conservation, research, and interpretation.  National Heritage Week is an initiative of The Heritage Council of Ireland. 

This event is free of charge, registration is necessary to receive the online link. 

Oein DeBhairduin is a writer, activist and educator with a passion for preserving the beauty of Traveller tales, sayings, retellings and historic exchanges. Oein is the author of the award-winning “Why the moon travels” and “Weave”. He is the Traveller Culture Collections Development Officer with the National Museum of Ireland and seeks to pair community activism with cultural celebration, recalling old tales with fresh modern connections and, most of all, he wishes to rekindle the hearth fires of a shared kinship.

Catherine Joyce has been a member of the Irish Traveller’s human rights movement and has been an activist for over 35 years. She’s also a theatre-maker and collaborator. She is a strong advocate for the rights of Traveller children, including Traveller children in care, and has been a foster carer herself. She speaks about how important it is to preserve the dual identity of Traveller children in care, and she calls for good quality education about Traveller cultural identities to be rolled out across the education system. Catherine is currently the joint manager of Blanchardstown Traveller Development Group, an organisation that works to promote the welfare of members of the Travelling community.