Armagh, Northern Ireland

Armagh, Northern Ireland

Storytelling is one of the most fundamental of human activities, extending from Iron Age sages recounting the histories of their tribes to medieval bards recounting heroic tales to contemporary journalists reporting breaking news in modern Belfast.  In Armagh, a city where ancient and modern Ireland converge, students will join in a rich tradition of study and storytelling as they explore the historical heartland of Ireland.

The Armagh Project allows students to explore Northern Ireland through the storytelling lens that suits them best.  Students enroll in a specific residency where they will learn and practice the professional skills in their chosen field while sharing with each other a contextual platform of excursions, readings, class activities and guest speakers. Choose a  program track from:

• Journalism
• Creative Writing (fiction, poetry and memoir)
• Playwriting
• Theatre Design

Participants will live at the modern Armagh City Youth Hostel while having meetings and classes at the AmmA Center, a technologically enhanced multimedia center in the heart of the historic city.

The oldest city in Ireland, Armagh’s history and culture are as vibrant as the verdant fields surrounding the hills. Armagh proper sprawls across peaks and slopes, its winding streets and stone buildings leading wanderers and learners alike through the ages of Irish civilization. Discover the contemporary planetarium atop College Hill or the mysterious ruin of Emain Macha just west of the city (now known as Navan Fort) considered by Christian scholars to be the place where Irish history began. Students will also get a chance to experience Dublin, a UNESCO City of Literature and the home of internationally renowned writers such as Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, William Butler Yeats and Samuel Beckett. They will visit the Irish Writers Centre in historic Parnell Square, experience the delights of the Abbey Theatre and follow the footsteps of Leopold Bloom in a walk of literary Dublin. There is no better place to tell stories.

Program Tracks

Journalism: Residency in Reporting and Multimedia

Students in this residency will gain basic skills in still photography, audio, video, reporting and writing for the web. They will learn by doing, using the legendary city of Armagh, Northern Ireland, and its surrounding borderland between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland as a laboratory. The course is designed to immerse students in learning about a foreign country and multimedia storytelling by replicating, to some degree, the intensive experience of a foreign correspondent. Students will also learn about the history of Armagh, the culture of Ireland, and the politics of the late Troubles.  Students will have the opportunity to participate in workshops and attend lectures at the John Hewitt Society’s international writers’ conference held in July each year.  This course is appropriate for those students with some previous experience in journalism, reporting or feature writing.

St. Patrick's Cathedral

Creative Writing Residency: Fiction, Poetry and Memoir

This residency will introduce students to the essentials of how to tell your story through the lenses of memory, observation, reflection, and narration. Students will explore the techniques that poets and nonfiction writers use to generate new material and revise their work. Assigned readings will include poetry and memoir by contemporary Irish, British, and American writers that will serve as both inspiration and models for what’s possible. In addition to attending classes, student will receive one-on-one critiques of their work, and create a portfolio of writing that fits their personal goals as writers of memoir, poetry, or both. Students in this residency will participate in the John Hewitt Society’s international writers’ conference held annually in Armagh and may have their work selected for presentation at the conference. This program is appropriate for both experienced writers looking to further develop their work and novice writers interested in exploring a new genre.

Theatre: Residency in Playwriting

Surround yourself with the rich tapestry of Irish storytelling through the voices of some of Eire’s most important playwrights while you craft your own work inspired by your experiences.  Read and explore texts from Irish playwrights while creating your own 10-minute play.  Learn how improvisation and freewriting can develop your voice while structured peer and instructor feedback sessions propel your work forward.  Classroom instruction in dramatic structure, writing practice and vocal training is married with cultural field trips and exploration studies. Students will explore the creation of theatre from idea through writing and into performance.  Students in this residency will participate in the John Hewitt Society’s international writers’ conference held annually in Armagh and may have their work selected for performance at the conference.  This program is appropriate for both experienced student playwrights as well as those considering writing their first play.

Theatre: Residency in Theatrical Design

Storytelling coalesces with visual and fine art as they intersect in design for the stage.  Scene designers, costume designers and Lighting Designers are the painters, sculptors, and illustrators of the theater, using their understanding of design and aesthetics to literally bring a story to life before our eyes.  Students in this residency will practice fundamental art techniques while learning to unlock the secrets of good design from architecture, landscape, culture and history.  Students will collaborate with the playwriting section to create designs for their original works while also working on design projects based on some of the most well-renowned texts from the Irish storytelling tradition. Student work will be presented in a curated exhibit at the John Hewitt Society’s international writer’s conference held annually in Armagh.  This program is appropriate for students of theatrical design as well as students with an arts background but no formal training in theatrical design.

Publication

Students from all residencies will have their final work published in a printed compendium or presented on a multimedia website.  Selected works will presented publicly during The John Hewitt International Summer School at Market Place Theatre in Armagh.  This week-long program of readings, talks, debate and discussion, drama, music and exhibitions features more than 30 top writers, speakers and artists from across Ireland and beyond.

Academic Credit

Undergraduate Credit

Undergraduate Credit is available for all journalism students through Southeast Missouri State. For other programs, academic credit is not offered for this program unless you are a student with one of ieiMedia’s partner institutions (see below). However, most ieiMedia programs are designed to meet the credit requirements for most major university writing programs. Contact your academic adviser to see what credit options may be available to you. This course is appropriate for 3 or 4 undergraduate credits.

Credit from Partner Institutions:

Journalism track: This course is eligible for 3 academic credits though our partnership with Southeast Missouri State University.  Students enrolled in other tracks may also be able to take it for credit. Please contact Jack Zibluk at jzibluk@semo.edu or call 573-651-2174 for more information.

University of Baltimore Students: All tracks of the Armagh Project are available for academic credit for University of Baltimore students. Contact Kimberley Lynne at klynne@ubalt.edu for more information.

Graduate Credit

Graduate students are encouraged to work with Armagh Project faculty to develop an individualized course of study that will meet curricular requirements for the student’s home school.  Graduate students have the option of bringing a work-in-progress or thesis research focus to the Armagh Project in order to continue building on the student’s area of academic focus.  This course is appropriate for 4 graduate credits.

Professional Workshop/Post-Graduate Studies

The writing programs at ieiMedia are taught by master teachers and writers who bring their professional expertise as guides to emerging writers.  Professional and post-graduate learners benefit from moderated small group experiences and one-on-one coaching that allows for individualized plans of study or work.  The Armagh Project is an ideal place to begin work on a new creative endeavor as well as a robust writing environment in which to develop a work-in-progress.

Armagh Street

The City

Armagh is situated 40 miles south of Belfast and 80 miles north of Dublin, placing it firmly as a cultural and political fulcrum in the long history of Ireland.  Just as North meets South, Protestant meets Catholic here as both churches have a cathedral to St. Patrick crowning opposing hilltops.  The people of the town can share stories about “The Troubles” – the time of conflict between British rule and the quest for Irish autonomy – but are just as quick to point out the signs of a thriving city nurtured under the shelter of almost two decades of peace in the region.  Armagh offers a healthy shopping district, diverse dining options, a state-of-the art multimedia center, and a modern performance and art space as contemporary counterpoints to the more ancient cultural and historical sites within and without its walls.

Academic Resources

Armagh is rich with study and research opportunities to support any creative endeavor.  The Armagh Public Library was founded in 1771 and holds in its collection of medieval and 17^th century manuscripts, engravings and Irish artifacts, a first edition of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels (with Swift’s notes) and a copy of Gwynn’s Book of Armagh.  The Cardinal O’Fiach Memorial Library and Archive houses material related to Irish history and language as well as church history, history of the Irish diaspora and Irish sporting traditions.  The Irish and Local Studies Library, the Armagh City Library and the AmmA Center round out the scholar’s resources.

Travel Opportunities

Frequent and ample bus service will take you to Belfast in just over an hour and to Dublin in just over two hours – opening access to more of Ireland or to other areas of Great Britain or Europe through the international airports of both cities. The Armagh Project includes two three-day weekends of free time for students to travel on their own. Easy day trips from Armagh include journeying to the primal and compelling Giant’s Causeway in the far north, touring the famously tranquil and idyllic scenery of County Londonderry, or visiting the marble arch caves in Femanagh, Northern Ireland’s Lake District. If you are craving the metropolitan both Dublin and Belfast have become international cities full of much of the same abundant shopping, cultural events and night life you are likely to find in New York, London or Rome.

Armagh Area

Students

The Armagh Program in total is open to up to 36 undergraduate, graduate or post-graduate/professional students across both programs. Students from many universities — including University of Baltimore, Iowa State University, James Madison University, Louisiana State University, Ryerson University, New York University, UCLA, University of Maryland, University of Wisconsin-Madison,

Armagh students at work

Temple University, Arizona State University, Gonzaga University, University of Arizona, University of Montana, Loyola College, San Jose State University, Humboldt State University, San Diego State University, Rice University, University of Nevada-Reno, Nanyang Technological University, University of British Columbia and Baylor University — have participated in past ieiMedia programs. We’ve also had international students from Japan, the United Kingdom, Puerto Rico, Thailand, Singapore, Canada, Turkey and Trinidad.

This course is particularly suited to those students interested in creative writing, communication, playwriting, theatre studies, Irish cultural studies, literature, poetry, and storytelling.  Enrollment is open to students from any major provided they have a strong writing background.  Course instructors use writing samples and other diagnostics to make decisions about acceptance into the program or placement within program groups.

Faculty

Armagh Professor and Students

Program faculty is comprised of master teachers and writers, each highly skilled academically or professionally. Returning faculty for 2013 will include:

Terri Ciofalo (Program Director) is a professional theatre artist and experienced Production Manager teaching graduate and undergraduate theatre at the University of Illinois Urbana- Champaign.  She earned her MFA from the Yale School of Drama and has toured theatrically both in the United States and overseas.

Doug Cumming, Ph.D. (Reporting) is an associate professor of journalism at Washington & Lee University with 26 years experience at metro newspapers and magazines. Since getting a Ph.D. at UNC-Chapel Hill in mass communications, he has taught multimedia reporting and feature writing at Loyola University-New Orleans and at W&L in Virginia. Earlier, he worked at the newspapers in Raleigh, Providence and Atlanta; was editor of the Sunday Magazine in Providence; and helped launch Southpoint monthly magazine in Atlanta. He won a George Polk Award and was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard.

Kimberley Lynne (Resident Playwright and Program Director – Playwriting)   A published author and playwright, Kimberley has had over 30 works staged and presented in professional, community, and university theatres.  A staff and faculty of member of the University of Baltimore, she has worked in theater as an actor, director, scenic designer and producer.  Her professional affiliations include Actors’ Equity and the Dramatist Guild.

Nessa O’Mahony (Resident Poet and Facilitator, Creative Writing) has published three volumes of poetry, the most recent being a verse novel on the theme of emigration. She lives in Dublin, Ireland, where she teaches creative writing for the Open University and at the Irish Writers Centre, teaches literature for Oscail, Dublin City University, and regularly performs her poetry at home and abroad.

Joan Weber (Teacher – Interdisciplinary Studies) is an independent teaching artist, writer and program director in acting, improvisation and playwriting in the Baltimore-Washington region. Joan has taught all ages from preschool through graduate school, most currently with Towson University. She is a regular contributor to the Teaching Artist Journal, discussing policy and practice of theatre in education as well as her specialty in arts integration.

Jack Zibluk (Multimedia Journalism) is professor and chair of the department of mass media at Southeast Missouri State University. A former National Geographic magazine faculty fellow, he teaches multimedia storytelling workshops throughout the U.S.  He is a former vice president of the National Press Photographers Association, and he won the NPPA’s Garland “teacher of the year” Award in 2005. His teaching areas include photography and photojournalism, writing and graphic design. In 2011, he led a student trip to India with Arkansas State University and produced a live blog about the experience.

Accommodations

Students and faculty will be housed at the Armagh City International Youth Hostel. Kitchen facilities and some communal meals are provided.

Equipment

Students should bring a personal computer capable of connecting to the internet. Students should have a full and current version of Microsoft Word installed on their computer. Each student should also bring a digital camera or other device capable of taking quality, downloadable photos as well as a 2 to 4 gb thumb drive for transferring work. Other equipment may be outlined in the course syllabus for each section.

Program Cost

The cost is $3,995 plus airfare. The price includes housing and some special meals, instruction, basic travel insurance, welcome and goodbye dinners and special programs, activities and cultural events. Transfer from and to the airport in Dublin is also provided. Students may have to pay their home institution if they choose to seek credit for this course.

Financial Aid

Students studying abroad for the summer term have limited financial aid options. Check with your school’s financial aid office to find out if assistance is available. More information on financial aid is available here.

Application Process

Students must fill out the online application and submit the names of two references as well as a copy of college transcripts (unofficial okay), along with a $500 deposit. Deposits will be refunded only if a student is not accepted into the program. You must paste into the application writing sample for diagnostic and placement purposes.

For more information, fill out our contact form.