Christmas cheer with RehabCare at DkIT

17 December 2019

Music students at DkIT got together with their friends from RehabCare for a special Carol singing celebration in the Carroll Building at DkIT as they brought a ten-week collaborative project to a close.

This was the third time that students on the BA (Hons) Music had collaborated with RehabCare to create new songs and the carol concert featured a brand new Christmas song, ‘Coming Home to You’, which reflected the shared experiences of students and RehabCare participants, singing of their desire to visit people at Christmas, share presents and relax in front of the television.

The successful partnership between Dundalk Institute of Technology’s BA (Hons) Music programme and RehabCare Resource Centre, Carrol Village began in 2015. Following the successful Hear Our Voices concert in December 2015, the project went international in 2017 when Space for Everyone led to participation in the Global Science Opera, and their song being broadcast to millions of viewers all over the world.

This innovative partnership between DkIT and RehabCare has benefits for all collaborators who engage collaboratively to understand each other and the challenge that we all face every day. The music students engage with Community Music and Workshop Studies as part of their programme and a number of graduates have progressed to careers facilitating workshops and working with a variety of groups in education and care settings. RehabCare in Louth provides services such as resource centers and supported accommodation to more than 100 people with intellectual disabilities, enabling them to achieve their full potential and a better quality of life. The performers from RehabCare are well known to Dundalk audiences having put on many drama shows, poetry nights and even a feature film at the local cinema. They are currently Artists-in-Residence in An Táin Arts Centre and will take their production of Mother Courage on a nationwide tour in 2020.