Fwd: Sightless Cinema Shared Island Network Project
Tony Scanlon
From: Ciarán Taylor <sightle...@gmail.com>
Date: Tue 11 Aug 2026, 14:54
Subject: Sightless Cinema Shared Island Network Project
To:
Hi Everyone,
I hope your staying cool in the hot Summer.
Delighted to let you know that our Creative Island Shared Island proposal was successful, and Sightless Cinema will be starting in Belfast soon, and the Tallaght and Portlaoise groups will be involved in exchanges with them over the next two years, to create a joint tour.
If you have any contacts in Northern Ireland let them know, or if you have people or places who could publicise it, send on the call-out for Belfast group members below.
People can contact me for more information.
See you all shortly in September
All the best
Ciarán Taylor
................................................
A new Sightless Cinema radio drama workshop for people with sight loss begins this September in central Belfast on Thursdays 11am to 1:30pm at Accidental Theatre 12-13 Shaftesbury Square, Belfast, BT2 7DB
No experience necessary. No Charge. Open to anyone with sight loss from Northern Ireland. For information, or if you would like to join, contact RNIB’s social action coordinator via PM on the facebook page (2) RNIB Connect - Northern Ireland | Facebook or email on una.m...@rnib.org.uk
Belfast Sightless Cinema is funded by Creative Ireland as part of Creative Communities on a Shared Island programme , in partnership with Creative Ireland South Dublin and Laois, Accidental Theatre; Open Arts; University of the Atypical; SARC at Queen’s University and RNIB.
More Information on workshops
- Sightless Cinema workshops are free of charge. Anyone with a visual impairment can join, and learn how to create new radio dramas.
- No prior experience is necessary. The workshops are run in a fun, relaxed way.
- Workshops by Ciarán Taylor, Sightless Cinema director, joined by other theatre artists and contact details are sightle...@gmail.com
-There will be an introductory series of eight workshops starting in September 2026. The workshops will then continue in 2027 and 2028, then the group will work together with existing Sightless Cinema groups in Dublin and Laois on a joint project to create and record radio/audio dramas. You can be involved in different ways.
- Sightless Cinema has been running for twelve years in various locations including Portlaoise, Navan and Tallaght and Newbridge
- People who joined the previous groups said they didn’t quite know what to expect, but they really enjoyed getting involved.
- There have been very successful public presentations of the plays created by previous Sightless Cinema projects including a number of tours to theatres.
The Workshops:
-We’ll work together to explore how to tell stories through sound and create radio drama from scratch.
- We’ll play with recording voices and sound effects, and real sounds from your daily life. We’ll then see how these can be put together to tell stories in sound. We’d also like you to show us how you use sound technology, if you do (phones, computers etc.).
- Once the eight-week series is complete, we are planning a follow-on series of workshops. These will allow people who get involved to go on to record some ‘Sightless Cinema’, for presentation to audiences at listening events, or for podcast. The aim is to create audio pieces based on ideas that come from the group. These may be based on the experience of visual impairment, or any other themes that emerge, and will be aimed to appeal to a wide audience.
You can listen to some previous examples online on links below:
Link RTÉ TV documentary on Sightless Cinema broadcast August 2025
Link to Sightless Cinema Presents...Podcast on anchor.fm
Link to Sightless Cinema on Soundcloud.com
Link to Sightless Cinema YouTube Channel
Link to Sightless Cinema Facebook
Audience reaction to Sightless Cinema:
- Brilliant, really entertaining – a totally different experience.
- Very imaginative. Well performed. - very powerful and moving.
- The sound was great, it gave me a whole new experience. Very well done and professional.
- Fantastic way to experience what people with sight loss ‘see’, hear and experience on a day-to-day basis.
Contact to register: Úna Mulgrew
Community Social Action Coordinator NI
RNIB (Royal National Institute of Blind People)