International students launch planning project for future development of Callan

ABOVE: Minister Malcolm Noonan spoke to the students

Future Town PLanting, curated by Etaoin Holahan, will be a project to plant trees across five sites in the town - at the GAA pitch, two residential areas and two public parks. It is hoped to plant 200 meters of hedging and more than 200 trees as well as creating a new festive event, a Meitheal, to scythe-cut the two common meadow public spaces in the town,  to enhance biodiversity, as well as grafting/growing events.

The first of these workshops took place last weekend when an overgrown bed in one of the public spaces was reclaimed and prepared for planting. There was also an apple tree pruning workshop.

‘Til Now takes its title from the power ballad 'Alone' with its refrain ‘Til now I always got by on my own,’ underlining the project’s community led approach to regeneration. 

All three strands of the project will address how to incorporate people with diverse backgrounds from various disciplines, skills, struggles and motivations to create a eco- social and spatial justice that advocates for biodiversity and protection for all. It aims to connect people in the town to the biodiversity crisis using a multi-disciplinary art and design project as a catalyst for climate action.