Mid-Summer Night’s Dream – Draíocht mo Dhúiche Féin followed these projects. The undertaking connected young people across the city in a series of commission toward a presentation for June 3rd 2000. A young choreographer and the choir of Saint Mary’s Cathedral worked on further commissions. The ideal of the project was to let young people connect with each other through the presentation in the cathedral. They would also then be connecting with the origin point of Limerick. Arrangements were made so that the audience first attended the performances, which included poetry and storytelling dance and choral work on a theme of being part of a community. Ceramics, a characterisation of a Shakespearian figure, photographic work, a book of poetry and multicoloured lanterns, were also on display, all relating in some way to the idea of being within a community. The dancers presented an original choreography and later, contributed to the third part of the choral work. The choral pieces took a young persons view of what it meant to be part of a community and followed a theme involving reference to colour. I had indicated the use of the colours of the light spectrum as a metaphor for the spectrum of a community. The dancers led those attending the performance out through the West Door, as the choir sang before the doorway. This symbolised connection to the elements making up this unique community, the location, the cathedral, the sight of the river and the growing city spreading before us as we passed through the threshold of The West Door.

We gathered together at a circle of grass near The West Door and cherry trees were presented to each of the participant schools, to the cathedral, to Mr John Hunt and Ms Virginia Maughan who contribute to the idea of the fruit trees. A plaque, a rose and a cherry tree were presented to Saint Mary’s Cathedral. The cherry trees represented the ideal of the young receiving the inheritances of those who have gone before them.

I colour-copied the poems, which children at Gaelscoil Sáirséal compiled and illustrated themselves and I included accounts of the project, in Irish, English, French, German and Spanish, with photographic prints documenting the event on June 3rd 2000 in the final binding. I engaged a colleague to make a professional video document of the undertaking. And I worked with another colleague to prepare a CD-Rom of the features of the project and related work. I have begun returning to schools with this documentation. Prints and images from Crossing-Pathway, Reflections Past and Future and Mid-Summer Night’s Dream – Draíocht mo Dhúiche Féin feature as part of a permanent exhibition at Saint Mary’s Cathedral.

There will be linkages between schools who participated in Mid-Summer Night’s Dream – Draíocht mo Dhúiche Féin and others in Europe through Droichead na nAmhrán – Bridge of Songs. I am building a network of communications through the email and web as part of Droichead na nAmhrán. I have begun travelling and gathering together people who will be part of this undertaking a project about language, artistic expression and connection between cultures and societies. A book of poems and stories in several languages will feature, lanterns designed in Ireland will go through Europe, a CD Rom will result, choral and song works will be commissioned and will be recorded professionally on video. This project has begun.