On the 21st November 2023: Kildare County Council, through Creative Places Athy, together with the Athy Disability Access Group were delighted to announce details of The Athy Billboard Project, a creative and informative initiative to promote universal access in Kildare.
Creative Places Athy carried out a commission competition seeking an artist/collective to create work which challenges us all to think, act and develop creative and innovative solutions for people with disabilities who experience barriers to access in Athy town.
Artist and Illustrator Ciara Chapman was the successful applicant in the Athy Access Commission competition, for her Athy Billboard Project proposal. Ciara worked with three groups in Athy; the Irish Wheelchair Association, KARE Central Services and The Dara Project over a period of three months to create the project. The Athy Billboard project comprises a series of 7 billboards which have the participants voices at the heart of the message. The billboards were on display on Leinster Street Athy from November 2023 until 14th February 2024. The launch of the Athy Billboard Project coincided with Kildare Disability Week which will ran from the 27th November to the 4th December, which also incorporated International Day of Persons with Disabilities on 3rd December.
The aim of the project was to encourage people to consider the barriers to access that exist in our communities and develop new ways of working. Accessibility means removing barriers, which affect many people, and which can be physical, mental, and attitudinal in nature.
The Athy Access Commission opportunity aligns with the aims of Creative Places Athy to embed a rich, supportive and sustainable culture for socially engaged art and to grow existing synergies between artists and communities. The commission was also developed with the County Kildare Access Strategy in mind and supported the development of an awareness campaign to highlight accessibility/disability within Kildare County Council. It was developed under one of the 6 themes of the County Kildare Access Strategy, that of partnership and collaboration, the key objective of which is to continue to develop partnerships with service providers and organisations representing disabled people, other agencies and non-government organisations.