Writing Home

PROJECT: The Writing Home Initiative was a programme of creative engagement developed by poet Colm Keegan for homeless service users. The programme was supported by Kilkenny County Council, Creative Ireland and Poetry Ireland and was designed to:

  • promote engagement with creativity within marginalised groups.

  • provide activity and focus within emergency accommodation settings where Covid 19 restrictions will reduce freedom of movement and activities during the winter months.

  • offer a programme of workshops to promote self-expression and improve wellbeing amongst participants.

  • create a literary body of work to be developed into a professional production to voice the representative views of those in emergency accommodation and to recognise their creative contribution.

  • share and promote the work produced to improve understanding and raise awareness around issues of homelessness and to build social cohesion and integration.

  • share and promote the work produced to inform policy decisions around the provision of creative and arts programmes within communal state funded facilities.

Colm worked with several service providers across the country, developing and delivering a programme of workshops to engage with homeless service users in Dublin, Kilkenny and Waterford with each location working towards a public celebration of the work and participants.

Colm Keegan visited (using online means alongside in-person visits when possible) selected groups over a period of 6 weeks. These groups explored multiple means of written self-expression and reflection, like rap and spoken word as well as looking at structure, character and storytelling. Each participant created a small body of work, based on their own life experiences.

The process was far more successful than envisaged, with real engagement from homeless service users, a marginalised group who can be difficult to reach using established Arts project delivery. The creative potential unleashed and the wellbeing outcomes were such a revelation that the initiative was awarded Best Education/Training Initiative at the All Ireland Community & Council Awards (LAMAs).

Arcade Film were involved through the programme, with filming of the workshops and related events taking place at each service provider location involved. This filmed material became the above documentary.

Feedback from participants’ and organisations involved were so positive that a special evaluation was implemented by Quality Matters to measure the impact of the programme. The image above highlights the most notable findings around the benefits of writing & creativity in relation to wellbeing.

CLIENT: Poetry Ireland

LINKS: https://colmkeeganpoetry.com/writing-home/

https://waterfordarts.com/writing-home-free-screening-of-documentary-by-poet-colm-keegan/

What they needed

Writing Home is an initiative developed by Poetry Ireland to support the wellbeing of residents of homeless shelters during the winter months of the first two years of the Covid pandemic. Delivered under strict restrictions, the programme used writing and spoken word to create space for reflection, expression, and connection at a time of profound isolation.

Facilitated by poet Colm Keegan, the workshops aimed to offer an authentic, apolitical insight into life within these facilities — one that readers and audiences from all walks of life could engage with and learn from.

Poetry Ireland wanted to document this work, not just as a record that it happened, but as a way of articulating the impact that a seemingly simple creative intervention could have on the people who took part.

What we did

We have worked with Colm across a number of projects, particularly in community arts contexts, and are long-time admirers of his practice. We have seen first-hand the effect his workshops can have with people of all ages and backgrounds, and we knew immediately that Writing Home was a project that deserved time, care, and attention.

From the outset, it was clear that this needed to be a longer documentary. There were many layers to explore — creativity, vulnerability, resilience, and the broader context of the pandemic itself. As restrictions began to lift, we were particularly interested in how people in precarious living situations had experienced a period when the instruction to “stay at home” simply did not apply in the same way.

The project took us across the country, filming interviews at a moment when Covid restrictions were only beginning to ease. This meant adapting our approach — often filming outdoors, working at a distance, and remaining flexible to ensure contributors felt safe and comfortable.

What emerged was a project full of heart and quiet emotional weight. We believe deeply in the transformative nature of art, and in how small, thoughtful creative acts can have genuinely profound effects. Our aim was not only to convey information, but to capture feeling — to shape a documentary that could communicate emotion, experience, and human connection, rather than simply describing a programme.

That shift — from documenting a project to crafting a documentary — is where we feel film can truly do its work.