STATEMENT

It is clear to us that the future of HEED OFFICE is:

To SUPPORT and MENTOR the creative empowerment of those that take part in SELF DETERMINED HEED OFFICE projects and to continue to support those within our State whose voices we do not hear.

If you have an idea or project you wish to realise, contact us directly and start the conversation.

THE EXTREME CLASS DIVIDE IN THE GREATER DUBLIN AREA

Issues of class, race and gender exist across the Greater Dublin area and are underpinned by systemic structural inequality. An inequality which perpetuates itself through a lack of access to resources and recognition. This divide delegitimizes the experiences of one group of people by portraying them as ‘other’ in favour of maintaining the values and norms of the dominant class. Implicit in the conversations of contributors to HEED OFFICE is awareness of the divide and the need to alter elements of the personal,  such as accent, location, identity and citizenship in order to succeed.

BORDERLESS MENTAL HEALTH/DISABILITY ISSUES

While structural inequality has form, and is shaped by external forces, issues of mental health or disability are not exclusive to any one group, and so can be found across the entire population, no less so amongst the demographic that HEED OFFICE seeks to support. While mental health and physical disabilities respect no boundaries, how they are experienced and/or recovered from is impacted by social stratification and one’s position within the nexus of class, race and gender.  It is imperative that HEED OFFICE provides a creative space to facilitate individuals living with mental health issues and physical disabilities. Issues such as healthcare, accessibility and representation have all been raised by previous contributors, and HEED OFFICE aims to address them into the future.

HEED OFFICE will ignore repetitive political rhetoric surrounding these issues and the sustained consistent class prejudice most of these young people experience daily. HEED OFFICE will bypass the political advocacy route of protest and will engage with the public directly through positive, caring, creative actions which will be funded independently or through arts funding agencies.

It is very clear to us that the development of HEED OFFICE presents real potential for opportunities for those that took part in previous HEED OFFICE projects to also develop as they become an active part of the development and future of HEED OFFICE, helping to define future forms and platforms, taking the project to its national and international potential. This central involvement of contributors creates an embedded model of self-determined creativity – the subjects become the makers.

HEED OFFICE must be ambitious, take risk, create precedent and develop. HEED OFFICE will continue to question and create conversations. It will track moments in time, providing glimpses into our society. As HEED OFFICE grows into new platforms, new communities and new generations, it will create an evolving portrait of those that inhabit this State, as well as connecting with those beyond the island of Ireland.