The Building Voices Project is a creative arts process developed by Sadhbh Lawlor and Gary Gowran in collaboration with a Community Representatives Forum from Clondalkin in South County Dublin. In 2022, Clondalkin Drug and Alcohol Task Force invited Sadhbh to work closely with the Community Reps in the hopes that they may be able to develop a project together. This short film is the result of that project.

The Community Reps Forum are a group of individuals/citizens who meet with the Task Force to discuss issues facing their neighbourhoods and local areas. They take actions and are advocates for their community.

Through conversations and workshops they decided with Sadhbh to create a project about their decisions to become local activists. On one level the issues their community face are an integral part of their reasons for joining but for this piece they wanted to explore the steps they took towards activism and their decision to use their voices and actions to stand up for the things they believe in.

Clondalkin also has a history of local level activism which was witnessed by some of the Community Reps when they were children. They wanted to explore this timeline of activism in their area and where they themselves land on the timeline now.

This film explores issues of community development and structural inequality. It contains mentions of substance misuse and mental health issues in those contexts.

This project was supported by the Clondalkin Drugs and Alcohol Task Force, Create the National Development Agency for Collaborative Arts and the Arts Council of Ireland.