Cúlra is an initiative within Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann in Britain. It takes the form of a standard annual programme of active experiential learning in Irish culture and history for members of the organisation, especially young members, who have no other access to the background of the musical heritage they have received. It was sponsored following the realisation that many young people who play traditional music do not continue to practice the art beyond late adolescence. The reason is to be found in the fact that their music is not rooted in the general background of the Irish experience.

Cúlra attempts to stem this haemorrhaging of talent from the traditional music scene by offering to a Comhaltas membership in Britain of some 3,000 people, participation in a yearly programme of experiential learning which takes the form of: i) One Study/Seminar day ii) One Residential Summer School and iii) One Residential Study Week in Ireland. Each annual programme has its own theme encountered through a variety of means including presentations by eminent specialists, film and drama, group learning and research tasks, debate, visits, surveys, etc. The programmes of the last six years have included as theme: "The Province of Ulster"; "Emigration"; "An Ghaeilge (Ár dTeanga Féin)"; "Mna na nÉireann (The Women of Ireland)"; "An Gorta Mór (The Great Hunger)" ; "Na hOileanaigh "The Islanders of Ireland)" and this year (1998) "AnBhliain na Fhrancaigh (The Year of the French).

Latterly, specific provision for young people between the ages of 11 and 16 years has resulted in the establishment of Cúlra na nÓg. These programmes have to date been extremely successful in that they have attracted full capacity and generated an appetite for more beyond the wildest expectations of the organisers. Through them has come a growth in understanding and celebration of the irish heritage. Finally, the track record of Cúlra makes it an ideal vehicle within which young and not so young can encounter each other without prejudice and through shared experience exchange value and sensitivity, the spin-off from which serves to generate commitment and enthusiasm for social growth and community within the specific context of Comhaltas and in the general context of society as a whole. The main funding sources to now have been: The Ireland Fund, The Irish Youth Foundation, Ard Comhairle (C.C.É. Baile Átha Cliath) and Provincial Council of Britain (C.C.É.). This has taken the form of annual grants to support the Cúlra programmes.

Cúlra has received much praise and commendation for its pioneering work in the cultural and social development of second and third generation Irish people, especially the young, in this country. That this work has raised awareness of, and stimulated interest in the Irish cultural heritage and its traditions, is now recognized by many - both here and in Ireland. According to Labhrás Ó murchú, Ardstuirtheóir of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, Cúlra is the most important and significant development which has ever taken place within the movement. Cúlra has received congratulations on its work from the British Association for Irish Studies, The Irish Embassy in London, The Irish Youth Foundation, G.A.A., Conradh na Gaeilge and latterly from Mary Robinson, Uachtarán na hÉireann, who agreed to meet participants in the Cúlra Programme at Aras an Uachtarán in October 1996. Finally, Cúlra has received an Irish Post Award for 1996 in recognition of the work it has done and hopes to continue doing well into the next century. Not least has Cúlra been at the receiving end of accolades from the members of Comhaltas, young and not so young, parents and teenagers, who have experienced what it has to offer.

Basing itself on the already existing national network of branches, the Cúlra Programme of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann in Britain is seeking to further develop  its training in leadership provision for young people from every part of Britain between the ages of 16-25. Titled Cúlra na nÓg and having just completed its first year, the training programme enables these young people in turn to participate in the delivery of programmes of experiential learning activity, the general purpose of which  are to induct young second and third generation Irish people in Britain between the ages of 11 and 16 years, into the cultural, social and historical heritage of the Irish people. The programmes provide also, the opportunity to acquire social and practical skills such as to enable the growth of good relationships and the experience of democratic decision making in the pursuit of shared goals and projects. Cúlra has access to upwards of 5,000 young people and their parents in Britain and is well equipped to promote  a dynamic and progressive  series of training programmes into the next century if the response to the first year of Cúlra na nÓg is any measure of its current effectiveness and value.  

The number of young people who are potential participants in these programmes is very large indeed and actual involvement of youngsters would be limited only by the availability of resources and the ability to provide sufficient leadership training to manage and deliver programmes. Already the word has gone out that it is a worthwhile experience and we now find ourselves inundated with applications for the 1999 programme. We shall have to create a waiting list for the years 2000-2002 and be very busy at the work of training new leaders from the 18-25 age group

Over the next three years, Cúlra will establish leadership training provision for young people in each region of the Comhaltas organisation in Britain. This requires the recruiting of 15-20 young trainees in each region and the setting up of regional training projects tailored to local conditions and situations.

The training will be delivered by highly trained professionals who have quality experience in working with young people. They will be providing an opportunity for the young trainees to acquire through active learning, some of the skills needed to deliver the Cúlra na nÓg programmes. Skills relating to organisation, relationships, decision making, conflict resolution, etc. Practical skills to do with catering, domestic economy, etc. will also be encountered on the training programmes.

Taking the form of at least four training weekends per year in each region, the training will culminate in the organisation and delivery of the Cúlra na nÓg week in Ireland each Easter time for the next three years, catering for at least 50 young people between the ages of 11 and 16 years drawn from the four regions: the North, Midlands, South and Scotland. The trainees will, under senior adult guidance, take responsibility for the organisation, conduct and fulfilment of the aims of the Cúlra na nÓg week in Ireland, a structured programme of learning activity where the participants are given the opportunity of sharing with others in planned experience rooted in the cultural, social and historical background of the Irish people. Cúlra is seeking grant aid to firmly establish this very important initiative as a tradition encompassing and spanning succeeding generations of our young people into the next century.

Participants in the programme of leadership training (18-25 years) will be self selecting, while those involved in the cultural induction programme (11-15 years) will normally be selected after consultation with parents and the local branch committee: the latter with regard to sponsorship.

Programmes will change annually and will carry an overall theme, as has been the case with Cúlra from its inception. Themes will range from 'The Role and Value of Place in Irish Experience' to 'The Bardic Code and the Modern World of  Irish Music'. While seeming very academic, these two themes for example will be explored actively and experientially in the company of local historians, musicians, storytellers. They will also have the opportunity to sit at the feet of distinguished experts from a variety of fields, including film and theatre, literature and art, the worlds of sport and politics. In the past Cúlra has been able to recruit quality people who were willing to offer their services for no more than a gesture in the direction of expenses. They were always willing to pitch their presentations at appropriate levels for understanding given the variety of backgrounds from which the participants came.

In engaging with these aspects of culture together and under the leadership of those who have undergone training for the role, 11 and 15 year olds will also be acquiring the the skills of social interaction, decision making and responsibility for completing set tasks within the organisational structure of the project. They will learn how to conduct meetings and engage in debate in the context of the Programmes development and application. They will be encouraged to assume and practise critical skills and in so doing observe the rules of dialogue in distinguishing between unsupported opinion and evidenced argument. These basic skills do not come easily to young people and their lack can prove to be very disadvantageous to them as they grow into adulthood.

Specifically, these programmes will run for the next three years. Comhaltas would want them to become a permanent feature of its annual calendar, but of course this would depend on finance and the commitment of volunteer personnel.

To the extent that the Cúlra na nÓg Programmes recruit participants from all over Britain, families are only involved in as much as they consent to children taking part. Local communities in Britain are not directly involved in Cúlra na nÓg, albeit the intention is to canvas such in Ireland, as an aspect of the delivery of the Programmes each year. Encounter between local people in any part of Ireland and young people who have been reared and educated in Britain has shown itself to be extremely worthwhile. For young contemporaries in Ireland, the experience has been especially beneficial. These meetings have produced insight and understanding of each other's backgrounds in such a way as to dispel myths and distortions which have promoted damaging images and misconceptions in the past.

A keen interest in the work of Cúlra is beginning to grow in Ireland itself. There are people there who see a model of induction here which could be applied in Ireland also and to this end they are wanting to learn from the Cúlra experience, which certainly has had some very positive outcomes in terms of people discovering and re-discovering Irish cultural value, custom and tradition, the knowledge of which they had thought was lost to them, or, being ignorant of their existence, did not know that they were their own to inherit by right.

From the start the organisers of Cúlra were determined that the initiative should be of the highest quality possible. To that end, each annual programme has been the subject of severe scrutiny and evaluation. So much so that the participants have said that they could not believe that succeeding programmes could improve upon the previous ones, but that in fact they did. The main criteria for the evaluation of the programme content was always going to be that the best available would never be accepted as the best possible.

Cúlra does not set out to be a branch of the Irish Studies movement. It is not the bringing together of academic expertise in a project to bring culture to the masses. Those academics who on invitation brought their expertise to Cúlra Programmes over the last six years, did so on the understanding that what they had to offer was going to be distilled through the many ordinary, non-academic experiences of the Cúlra participants. Not one of those people from the academy were anything other than impressed by their actual encounter with the Cúlra idea and the people who made up the Cúlra groups.