Youth Drama Spurs Innovative Ireland

Finbarr Bradley, co-author of Capitalising on Culture, Competing on Difference, (Blackhall, 2008) offers his reflections on the debate on the need to restore the Irish economy. He looks at what the impact might be on young people if a concerted effort was made to foster a strong sense of cultural identity. He asks questions such as: how can involvement in youth drama generate a sense of ownership that empowers rather than tries to ‘manage’ or ‘control’ a generation? Is culture, not science or technology, key to Ireland's attempt to become a creative ‘smart’ economy?