Santa Flashmob

Christmas is upon us and a range of youth groups across Northern Ireland want to bring the festive cheer to the city in aid of good relations in action.

On 17th December (the last day of the Christmas Continental Markets at the City Hall), up to 1,000 young people from youth groups and communities across the province will surprise Christmas shoppers as they assemble for a Santa Flashmob.

What is a Flashmob?

A flashmob is a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual and energetic act for a brief time, then disperse or resume their previous activity, just as they were beforehand.

You may have seen Flashmobs on TV ads – here’s the link to You Tube

Why is it happening?

The groups of young people and the lead organisations – Youthcom and Co-operation Ireland - want to raise awareness of good relations in action.

Youthcom’s Crossing the Bridges Project is a cross community project involving 14 youth groups from Kilcooley, Twinbrook, Whiterock, Tullycarnet, Clonard, Cregagh, Lower Castlereagh, Glen Road, Tigers Bay, Ballymurphy, Turf Lodge, Upper Ardoyne, Shankill and Ardoyne. Each group has 12 young people aged 13 – 21 years. The groups partner with each other and form 7 cross community partnerships.

Our main themes are: maintaining peace; sharing contested spaces; building youth capacity/youth infrastructures in certain areas; working together; positive change; improving youth work skills and knowledge; empowering young people and community relations.

The Crossing the Bridges project work directly with 168 young people form North, East and West Belfast and Kilcooley, Bangor.

Co-operation Ireland:
Co-operation Ireland is one of the leading peace-building charities on the island of Ireland. Established in 1979, its mission is 'to underpin political agreement on the island of Ireland by building positive relationships at community level, both within Northern Ireland and between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, through the promotion of mutual understanding and co-operation'. We do this by working with groups from all religious and cultural communities to build vibrant societies based on the principles of respect for diversity and peace and reconciliation.

Co-operation Ireland is involved in a diverse range of projects, from schools programmes to work with local authorities. Recently Co-operation Ireland has concentrated its activities on Youth Leadership initiatives. From an initial pilot scheme based in Kilwilkie estate, Lurgan, similar programmes are being rolled out in Belfast, the North West and mid-Ulster. The aim of these long-term projects is to give vulnerable young people the opportunity to be a positive influence in their own communities rather than a negative one.

We want to promote a positive image of young people and include our civic leaders in this inclusive, dynamic and fun event. This is an excellent example of a partnership approach to peace-building.

Here’s how it works…

The flashmob will happen at the City Hall on 17th December 2011 at 12 noon.

Participants will be alerted to reveal themselves as ‘Santas.’ The flashmob will be a dance to the “Time Warp,” which will be displayed on the big screen in front of City Hall. Please follow this link if you need to learn the dance! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wT7riT9k8v0 A video link to the dance will be sent to all participants in advance to demonstrate the dance. This will last up to 5 minutes. There will be a photo call at the end with both TV and newspaper media present.