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Sightless Cinema Group – New Member Call-Out!

We are delighted to announce a new Sightless Cinema group at Riverbank which will run a series of radio drama workshops for people with sight loss. The group, which is free to join, will meet on Mondays from 11am-1pm beginning Monday 8 September (provisional). No experience is necessary, free to attend!

More Information

  • ‘Sightless Cinema’ workshops are free of charge. Anyone with a visual impairment can join, and learn how to create new radio dramas.
  • No prior experience is necessary. The workshops are run in a fun, relaxed way.
  • Workshops by Ciarán Taylor, Sightless Cinema director.
  • There will be an introductory series of eight workshops. The workshops will then continue until April 2026. The group will work together to create and record radio/audio dramas. You can be involved in different ways.
  • ‘Sightless Cinema’ has been running for eleven years in various locations including Portlaoise, Navan and Tallaght.
  • A documentary on Sightless Cinema aired on RTÉ One Television on Wednesday 6 August 2025 (it has audio description and may be found on The RTE Player)
  • People who joined the previous groups said they didn’t quite know what to expect, but they really enjoyed getting involved.
  • There have been very successful public presentations of the plays created by previous Sightless Cinema projects including at Riverbank Arts Centre in May 2024.

The Workshops:

  • We’ll work together to explore how to tell stories through sound and create radio drama from scratch.
  • We’ll play with recording voices and sound effects, and real sounds from your daily life. We’ll then see how these can be put together to tell stories in sound. We’d also like you to show us how you use sound technology, if you do (phones, computers etc.).
  • Once the eight-week series is complete, we are planning a follow-on series of workshops. These will allow people who get involved to go on to record some ‘Sightless Cinema’, for presentation to an audience at a listening event, or for podcast. The aim is to create audio pieces based on ideas that come from the group. These may be based on the experience of visual impairment, or any other themes that emerge, and will be aimed to appeal to a wide audience.

You can listen to some previous examples online on links below:
Link to Sightless Cinema Presents…Podcast on anchor.fm
Link to Sightless Cinema on Soundcloud.com
Link to Sightless Cinema YouTube Channel
Link to Sightless Cinema Facebook

Main photo: Two Sightless Cinema members, a woman and man smiling, speaking into microphones,  in a recording studio Photo by Ciarán Taylor

Two Sightless Cinema members seated at desk microphones, one wearing dark glasses, and both wearing headphones. Photo by Felipe Joia.

Audience reaction to Sightless Cinema:

Brilliant, really entertaining – a totally different experience.
Very imaginative. Well performed. – very powerful and moving.

The sound was good, it gave me a whole new experience.
Very well done and professional.

Fantastic way to experience what people with sight loss ‘see’, hear and experience on a day to day basis.

For information, or if you would like to join, contact Ciarán Taylor of Sightless Cinema at 086 3679342 or sightlesscinema@gmail.com
Sightless Cinema is supported by Rethink Ireland, Kildare County Council Arts Service and Riverbank Arts Centre.

Getting to Riverbank – Public Transport
There is a train station in Newbridge and a bus stop outside Riverbank served by bus numbers: 125; 726; 126 (126A 126B 126D 126E 126T 126U 126X).
Links below to bus timetables for Riverbank:

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