This website is for and from the villagers of Ballykinler// Ballykinlar, Co. Down, Northern Ireland. It was set up as part of the UP-Down project as an archive of cultural interventions and social activism carried out by individuals and groups in the village. The site also serves as an open, online collaborative space for everybody, to contribute with news, events, ideas and critical comments. The small village of Ballykinler//Ballykinlar is situated at the southeast coast of Co. Down. The small village is dominated by a British Army site ‘Abercorn Barracks, located there since 1901. This caused in the past great tensions and divisions in the community, which still resonate till today. More than other similar sized villages, social and political tensions are magnified.
The creative activities of the Ballykinlar and Tyrella Cross Community Association includes all sections of the community (also Army family members), with a strong emphasis on socially disadvantaged groups such as young mothers, unemployed young people and the elderly.
The cultural and social activism is very much driven in the past few years by artist and local resident Anne-Marie Dillon. Her art practice is focused on and with the community, where she organizes events from mother and toddler meetings to Bingo for pensioners. With no community centre, she started weekly coffee mornings in the open and later converted a caravan into a much used mobile community centre. Actions which seem like practical community work, are turned into happenings and performances through her politically provocative, practical and poetic artistic vision.
Her work is supported by and linked  to the ‘Forever Young Pensioners’ a group of older ladies, who don’t accept the non-existence of a community centre in the village- for their own needs and that of young people.
UP-Down is initiated by  PS², but is entierly driven by the community, Anne-Marie Dillon and the ‘Forever Young Pensioners’. 
The project is funded by The National Lottery, through the Arts Council of Northern Ireland

Ballykinler//Ballykinlar Cultural Centre