AONTAS Adult Learners’ Festival

AONTAS Adult Learners’ Festival

2nd – 6th March 2020

#LearningForLife

The 2020 AONTAS Adult Learners’ Festival takes place from the 2nd – 6th March 2020. The festival aims to encourage adults in Ireland to explore the local learning options available to them through a week-long programme of events and adult learning promotion throughout the country.

This is the 14th year of the festival and reflects AONTAS’ commitment to, and celebration of, lifelong learning. We will once again be collaborating with the Belfast Festival of Learning to highlight their programme of events and to ensure an all-island approach. We are encouraging all; groups, organisations and initiatives to get involved and promote their activities during this week.

Learning for Life

The theme of this year’s festival is ‘Learning for Life’#LearningForLife. The festival title honours the twenty year anniversary of the Learning for Life: White paper on Adult Education. The Adult Learners’ Festival is an important platform to highlight the opportunities for everyday learning that happen in a diverse range of settings all over Ireland, from community groups, colleges and learning centres to homes, sports and recreation clubs and places of work. The opportunity to learn throughout all stages of life is one that we support and we encourage you to get involved in the celebration.

Why should you get involved?

The Adult Learners’ Festival is a celebration of the opportunities adult learning can bring to the public. Learning new skills such as CPR, knitting, computers, sports coaching, and wellbeing are all opportunities to help people learn, connect and become part of a wider community. The festival is designed to promote and celebrate all types of adult learning and we want to promote your opportunity during this important week.

If you already have an existing free event, are already planning an event, would like to plan an event or have numerous events you would like to highlight, AONTAS will help you promote your event to learners locally and across Ireland. 

How groups can get involved?

Be part of the Festival by holding an event. AONTAS has the following supports to help make your event extra special:

  • Online Hosting site for your event
  • Free ‘Event in a Bag’ promotional pack for every event
  • Online Communication Toolkit

You can find out more by visiting the festival page here. AONTAS is running a national radio advertising campaign for the Festival and, where possible, we will include your event(s) as part of our social media campaign.

Additional AONTAS Member Benefits

Early Bird Draw

AONTAS encourages all groups and providers to promote their Adult Learners’ Festival event on www.onestepup.ie website. The One Step Up calendar will provide learners from all over Ireland with details of learning opportunities in their local area.

AONTAS will promote as many of these events as possible through our social media channels and radio. This year, AONTAS is also offering those that add their event to the calendar a chance to win the following prizes for paid-up AONTAS members;

  • 1st Prize – Two VIP tickets to the AONTAS STAR Awards on the 2nd March and overnight stay in Dublin
  • 2nd Prize – Professional Photoshoot for your educational group
  • 3rd Prize – Bespoke promotional pack for your educational group

To enter the draw to win one of these fabulous prizes you must do the following:

  1. Enter your Adult Learners’ Festival event on the One Step Up Calendar here;
  2. Tag @AONTAS in a social media post related to the event (on Facebook or Twitter) and use our hashtag #LearningForLife;
  3. Step one and two must be complete before 1pm on Friday 14th February 2020.

Festival Event Bursary 2020

AONTAS is also offering a €100 bursary for paid-up AONTAS member organisations who require this additional funding to make their event happen. This is very limited and subject to approval before 14th February. To enquire about the bursary contact Barry Dolan Communications and Membership Officer at: bdolan@aontas.com.

Individual and organisational membership is currently available to help organisers avail of the additional membership activities including the Bursary, attending the Annual Policy Day and the Early Bird Draw. Find the membership application form here.

We appreciate your time and energy in being an active participant of the AONTAS Adult Learners’ Festival 2020. For more general details visit our festival page.

If you have any suggestions or require any further information on how to get involved please contact Barry Dolan, Communications and Membership Officer, at: bdolan@aontas.com

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