Be a light in the darkness
Community Workshops • Public Exhibit

Acknowledging and honoring those who have struggled in their personal battle with mental health is the first step of many in sparking the conversation about mental health and suicide.

Add your voice to the conversation and partner with the Irish Diaspora Center and Irish artist, Tom Meskell, in this sprawling display of more than 100 life-size lantern figures that will be placed at Dilworth Park at Philadelphia's City Hall on September 22nd for our public exhibit and interfaith prayer service. Click HERE to read more about our keynote speakers, Dr. Kristen Donnelly & Mr. Jordan Burnham.

The intention of the work is to redefine our community’s collective relationship with mental health and suicide and to bring peace to those impacted. Click HERE to contribute to this project. Every donation makes a difference.

Click below to view NBC10 coverage and CBS 3 coverage of our Lights in the Darkness display at City Hall.

Click HERE for an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer: “Dilworth Plaza fills with life-size lanterns to raise awareness for suicide and mental illness”

Participate in a Mental Health Program
Community build workshop

Co. Mayo-based artist Tom Meskell has been developing this style of installation for more than 15 years. Tom will be working with fellow Irish artist, Tommy Casby, to assist our community in making over one hundred figures through a series of figurative lantern sculpture workshops. Click HERE to read more about our Lights in the Darkness artists.

The workshops will be held with a number of community groups in various locations in Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery Counties, starting in late August and ending in late September. The participants will be drawn from a broad spectrum of society, Tom has developed a system of creating this work so all can be involved in a meaningful way.

Our workshops are designed to give the participants ownership over the event. The celebration will also create an opportunity to redefine our relationship with mental health and suicide and reduce the stigma around this sensitive topic. Counselors will be on-site at each workshop to help those triggered by the project. Continue scrolling for the workshop schedule and a link to register.

Click HERE for our press release.

To add your voice to this meaningful project, please consider sponsoring a lantern figure, participating in a lantern-building workshop, or volunteering at a community build workshop.

Click HERE to sign on as a lantern or individual sponsor • Click HERE to view additional sponsorship opportunities

Community build workshop schedule

- August 31st & September 1st - Gladwyne, PA - 1.00 - 9.00 pm
- September 7th & 8th - Downingtown, PA - 1.00 - 9.00 pm
- September 10th & 11th - Jenkintown, PA - 10.00 am - 5.00 pm
- September 17th & 18th - Claymont, DE - 10.00 am - 5.00 pm

To sign up for a workshop, please click HERE.

Questions? Contact Emily Norton Ashinhurst at emily@icphila.org or call 610.789.6355.