Foras na Gaeilge has begun a new campaign to introduce members of staff to the public. We would like to introduce Anna Davitt!

Name: Anna Davitt

Area: Communications and marketing

Venue: Amiens Street, Dublin, but I am working remotely at present.

Role: Responsible for communications and marketing for Foras na Gaeilge, including public relations, websites, social media, campaigns, advertising, sponsorship and events.

The aspect of the work do you most enjoy: I am leading an internal team that is working with me on social meeting. I love this aspect of the work because the experience and ideas of the people in the group contribute greatly to our campaigns. We had three major campaigns this year, and although it was difficult to adapt arrangements to the restrictions, I think that they gave us an opportunity to try out things that we would not have thought of before 2020!

Thinking back, we were planning totally different campaigns when the lockdown started, but we were given the freedom and support to start a new campaign, #LeChéile, in April to enable the public to use Irish at home. We also launched our new dictionary in an innovative way online and raised awareness among the general public and the media in October.

How does your work support the promotion of the Irish language?: I have a particular role in raising awareness, so I work on different major campaigns which promote the Irish language among the public. We have greatly built on our presence on social media in the last couple of years. My area is involved in all aspects of the organisation in a way, both internal and external communication.

What are the plans in your area in the future?: There will be a great emphasis on the digital area in 2021 when our grants system will be going online for the first time. This is a major project which has been developing for several years and, timely enough, it will be launched when there is a greater demand than ever for online facilities. As well as that, we are hoping that a redesigned version of forasnagaeilge.ie will be revealed in the new year.

As I mentioned, 2020 challenged us to try things in a new way and many things have been learned and developed this year. We will be launching a new campaign in January. Keep an eye on our social accounts!