The Ark announced as DCU Artists in Residence 24/25

The Ark and DCU Institute of Education

The Ark were selected as Young People, Children, and Education (YPCE) Artists in Residence for the academic year 2024/’25, funded by The Arts Council.

Students from DCU’s Professional Master of Education (Primary Teaching) course joined artists from The Ark in St Patrick’s Campus this semester for a practical workshop showing how art, drama, and music can be integrated in lessons around climate change. Students got to know Jane Groves, Ríona Sally Hartman, and Joanna Parkes really well this autumn. These three artists have been inviting students to bring island worlds to life across visual arts, music, and drama – exploring some themes of sustainability and climate action as they go! They then brought all of their work together for a culminating plenary workshop, which asked them to think about integrating all three art forms.

As part of the YPCE Artist-In-Residence scheme, The Ark Children’s Cultural Centre has been selected to deliver specific opportunities and bespoke programmes for DCU students studying education throughout the current academic year.

Una McCabe, Head of the School of Arts, Education and Movement, spoke about the impact of the residency:

“This is an incredible opportunity to share resources, knowledge and experiences between artists, teacher educators and future teachers and progress our shared commitment to advancing a child’s right to access art and culture as part of their learning and development”.

Josh Bannon, a Professional Master of Education (Primary Teaching) student, described the workshop as “much more enjoyable and hands-on than writing something on your laptop. Between the drama, the music and the art, it all comes together. Seeing them all combined gives me great ideas for when I’m in the classroom – my art lesson, my drama lesson and my music lesson can be all combined together. I thought that was a great thing to see”.

Read more about the residency here