!!!! Call for contributions: FEAPDA/NCSE/BATOD Joint Congress 2024

National Council for Special Education

Deadline: Friday 12th January 2024, 5pm

The European Federation of Associations of Teachers of the Deaf (FEAPDA), National Council for Special Education (NCSE) and British Association of Teachers of Deaf Children and Young People (BATOD), with support from BATOD Northern Ireland, invite all interested parties (teachers, professionals, lecturers, researchers, developers and manufacturers of technical devices, service providers, service users, policy makers, students etc) to present their work at the 27th FEAPDA Congress.

Deaf children and young people form a diverse group with varying experiences of hearing loss but who are also affected by other aspects of their lives.  Additional medical and/or educational needs, cultural and social backgrounds and every individual’s own life experience will influence their experience of deafness.

This year’s congress will explore the diversity of deaf learners in their many lives: implications for our knowledge and practice.

Papers and presentations may consider issues such as:

• Meeting the needs of children who are deaf with additional needs;
• Meeting the needs of children whose deafness is not their primary need;
• The experience of deaf children from minority communities;
• How deaf individuals experience and define their own identities

Abstracts for paper presentations (30 min), workshops/interactive presentations (60 min) and poster presentations are welcomed.

The 27th Federation of Associations of Teachers of the Deaf (FEAPDA) Congress is in partnership with British Association of Teachers of Deaf Children and Young People (BATOD), with support from BATOD Northern Ireland, and National Council for Special Education (NCSE). It will take place from 26th to 27 April 2024 in The Grand Hotel, Malahide, Co. Dublin, Ireland

For further information on the submission process and criteria for selection please visit: https://ncse.ie/batod-feapda-ncse-joint-conference-2024

!!!! Applications Open for Creativity and Change at MTU

Creativity & Change is accepting applications for their 2023-2024 course, which begins in September. This part-time, 20 credit certificate at level 9 offers participants the opportunity to explore Global Citizenship Education, immersing themselves in arts-based practices that connect their heads, hearts and hands, to learn about and take action for global justice, while developing skills to nurture fellow changemakers.

What you can expect from the programme:

• Participate in a transformative experience in global citizenship education
• Examine your place in our interconnected, rapidly-changing and unequal world
• Explore issues affecting the world and make connections between local and global
• Reflect on the values, actions and behaviours of global citizens
• Develop skills in facilitating meaningful dialogue, collaborative arts processes and transformative learning
• Boost your creative confidence through participating in workshops including movement, theatre and street art
• Put your learning and passion into practice to engage others on a journey of transformation and growth as global citizens
• Build a toolkit of exercises to design and facilitate learning processes to nurture global citizenship
• Apply Design Thinking to develop creative actions in imaginative learning environments
• Connect your passions to take action for change
• Recognise that small actions can have big impacts
• Plug into a network of people passionate about creativity, learning and changemaking

Supported by Irish Aid, Department of Justice, the course will be of interest to artists, activists, youth & community educators, volunteers and all those who are interested in collaboration and the transformative power of art. They especially welcome applicants from minority groups facing barriers to accessing education, who can apply to avail of fully funded places under their Amplifying Voices scheme.

For further information and to apply visit: https://www.cit.ie/course/CRACRCH9

!!!! New Creative Youth Plan 2023-2027 launched for children and young people

Creative Ireland

A new Creative Youth Plan for the period 2023-2027 was approved and launched by Government on Tuesday 28th March to further embed creativity into the centre of the lives of Ireland’s young people.

Building on the success of the first Creative Youth Plan 2017-2022, this new plan aims to provide everyone from birth to 24 years with more opportunities for creative engagement in every aspect of their lives. Across seven strategic objectives, the Creative Youth Plan will ensure children and young people retain a key voice in decision-making on its implementation and will prioritise those that are seldom heard and most at risk of disadvantage. Parents and caregivers, educators, artists, and creative practitioners will be supported to recognise the centrality and value of creativity to their lives.

• The Creative Youth Plan 2023-2027 aims to enable the creative potential of children and young people, from birth to 24 years, prioritising those seldom heard and at risk of disadvantage
• Under the new Creative Youth Plan, opportunities for creative engagement will reach tens of thousands of children and young people.
• Children and young people to retain a key voice in decision-making on its implementation.
• Impactful programmes such as the Local Creative Youth Partnerships, Cruinniú na nÓg, Creative Schools, Creative Clusters and BLAST to continue.
• New €500,000 Creative Youth Nurture Fund to support pilot youth-led projects that prioritise seldom heard children and young people.

Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media Catherine Martin TD, Minister for Education Norma Foley TD and Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth Roderic O’Gorman TD announced the launch of the new Creative Youth Plan 2023-2027 at a youth-led event that took place in the National Gallery of Ireland on 28th March 2023.

The launch was supported by a panel discussion between the Ministers and four young creatives with a music performance from Music Generation and a spoken word performance organised through Creative Schools.

Read more about the upcoming 5 years of Creative Youth here: https://artsineducation.ie/en/resource/creative-youth-plan-2023-2027/

!!!! Arts In Health & Education Postgraduate Courses

MTU Crawford College of Art & Design

Arts In Health & Education, MTU Crawford College of Art & Design are presently recruiting for their September course intake across the department. Choose from a number of innovative post-graduate, level 9 courses centred around the power of the Arts in supporting wellbeing, personal development and changemaking.

All courses take place at the CCAD Grand Parade campus in Cork City.

For more information on each course, see crawford.cit.ie/areas-of-study/

Arts & Engagement is a new two-year, part-time, 90 credit MA programme combining a number of CCAD’s Special Purpose Awards. Through research, reflection, group and practical work, participants will explore different ways of learning, investigating the transformational power of the arts in personal and societal activation or regulation through a broad scope of contemporary methodologies.

Through elective modules in year one, opportunities will be provided to broaden skill sets through Socially Engaged Theatre, Eco-Arts Practice or Art Therapy. In the second year, opportunity will be given for students to develop their ongoing arts practice informed by, and in relation to, one of two strands of engagement – Health & Wellbeing or Global Citizenship Education.

More info and apply: www.cit.ie/course/CRARAEN9
Closing date: 31st August
Contact: Avril.OBrien@mtu.ie

Creativity & Change is a part-time, 20 credit certificate at level 9 about creativity and its power to ignite empathy, passion and learning about our interconnected and interdependent world. Supported by Irish Aid, Department of Justice, it is about imagining more humane, just and viable ways to live in the world and to connect with how we think, live, and act in the world. This course explores how we can utilise the arts to live as connected global citizens, becoming part of the changes we want to see. It will be of interest to artists, activists, youth & community educators, volunteers and all those who are interested in collaboration and the transformative power of art.

This programme is offered as an elective within the MA Arts and Engagement. Participants on the course who are not already taking it as an elective within the MA  can apply and progress to the MA Arts & Engagement, with 20 credits of the programme already completed.

More info and apply: www.cit.ie/course/CRACRCH9
Closing date: 31st August
Contact: Helen.OKeeffe@mtu.ie

Amplifying Voices Scholarships: We have a number of funded places available for those who have faced barriers to education in Ireland. See more information on the course application page.

Arts & Wellbeing is a new part-time. 20 credit Certificate at level 9. The course will be delivered through lectures and experiential workshops and provide participants with theory and approaches to arts and wellbeing that could be applied in a range of different contexts, making it attractive to teachers, therapists, arts in health practitioners, youth and community workers or artists looking to broaden the scope of their practice.

This programme is offered as an elective within the MA Arts and Engagement. Participants on the course who are not already taking it as an elective within the MA can apply and progress to the MA Arts & Engagement, with 20 credits of the programme already completed.

More info and apply: TBC – see www.cit.ie/courses/eveningweekendcourseslist/
Closing date: 15th September
Contact: Avril.OBrien@mtu.ie

Eco Arts Practice is a 10 credit, level 9 certificate. Through experiential learning, this course provides an opportunity to explore Eco Arts Practice theory and application within a group setting. The aim of the course is to provide participants with approaches to Eco Art Practice that could be applied in a range of different contexts, making it attractive to teachers, therapists, youth and community workers or artists looking to broaden the scope of their practice.  Participants will explore nature and the environment within an art context, from ethical use of materials, to eco literacy through to the natural environment as a classroom, a therapeutic space and a material that can be worked with.

This programme is offered as an elective within the MA Arts and Engagement. Participants on the course who are not already taking it as an elective within the MA can apply and progress to the MA Arts & Engagement, with 10 credits of the programme already completed.

More info and apply: www.cit.ie/course/CRAEAPR9
Closing date: 15th September
Contact: ccad.enquiries@mtu.ie until August 21st, then Jessica.Carson@mtu.ie

!!!! Workshop: Having Fun in the Outdoor Landscape

Burrenbeo Trust
Date: 19 March, 2022

Burrenbeo Trust invites you to Having Fun in the Outdoor Landscape with Kate Lavender and Karen Van Drop, a workshop for anyone with an interest in place-based learning and/or learning more in the Burren. This workshop forms part of their 11th annual Learning Landscape Symposium that brings together leading change-makers and educators from 18 – 20 March 2022. The symposium takes place at the community centre in Kinvara, Co.Galway and outdoors in the Burren.

The symposium will comprise of a mixture of indoor workshops, outdoor fieldtrips, discussions, and networking events, and is open to anyone with an interest in communicating natural, built, or cultural heritage and sustainability to their audiences and inspiring action.

Date: 19 March, 2022

Learning Landscape Symposium runs from 18 – 20 March 2022 on the theme of From Learning to Action. For more information and to book tickets, see https://burrenbeo.com/lls/

!!!! Masterclasses: Creativity and Change Deep Dives Spring series 2022

Creativity and Change, Crawford College of Art & Design
Various dates

Creativity and Change Deep Dives are an opportunity for inspirational, intensive and in depth creative engagement over two days. Delivered by facilitators with specific expertise and experience, the programme is designed around the identified gaps and expressed interests of practitioners. Each creative workshop is a deep dive into a specific method that can be used to explore change-making, global citizenship and social justice.

These masterclasses explore a wide range of creative methods of storytelling, visual communication, podcasting, street art, drama and more. Masterclasses include:

1. The Story of Self with Clare Mulvany: Craft a compelling leadership story for social change
Sat 12th and Sun 13th of March
Cost €60

2. Visual Facilitation for Global Citizenship Education with Eimear Mc Nally
Sat 26th and Sun 27th March
Cost €60

3. Art + Activism = Artivism with Helen O Keeffe & Claire Coughlan
Sat 2nd and Sun 3rd April
Cost €60

4. Podcasting with Ainle ó Cairealláin from Rebel Matters Podcast
Sat 9th and Sun 10th April
Cost €60

5. Theatre of the Oppressed & Forum Theatre with Julian Boal
(Yes! That Boal!)
Friday 22nd, Saturday 23rd & Sunday 24th April
Cost €150

For more information on these creative workshops, see www.creativityandchange.ie/deep-dives/

!!!! Invitation: Art Movements Live Online Performance with The Glucksman

The Glucksman & First Fortnight Festival 

Date: 15 January 2022

Join artist Inma Pavon and University College Cork students for a live participatory performance as part of the First Fortnight Festival.

Art Movements is a newly commissioned performance by Inma Pavon that will premiere as part of the First Fortnight Festival. The performance will invite an online audience to participate wherever they may be. If you are sitting in your office, at the kitchen table or in your bedroom, you too can join the artists and students from University College Cork in this unique event. A set of instructions, information on the project and further details on the event will be emailed to all participants.

In Autumn 2021, the Glucksman art museum in UCC invited university students to participate in a project that would result in the commissioning of a new artwork for the University Art Collection. The project saw students work with artist Inma Pavon over a series of workshops designed to explore mental health. Together they creatively examined aspects of wellbeing, recovery, awareness, and the challenges facing people today. The workshops included discussions, talks, field trips and practical movement and creative sessions enabling different conversations to emerge. These conversations and the content of the workshops have influenced the artist to create a performance titled Art Movements which will be premiered as part of the First Fortnight Festival in 2022.

The performance will be accompanied by the creation of a set of photographs and film documentation which will be accessioned into the university art collection before being disseminated widely to facilitate further discussions amongst the university community, and wider national and international audiences.

Time: Online 2pm – 2:30pm

To register for this event go to www.eventbrite.ie/e/art-movements-tickets-222617844967

!!!! Arts in Group Facilitation Certificate at Crawford College of Art and Design

Crawford College of Art & Design
Deadline extended

The Arts in Group Facilitation Certificate (Level 8, 10 credits) at Crawford College of Art & Design focuses on the practical skills of planning and running creative workshops with groups in a range of non—formal contexts. Participants learn these skills through experiential learning processes, taking part in visual arts, drama, dance and music workshops and reflecting on the experience. The focus is on acknowledging the individual within learning, recognising the importance of play and the need for learning to be engaging. There is a strong emphasis on engaging with diversity and learning to adapt a range of arts approaches to meet the varying needs within a group.

The programme will be delivered through blended learning, involving face to face experiential learning and online learning. The face to face learning is being designed to maximise the potential of creative learning in outdoor environments. Crawford College of Art & Design are adapting to Covid—19 restriction and see the potential of learning in outdoor environments for participants in the programme and for those participants may work with in the future. They are inviting participants to join them with a bicycle to access outdoor learning environments.

The course will provide skills face to face in working in physical workshops, classes, centres as well as facilitation creative engagement online.

For more information, see https://www.cit.ie/course/CRAGRPA8 or contact helen.okeeffe@mtu.ie.

!!!! Education Advisor Role with Kids’ Own Publishing Partnership

Kids’ Own Publishing Partnership
Deadline: Friday 3 September, 2021

Kids’ Own is seeking an Education Advisor to develop and expand their links with teachers, schools, and academics in teaching and learning over a nine-month period from October 2021. The Education Advisor is a brand new fixed-term role that aims to support Kids’ Own by building new audiences through outreach to schools. The Advisor will also build on the increased interest of teachers, academics, and educational bodies in their work. They will develop new connections with all of the above to ensure Kids’ Own’s work remains linked with sectoral developments.

The Education Advisor will primarily:

1) build links between Kids’ Own and schools, teachers, and teacher training colleges
2) conduct focus groups to understand the links between our books and the current and incoming primary school curriculum
3) make connections with governmental educational bodies
4) advocate for the use of Kids’ Own books within the classroom to demonstrate the value of greater representation of children’s voices and lived experience within the curriculum and the books children encounter in school.

Qualifications and experience needed:

• A strong interest in arts in education
• A qualification in education or equivalent experience
• Up-to-date knowledge of primary education in Ireland
• Experience of working with schools, teachers, and primary school student groups
• Experience with self-directed projects
• Full, clean driving license and access to own transport
• Interest in and strong commitment to advocating for children’s voices and rights. Previous experience in this area would be desirable.

Deadline: Friday 3rd September, 2021

To apply, please send a detailed cover letter expressing your interest and suitability for the role, along with a CV to staff@kidsown.ie. Please include a document that outlines ideas you have for how you may approach this role. This should include a breakdown of costings according to the fee that is being offered. There is a set fee of €10,000 offered for this role to take place between October 2021 and July 2022. This is primarily to cover the Education Advisor’s fee, but must also cover any other anticipated expenses, e.g. travel costs, materials etc.

For more information, see kidsown.ie/education-advisor-job-with-kids-own-publishing/

!!!! New MA in Arts and Engagement at Crawford College of Art and Design

Crawford College of Art and Design

Extending the artist’s practice, grounding it in a social context. Looking at engagement through the intersection between the senses, society and the arts.

Crawford College of Art and Design CIT are delighted to announce a new Masters in Arts and Engagement. A 2 year part time course that prepares graduates to develop a professional practice in arts rich engagement with individual, group, and broader societal contexts. Participants on this Masters programme will develop an understanding of the role of the arts within learning, changemaking and the development of culture.

Employment Opportunities:

• Arts in Health/Social Care programmes
• Arts programming Production Manager/Developer
• Outreach Education programmes
• Artist Engaged in Community Issues
• Professional Artist
• Gallery/Museum Education
• Youth work
• Community Education
• Second Chance Learning
• Community Development Officer

MA Arts and Engagement
The course will run part-time, one day a week, plus 2 day block monthly for elective module. Applications are welcomed from graduates of arts (visual arts/theatre or music) or social sciences interested in:

• Developing their own arts practice in relation to others
• Developing arts-based processes to incorporate into existing work place
• Developing arts engagement facilitation skills

This Masters programme builds on a number of existing Special Purpose Awards all centred on learning through expressive meaning-making: Arts based facilitation training, creativity and change-making and art therapy. These programmes educate through and activate different modes of communication, promote learning through experiential and reflective practice, and engage with other perspectives and diverse intelligences.

Participants on the Masters will develop an understanding of the role of the arts within learning and engagement and will develop the skills to apply this to a range of contexts. Core modules over the two-year programme relate to the arts in engaged practices which recognise neurodiversity, equality, social justice, power and autonomy. Through research, reflection, group and practical work participants will explore different ways of learning, investigating the transformational power of the arts in personal and societal regulation through a broad scope of contemporary methodologies.

Through elective modules in year one, opportunities will be provided to broaden skill sets through Socially Engaged Theatre, Eco-Arts Practice or Art Therapy. In the second year, opportunity will be given for students to develop their ongoing arts practice informed by, and in relation to, one of two strands of engagement – Health & Wellbeing or Global Citizenship.

Duration: Part time over two years (1 day a week + 2-day block monthly for elective module)
Course Fee: EU Applicants: €6,000

For further information go to crawford.cit.ie/courses/ma-in-arts-and-engagement-/or for course enquires email Avril O’Brien avril.obrien@mtu.ie.

Two Additional Special Purpose Awards 

Certificate in Eco Arts Practice Level 9
Certificate in Socially Engaged Theatre Level 8

!!!! Part-Time Accredited Courses at the Centre for Continuing Education in Art & Design at NCAD

The Centre for Continuing Education in Art and Design at NCAD (CEAD)

The Centre for Continuing Education in Art and Design at NCAD provides opportunities for part time study leading to a qualification at University Certificate (NFQL7) and Higher Diploma (NFQL8). Each of the certificate programmes carries 30 ects. On completion students can progress to the two year part-time Higher Diploma in Art to achieve a further 90 ects and will be eligible to apply for Advanced Entry to up to the final year of the NCAD full-time undergraduate BA programme in Fine Art, Design or Visual Culture.

CEAD offers credit and non-credit options for adults who choose to study part-time. In an era of lifelong learning, CEAD aims to provide a diverse programme of courses, which offer flexible, quality learning opportunities, that enable access, and support progression and transfer for students who wish to further their visual arts education. Applicants to an accredited course must be 23 years or over.

You can choose from a range of part time evening University Certificate programmes:

VAP Certificate A/C modules
The University Certificate in Visual Arts Practice offers flexibility and variety and can be completed in 1 – 3 years. Alternatively individual modules may be taken in a non-credit (audit) capacity. Applications opening soon.

D+VI Certificate
The University Certificate in Drawing and Visual Investigation signals a departure in the provision of visual arts education and the role of CEAD in creating opportunities for lifelong learning. This one year programme is for mature students who are interested in participating in a challenging learning opportunity in visual arts education.

P+DI Certificate
The University Certificate in Photography and Digital Imaging is a one year part-time programme offering students an opportunity to extend their visual vocabulary and explore the creative possibilities of photography within contemporary visual art and design practice. Applications now open.

CEAD- Higher Diploma in Art
The two year part-time Higher Diploma in Art provides mature students interested in establishing a personal direction in their art practice an opportunity to attend a flexible programme leading, on completion, students will be eligible to apply for Advanced Entry to up to the final year of the NCAD full-time undergraduate BA programme in Fine Art, Design or Visual Culture.

For full course details and application details go to www.ncad.ie/continuing-education/part-time-continuing-education/ or email cead@ncad.ie

!!!! Centre for Continuing Education in Art & Design at NCAD: Summer School

Centre for Continuing Education
Dates: 19 July – 9 August

The Centre for Continuing Education at NCAD offers a range of short summer courses in art and design for adults and school leavers (16+) who want to explore their creative potential, learn new skills, or develop an on-going practice.

Summer courses are at different levels; there are introductory courses suitable for beginners, or for those considering returning to or progressing within higher education. If you want to learn something new you can choose beginners courses, and if you have established an arts practice and want to continue to expand and explore your options you can choose advanced courses.

Portfolio preparation courses are suitable for students considering applying to third level undergraduate art and design courses and wish to complete a portfolio in preparation.

Where students are interested in applying to the accredited part-time autumn options or want to progress within art and design they can consider taking one or more summer workshops as a way of developing skills and knowledge in a subject area.

Places on summer short courses are allocated on a first come first served basis. If a course is over-subscribed it is possible to join a wait list for cancellations.

Dates: 19 July – 9 August

For more information, see https://www.ncad.ie/continuing-education/cead-apply/summer-course-descriptions/

!!!! National Museum of Ireland Call Out for Artists & Educators

National Museum of Ireland
Deadline: 30th July 2021

The Education Department of the National Museum of Ireland is looking for artists working in visual arts, design, drama, film, storytelling, architecture, craft and/or other arts disciplines with experience of designing and delivering workshops to meet the learning styles and needs of a range of audiences, including adults, schools and intergenerational groups such as families.

While currently prioritising online engagement programmes, the National Museum of Ireland are inviting facilitators who are interested in creating both online content and in facilitating onsite programmes. Those eligible will have experience in the delivery of digital-based content in a virtual capacity and should be comfortable operating digital based equipment and programmes.

Facilitators and artists who register their interest in working with the Museum may be invited to work with them, at one or more of its four sites, and/or to create one or more short videos or participate in the Museum’s public engagement programmes through live online or onsite workshops or talks.

• See here for artist/facilitator’s brief.
• Click here for the application form.

Any queries can be directed to bookings@museum.ie.

Deadline: 30th July 2021

!!!! Opportunity: The Practice of Looking, Visual Thinking Strategies Course

The LAB Gallery, Dublin City Arts Office
Dates: Wednesdays 4-6pm, 3, 10, 24 March & 14, 21, 28 April

The Practice of Looking is a six-week, online course to learn about Visual Thinking Strategies and its use in Dublin, and to practice its facilitation. It was born out of the growing interest in the adoption of Visual Thinking Strategies at the LAB Gallery and in the partnerships and networks that have evolved around it. The LAB Gallery, Dublin City Arts Office, The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) and VTS Neighbourhood Schools are partnering to host an online course that offers the opportunity to learn from trained VTS coaches in the existing network. The course will have a strong focus on facilitation practice and reflection. You will receive a certificate of attendance after completion of the course.

Please note that to participate to the course, you need to:

• Be available for all sessions.
• Be a practicing teacher / educator / artist / museum guide.
• Pay a course fee of €250.

For more information and to register, please see here: http://www.dublincityartsoffice.ie/the-lab/vts-projects/the-practice-of-looking

!!!! Opportunity: Call for Artists in Residence – School of Arts Education and Movement DCU

Dublin City University 

Deadline: Wednesday 4 September 2019

Practicing professional artists are invited to apply for a residency opportunity at DCU Institute of Education for the academic year 2019-2020. Applications are welcome from individual artists who work in an interdisciplinary form, or from an ensemble of artists. The closing date is Wednesday September 4th 2019 at 5pm.

The residency is hosted by DCU Institute of Education’s School of Arts Education and Movement. This opportunity is one of a number of artist residencies supported by the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon in the context of Initial Teacher Education. Each residency aims to:

• Provide future teachers with opportunities to engage meaningfully with the arts as part of their initial teacher education;
• Support future teachers to develop the skills and confidence to facilitate meaningful arts experiences for their students, and to champion the arts in schools;
• Provide opportunities for artists to develop their skills and experience in education settings, and to develop their artistic work in a collaborative and supportive environment.

For more information on this opportunity and how to apply, go to DCU Institute of Education’s website at – www.dcu.ie/arts_education_movement/news/2019/Aug/Call-for-Artists-Residence.shtml

If you have any queries please contact regina.murphy@DCU.ie

!!!! Guest Blogger: Ciara Gallagher Creativity & Change programme participant – Blog No. 4

Ciara has a PhD in English from Maynooth University. She has worked as researcher on the National Collection of Children’s Books (TCD) and “Gender Identity: Child Readers and Library Collections” at the Centre for Children’s Literature and Culture, DCU. She has taught English in various universities and currently works at Kids’ Own Publishing Partnership as Administrative and Development Officer.

Blog 4 – On Practising Creativity and Change

The second half of the Creativity and Change course focused on “application to practice” – on applying the forms and modes of creative engagement we had experienced and worked with in the first half of the course. Over numerous weekends, we practiced creativity across a variety of forms. In small teams, we co-facilitated creative workshops to critically focus on important local and global justice issues with our peers. We created a 60 foot piece of street art – participating in the entire process from beginning to end.  We planned and designed a number of creative street actions to engage the public in Cork city in support of Climate Case Ireland.

A core part of the Creativity and Change course is its focus on connecting learning that occurs through the head, hand, and heart – through reflection and critical thinking, through doing, making and taking action, and through affective learning and creating connections. Each weekend, each activity, actively engaged all three modes of learning. Not only did we practice the application of creativity and creative processes to encourage a critical reflection and action to change on global justice issues, we also built a community, a collective, however temporary, within which these experiences became all the more meaningful.

This head, hand, and heart model is not just something to apply to just certain learning experiences, but something that can inform so many areas of our lives, our learning, our teaching, our living. This too, like creativity, is something to practice each day and to continually build on.

Now, perhaps more than ever, it seems like the time to take action in our world, to resist retreating into apathy. The scale and persistence of the global justice issues that we face can make taking action seem like an impossible task. What the Creativity and Change course encourages is a sense that this continually coming back to these issues need not feel futile, or as evidence that things do not change despite our best efforts. That instead, circling back to social justice issues in new, creative, and diverse ways, is also something to live, and to make part of our lives.

!!!! Guest Blogger: Ciara Gallagher Creativity and Change programme participant – Blog No. 3

Ciara has a PhD in English from Maynooth University. She has worked as researcher on the National Collection of Children’s Books (TCD) and “Gender Identity: Child Readers and Library Collections” at the Centre for Children’s Literature and Culture, DCU. She has taught English in various universities and currently works at Kids’ Own Publishing Partnership as office administrator.

Beginnings – Blog 3

The Creativity and Change course continually pushes its participants, encouraging us to engage, act, and reflect in new and different ways. One of the most fundamental ways it stretches its participants is simply through giving students the opportunities to start something new – to begin new actions, challenges and experiences, and in the process, to unearth new confidence for future beginnings.

At each of the course weekends, we participate in intensive workshops on different creative forms. For example, one weekend focused on poetry and theatre. We moved from creating poetry as a collective to individual creative writing and finally into spoken word performances and a poetry slam. The following day, performance and action were channelled into theatre as we engaged with some of the techniques of Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed. Throughout the course of the weekend we moved through reflection and action; from our own words to shared action and performance through poetry, and from the action and movement of the Theatre of the Oppressed to reflection again. Not only did we experience this as participants, we considered this process as facilitators – thinking through ways we could engage people through these creative forms in a manner that encourages interaction with beginning to write and enact change.

Our next task on this weekend was putting this cycle of reflection and action to use in a new context as we moved from the safe space of the Creativity and Change workshops to the public space of the city. Part of our challenge for the afternoon was to engage the public in some way, encouraging people to contribute to creating something as a group. My group set about getting people to contribute to a line poem, written in chalk on the street, beginning with the line “I know I am home when…” I was surprised at how readily and generously people got involved, moved by their openness and warmth. Individuals and small groups contributed their lines, writing on the pavement, marking the city space out as theirs a little bit more.  Groups of people contributing collectively take away some of the pressure and open up new possibilities. The same was true for our groups, as our styles of interaction with the public crossed and intersected, and we reflected on and learned from each other’s actions. Even though our engagement with the public was small and transient, we learned it is possible to bring people together to create something worthwhile, that people care and will get involved.

The willingness and want to be part of a collective is encouraging in these times when we need it most. Now to find all our different ways of starting.

!!!! Conference on Drama & Theatre in Education at Trinity College

The Arts Education Research Group (TCD) and the Association for Drama in Education in Ireland (ADEI)

Dates: 9th & 10th March 2019

The School of Education in Trinity College will host an exciting international conference on drama and theatre in education on March 9th and 10th.
This is a timely event in today’s world, and explores the theme of the social and political in children’s and young people’s drama and theatre. This conference will be of interest to teachers, artists and anyone working at the cutting edge of drama, theatre, education, creative and cultural studies, arts education, sociology and social policy, political science and education, psychology, and related fields.

The conference features an impressive line-up of speakers who will explore the conference theme with reference to their own practices in different parts of the world. With subsidised rates available for attendees (€105,) and a bursary scheme available for full time students (€38 for the 2 day event).

For further information and booking go to www.tcd.ie/Education/Drama-Davis-Conference19/

!!!! Guest Blogger: Ciara Gallagher Creativity and Change programme participant – Blog No. 1

Ciara has a PhD in English from Maynooth University. She has worked as researcher on the National Collection of Children’s Books (TCD) and “Gender Identity: Child Readers and Library Collections” at the Centre for Children’s Literature and Culture, DCU. She has taught English in various universities and currently works at Kids’ Own Publishing Partnership as office administrator.

First impressions of the Creativity and Change programme, (CIT) Cork – Blog 1

I’ve always had a keen interest in the creative arts and concepts of creativity. Issues of social justice have also always been to the forefront of my concerns, very much connected with my interest in creativity and literary forms, and informing much of my research. It’s not surprising then that the Creativity and Change course, a programme aimed at “anyone who is interested how creative engagement can nurture global citizenship and empathic action around local and global justice themes”, piqued my interest. However, having spent most of my career to date firmly on the analytical and critical side of creativity, and perhaps on issues of social justice too, it took some courage and the making of some pros and cons lists before I applied. Though I’ve invested much time in thinking about how literature can help us think about, see, and shape the world in different ways — in other words, how engaging with a form of creative expression might form new pathways of understanding — I haven’t spent much time on what is perhaps the more uncomfortable side of creativity.

From the very beginning of the course, I was struck by the emphasis on doing, on movement, on activity. Introductory ice-breakers were conducted by participants physically orienting ourselves at different points in the room according to different prompts. Each new topic was prefaced by games involving movement and reflection. Instead of beginning by talking about our interests and experiences related to global justice, we explored these ideas through working with watercolours, pencils, markers — objects unfamiliar to the adult me. We worked silently in groups on numerous activities. In one instance, groups of participants were given a block of clay, to shape and mould any way the group saw fit, without speaking or communicating. Working with paint and clay in silence allowed me to experience quiet contentment in the process, with “doing” for its own sake, rather than focusing on my lack of competence or confidence in these activities. I think I also reflected more deeply on ideas of teamwork and leadership as a result of these experiences than through many of the designated courses on these topics that I’d attended as part of training for previous jobs.

One full day of our first weekend was spent at the “creative fair”. Course participants were let loose in a room with numerous stalls with various familiar and unfamiliar art materials, books, newspapers, magazines and much more. For the first part of the day, we were given no instruction — only to enjoy, play, or create something from the materials at hand. After a couple of hours of being absorbed in activity, we were tasked with making something that somehow engaged with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, and were given some instruction on how to use the material at each stall. This, for me, and I think for many other participants, completely and perhaps deliberately changed the earlier atmosphere of experimentation and engagement. I attempted to make a postcard based on the fourth SDG, quality education. Though it’s an issue that I feel strongly about and have given thought to, attaching the logo for the SDG of quality education made the postcard feel like a flimsy exploration, expressing an easy platitude without depth or engagement. And so, the first weekend of the course ended with numerous reflections and realisations about the relationship between creativity and issues of global justice.

!!!! Opportunity: PhD Opportunity with Imaginate – Valuing Young Audiences

Imaginate

Deadline: 5pm 30th November

Valuing Young Audiences: Fully Funded PhD opportunity with Imaginate 

Imaginate is seeking prospective doctoral students to work with them on an AHRC-funded PHD exploring the value for children of experiencing live theatre and dance as audience members. This is an exciting new collaboration between Imaginate and the University of Aberdeen, as part of the Scottish Graduate School of Arts and Humanities’s (SGSAH) Collaborative Doctoral Awards Programme. The PhD student will be supported to engage with children, parents and teachers on three Imaginate projects: Inspiring Schools, Theatre in Schools Scotland, and the Edinburgh International Children’s Festival. The research will be supervised by Professor Amy Bryzgel (Visual Culture, University of Aberdeen), Dr Jo Vergunst (Anthropology, University of Aberdeen) and Imaginate’s Chief Exec Paul Fitzpatrick.

The successful applicant will work with the supervisory team to prepare a final proposal to SGSAH in February 2019, with notification in April. If successful the studentship will commence on 1 October 2019.

Imaginate warmly encourages applications from researchers with a background in the performing arts, arts-in-education or research on the value of the arts, but this is not a prerequisite.

For more details and to download the full details go to www.imaginate.org.uk/artists/opportunities/phd-opportunity-with-imaginate-fully-funded.

!!!! Creativity & Change: A Unique Accredited Course in Creative Change-Making at CIT

The Creativity and Change programme & CIT Crawford College of Art

Application Deadline: 15th September 2018

The Creativity & Change programme targets change-makers, educators, activists, artists, community workers, adult education tutors, youth workers, volunteers and anyone who is interested how creative engagement can nurture global citizenship and empathic action around local and global justice themes.

This part-time accredited course takes place over 8 weekends from September to May.

Course Modules

Module one ‘Thematic Creative Engagement’ considers the role of creativity in learning and its contribution to enabling engagement with knowledge, attitudes, values and behaviours of global citizens. It engages learners with a range of models and concepts of learning related to Development Education and Education for Global citizenship. Learners will engage with a range of global justice themes and topics related to local and global interconnectedness. They will also engage with a wide range of creative tools and methods. The module will require a deep critical personal engagement and self-reflection, developing personal perspective as a global citizen and connecting with values and themes. The learners will critically engage with the learning environment of the programme and their personal approach and style as learners in view of applying this learning to their practice.

Module 2 ‘Application to Practice’ builds on on the experiential learning process of the ‘Thematic Creative Engagement’ module. Learners will consider the application of their learning in professional practice. They will apply their learning in design and delivery of live projects that provide learning experiences for others and be given space for personal and peer reflection on their practice.

Course fee is €680. This course is supported by Irish Aid’s Development Education funds and is therefore offered at this subsidised rate.

This is a Level 9 CIT Special Purpose Award 

For more information go to creativityandchange.ie/accredited-award/

To apply go to www.cit.ie/course/CRACRCH9

!!!! Opportunity: EdD Research Degree at DCU for Educators and Artists

DCU Institute of Education

Application Deadline: July 10th, 2018

The EdD is a research degree for experienced professionals from education and related fields who would like to extend their professional understanding and develop skills in research, evaluation and high-level reflection on practice. The programme, offered within DCU’s Institute of Education, aims to foster professional development through research as well as meeting the requirements of rigour and originality expected of a doctorate. It includes assessed taught courses, research-focused workshops and supervised original research. It offers participants the opportunity to take modules in and complete a research study in one of the following eight Areas of Professional Focus:

• Arts, Creativity and Imagination in Education
• Assessment, Learning and Teaching
• Digital Learning
• Inclusive and Special Education
• Leadership and Evaluation
• Religious Education
• Teacher Education
• Values Education

Through a strong group dynamic, the intention of the programme is to foster cohort solidarity, develop inter- and intra-personal skills that are critical for teamwork, while simultaneously developing writing, research, critical, analytical, communication, leadership and collaborative skills to the highest possible standards. The intention is to educate an existing emergent educational leadership in the Irish context to the highest possible international standards.

The ​Doctor of Education ​programme ​(​Ed.D​) at the Institute of Education is currently running with a cohort which started their taught modules in July 2016. The next cohort is currently being recruited with a view to their starting their studies in August 2018​.​​​ Further details and confirmation of dates will be added to the website as they become available.

Please note that the Areas of Professional Focus on offer​ can ​differ between one intake and the next.

Some Areas of Professional Focus have already reached capacity. Applicants for these areas will be placed on a waiting list and contacted in the event of a place becoming available.

For further information go to www.dcu.ie/institute_of_education/Doctor-of-Education.shtml

Application due by July 10th and those interested should contact regina.murphy@dcu.ie with an expression of interest.

!!!! Blog 3: Kevin Gaffney Artist & Filmmaker

Primary School Links

School Links is a programme run by Dr. Michael Flannery which brings students from local DEIS primary schools into the Marino Institute of Education to participate in a visual arts project.

I worked with 4th class students from St Joseph’s Primary School, who came to MIE for four two-hour sessions. As the students had been exploring the use of food in art, I screened two excerpts of my films that deal with this topic. The first was a scene where a young woman eats a flower, and the students responded to this by creating their own flowers through collage and assemblage.
The second clip I screened was a scene where a performer emerges from a large fake cake with a hat of fruits on her head, and then another scene where she sifts flower onto her own head. The students responded to this by sculpting their own fruit, vegetable and other foods from memory out of modrock, which will be painted the next week. The students will decide if they wish to appropriate these materials to make their own hats and costumes, or if they would like to make another sculptural form with them.

In between these activities, students from the class interviewed me about the life and work of a contemporary artist:

Student: Why do you think art is important?
KG: For me, art is like music or literature, and I think going to the an art gallery or museum is like going to the library. We are always expected to be so productive and busy, and art allows us to be quiet and reflective…  it’s a different way of thinking. But, do you think it’s important?
Student: Yes, I think art is important because it brings so much colour to people’s lives.

Student: Do you make mistakes?
KG: Yes, all the time! On my newest film, I spent so long making one scene… the art department spent ages on the set, there were a lot of props and it actually cost a good bit of money. But, then, when editing I realised it wasn’t working. It wasn’t fitting with the rest of the film at all… so I had to cut it out, and that’s so disappointing. It wasn’t anyone’s fault except mine!

Student: How long does it take you to make a film? Do you have people helping you?
KG: Yes I have lots of people helping me! It’s impossible to be good at everything, and I’ve accepted the things I can do well and the things that I definitely can’t!

Student: How do you know if something you make is especially good?
KG: It’s hard to know… sometimes you make something you really believe in, but it doesn’t connect with people. And sometimes the opposite happens. I just try to follow me intuition and not worry about what everyone else is thinking or doing… but I know you can’t really do this in school.

Student: When you’re making a film for a gallery, do you feel very pressured?
KG: Yes, it’s a lot of pressure and it can be very distracting. On one hand, you are trying to be very sensitive and focused on what you are making, but then there is a professional pressure that seeps in. And it’s taken me ages to learn how to deal with that.

!!!! Blog 2: Kevin Gaffney Artist & Filmmaker

Diorama construction and collaborative filmmaking

In the first semester of my residency at the Marino Institute of Education, I worked with the first years on the Professional Masters in Education programme. I had previously given workshops and lectures at university level at the Dublin Institute of Technology and Kyung Hee University in Seoul, and taught art classes for children at Taipei Artist Village and at primary schools in Roscommon as part of the Art School project run by Jennie Guy. However, this was my first time working with preservice teachers and, so, was the first time I was not just teaching art but also trying to impart how to teach art from the point of view of a contemporary artist.

I devised a workshop that would introduce the class to the process of filmmaking, and that could be replicated in a classroom with few resources. Students worked in groups, collaborating to make a film concept, visualize it, and realise this through constructing a diorama which would show the set/location of their film idea, the characters and any scene changes. I wanted to focusing on the storytelling and visualisation aspects of filmmaking, and my overall aim was that, from doing the workshop, students would have learnt that filmmaking is an enjoyable and achievable process, reliant more on imagination and communication than it is on expensive equipment.

In order to contextualise this project, I showed examples of contemporary animation sets, maquettes for theatre set design, and artists whose work uses collage or photomontage (John Stezaker, Hannah Hoch, David Hockney, Peter Kennard), and contemporary Irish artists working with animation techniques (Aideen Barry, Vera Klute).

To begin the project, each group had to select four random words that designated:  (a) a genre; (b) a location; (c) a main human character; (d) an animal character. Then, together, they had to knit these into a coherent concept. After deciding on how to combine the elements, each group works on making a diorama. In a collaborative effort to realise their visualisation, decisions are made on colour palette, mood, materials and scale.

After their sets were made, students began to make their characters from armature and plasticine. We then began a simple stop-motion animation process using free apps on the students’ phones and school ipads. The result was that each group created a short silent animation using readily available materials and technology and each group created a unique project that can be appraised in relation to the concept they created and the parameters they set for themselves.

!!!! Blog 1: Kevin Gaffney Artist & Filmmaker

Art on Campus

In September I began my role as artist-in-residence at the Marino Institute of Education (MIE), an initiative for artists to work in institutions that provide initial teacher education funded by the Arts Council. The aims of the residency are: for the artist to develop their skills and work in a supportive education setting; for preservice teachers to have a meaningful engagement with the arts; and to support preservice teachers in developing confidence and skills in passing these meaningful experiences onto their students.

Working closely with Dr. Michael Flannery (Head of Art & Religious Education at MIE), we decided on a programme of formal inputs into courses and ways to disseminate my work to students and staff.  In the first few months of the residency, I then set about on a mission to ‘activate art’ on campus with a programme of talks, exhibitions and screenings, alongside giving formal inputs into classes.

I decided to turn the lobby and windows of the Nagle-Rice building into an exhibition space where students and staff could spend a few moments looking at my work. During October I exhibited two films here: Everything Disappears which I made in Taiwan, and is in Mandarin with English subtitles; and Our Stranded Friends in Distant Lands which I made in South Korea and is in Korean with English subtitles. Photographic prints in the window space deconstructed the films into still images and accompanying scripts in English.

I then gave a lunchtime artist talk discussing these projects, the research behind them and the process of making them. As well as making the campus aware of my work as the new artist on campus, I also wanted students to encounter the work in a way similar to when they are installed in a gallery, before we began to work together in a lecture.

In October, I brought a group of 12 students on an excursion to my studio at Fire Station Artist Studios on Buckingham St, Dublin 1, and then continued on to see an exhibition that dealt with mediating art to primary school groups at Dublin City Council’s The LAB gallery on Foley St. My aim was for students to become aware of the visual art spaces in the North city centre, and also for them to see ‘behind the scenes’ of an artists studio and sculpture workshop, and then a final installation in a gallery.

For a number of evenings in November and December, I held a series of screenings to introduce video art and experimental filmmaking. As the series spanned from the beginnings of video art (Nam June Paik) to surrealism (Luis Buñuel and  Salvador Dalí) to current practices (Hito Steyerl), I gave the context of the works and topics in art history and then led informal discussions following the screenings. I hope the series encouraged students to engage with artist film and experimental film, and to feel confident discussing such works on school trips to galleries and museums in the future.

Next year I’m looking forward to continuing this work on campus and being involved with the Masters in Education Studies (Visual Arts).

!!!! Blog 4 – Tadhg Crowley, Projects Adviser

The Certificate in Contemporary Living (CCL) is a two-year education programme for people with intellectual disabilities designed for delivery in a third level education setting. It focuses on helping students develop strategic skills to promote self-reliance and independence and increased participation in society. The CCL course provides structured opportunities for interaction between students with intellectual disabilities and non-disabled students. As such it is about inclusion and not just about access.

Until 2015, the Expressive Arts module on the certificate in contemporary living course at University College Cork consisted solely of a semester devoted to music. Throughout the semester the group made outings to different cultural centres and galleries and the reaction of students to visual art exhibitions prompted the course coordinators to review ways that they could offer students a more rounded experience of the arts. In late 2014 the course coordinators approached the Glucksman with a view to working together on a visual arts module. The goal was to break the arts module into three strands – Visual Arts, Music and Drama.

The visual art module was designed around three key points that we returned to again and again over the 5 sessions. They were Individualism: how we all see things differently and therefore we all create differently. Capacity to be creative: everyone has the ability to be creative, we can be creative in many different ways and different mediums allow different people to be creative. Finding your voice: through experimentation, practice and choosing methods/approaches that are rewarding.

The days were divided into three pedagogical streams – art appreciation; art interaction; and art making. These three approaches are widely used in art education with the appreciation and interaction exercises informing the art making session and an understanding of the art making process informing the art appreciation and interaction. Each week we looked at different artists and artworks and the group engaged in practical projects with artist Paul McKenna.

A common link among the artists we studied in the appreciation sessions was that as well as pointing to the three key elements of Individualism, Capacity and Finding a Voice; they all had overcome major difficulties/obstacles to pursue a life of creativity.

Two of the artists we studied were Henri Matisse and Anni Albers. Henri Matisse was a renowned painter before he fell ill in later life and was confined to his bed for long periods. His movement now restricted he had to find new ways to continue his artistic career and so he began to work with scissors and paper. The work completed during this period of his life (cut-outs) is now regarded as some of his most important. Matisse found a way to continue his creativity and these new methods led to a rebirth in his artistic career.

Anni Albers encountered many obstacles throughout her extraordinarily creative life. Despite the challenges of a prejudiced college system, the peril of Nazi Germany and the difficulties of being an immigrant arriving in the USA without the language, she established an artistic practice and legacy befitting of one of the most significant artists of the 20^th century.

The art interaction sessions led students on drawing and photography walks on route to viewing artworks in the exhibition ‘Gut Instinct: Art, food and feeling’ at the Glucksman and a selection of significant works in the University College Cork Art Collection www.glucksman.org/collections.html

Under the guidance of Paul McKenna the group had the opportunity to bring the ideas and methods discussed earlier in the day to the practical projects. Working both individually and collectively, the students were presented with a diverse selection of materials and techniques in the quest to find their creative voice.

The three strands of this year’s CCL Expressive Arts module will conclude with an exhibition of the artworks created, along with sound recordings, video and live performance at the Glucksman in early May.

For more information please contact education@glucksman.org or visit glucksman.org

!!!! Finding our way

Tell us the story of your project – What was it about? Who was involved? How did you begin?

Lisa Cahill, Artist
An invitation was sent to Gaelscoil Uí Fhiaich requesting a teacher to work in partnership with the Froebel Department of Primary and Early Childhood Education’s Dance Artist in Residence. This school was chosen because of its long and active engagement with The School Placement Committee at the Froebel Department of Primary and Early Childhood Education at Maynooth University. Triona Stokes, the Residency Co-ordinator supported the management and administration of the project from the very beginning.

Tracey Kirrane, teaching Second Class pupils at the Gaelscoil accepted the invitation and we arranged a meeting. From the start, Tracey’s energy and openness was evident and it was clear that we shared a real excitement about the project and its possibilities.

On visiting the Gaelscoil, I was immediately taken with Joe Butler’s Fish sculpture at the front of the school. This work was made as part of the Per Cent per Art scheme about three years previously. This sculpture became a stimulus for the development of the dance work.

The aim of the project was to create a number of creative outcomes between all collaborators. I envisioned that this body of work would illustrate the context of the project, the creative processes and the learning that was taking place between all collaborators. These creative outcomes would include an integrated dance performance (students and children dancing together) and a film element. I also wanted the documentation methods and outputs to became part of the final sharing. These outputs would include recorded interviews, journals, reflections (both written and using art materials) and photographs.