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The Portal team is delighted to announce PlaySpaces, a collaborative arts project with St Vincent’s Convent Primary School and Múin Afterschool in Cork, led by visual artist Chris Finnegan as the second recipient of an Arts in Education Portal Documentation Award.

We’re excited to begin working with the recipients of the 2026 Documentation Awards over the coming months. As their projects develop, we’ll be visiting Orpheus in the Garden in Dublin and PlaySpaces in Cork to capture the creative processes and experiences behind the work.

PlaySpaces – about the project

PlaySpaces is a multi-year participatory arts project demonstrating genuine child collaboration in civic design.

Beginning in early 2025 with creative workshops at St. Vincent’s Convent Primary School, Blackpool, children imagined child-only spaces through drawing, collage, storytelling and model-making.

The collaboration emerged from Cork Child Friendly City consultancy revealing children’s desire for spaces authentically designed for them. Led by artist Chris Finnegan in partnership with Cork Midsummer Festival, the project expanded in late 2025 to include three Múin Afterschool centres across Cork City, with accessibility consultation from the Crann Centre.

The process is iterative and collaborative: children’s ideas are translated into plans and prototypes, then returned for further consultation. St. Vincent’s pupils have continued testing design proposals, exploring materials, providing feedback, and shaping the project’s public-facing visual identity.

PlaySpaces aims to demonstrate that participatory arts can fundamentally shift children’s relationship with public space and civic life – not through symbolic consultation but through sustained collaboration where young voices genuinely shape outcomes. A public trail of play spaces launches in summer 2026 across Cork Opera House, The Everyman, St. Peters, Cork City Library and The Lord Mayor’s Pavilion.

A Cork Midsummer Festival production, the project is supported by the Arts Council’s Arts in Early Learning and Childcare Scheme and Cork City Council through Creative Communities Scheme. With support from Sample Studios.

Lead Artist – Chris Finnegan

Chris Finnegan is an award-winning Cork-based visual artist specialising in participatory practice with children and young people. A trained post-primary art teacher with over 10 years’ experience, he creates exhibitions, interactive installations and playful experiences that centre young voices.

Recent work includes the this/OUR Project (Arts Council Arts Participation Project Award 2025), mapping children’s play in Glenbower Wood, East Cork. An Arts Council Children and Young People Arts Bursary is supporting research into early-years play, mentored by playworker Penny Wilson, with outcomes showcased as Play This Way – an interactive early-years playscape at Cork Midsummer Festival 2026.

Chris is an Associate Artist with Helium Arts and has collaborated with Cork County Council, SpaceFest, and KID FUTURE LAB (USA). He holds a BA in Fine Art from TU Dublin and an MA in Photography from Falmouth University.

St Vincent’s Convent Primary School

St Vincent’s Convent Primary School is a school where creativity and the arts are at the heart of learning and school life. They enjoy taking part in creative projects that inspire the pupils to think imaginatively and make a real change in the world. As part of the Playspaces Project, they are very proud to contribute to the cultural landscape of Cork City.

Marie O’ Shea is a teacher at St Vincent’s Convent Primary School with a strong passion for creativity, and collaboration with artists. Marie encourages her pupils to use their voices with confidence, fostering a classroom environment where creativity and self-expression are valued and celebrated.

Michelle Singleton is an Autism Class Teacher who is passionate about creating an inclusive, creative, and supportive learning environment. Her pupils are greatly enjoying their involvement in the Playspaces Project, exploring imagination, communication, and self-expression through the arts.

Donna Keeney – Accessibility Support

Donna is an artist, facilitator and experienced drama practitioner with a background spanning over a decade in creative education and participatory arts. Her work foregrounds access, care and playful creativity, ensuring every young person can participate meaningfully and feel seen within the work.

As Inclusion Officer at Graffiti Theatre Company Donna devises and delivers a wide range of Creative Learning programmes and works across multiple youth theatre settings, leading dedicated programmes for young people with disabilities and complex needs.

Susan Holland – Producer (Cork Midsummer)

Susan is a curator and cultural producer with over 20 years’ experience across visual arts, craft and design. She has been Head of Participation and Engagement at Cork Midsummer Festival since 2022. Prior to this she led the curatorial and engagement programme at the National Design & Craft Gallery. She was Engagement Curator with Irish Design 2015 and Outreach Officer with Design & Crafts Council of Ireland. She has served as Acting Curator at VISUAL Carlow, and has worked with EVA International, Limerick Arts Office, Occupy Space, Ireland @ Venice, and Limerick City Gallery of Art.

The Portal team is delighted to announce Orpheus in the Garden as the first recipient of a 2026 Arts in Education Portal Documentation Award.

We’re thrilled to be working with the two recipients of our documentation awards over the coming months. Their projects will be featured and showcased on the Portal as the documentation unfolds—stay tuned!

Orpheus in the Garden – About the Project

Orpheus in the Garden brings together children from two DEIS schools; Virgin Mary Boys School, Ballymun and Mother of Divine Grace Primary School, Finglas to collaborate with professional artists on a creative exploration of the biodiversity crisis.

Music Network, Ireland’s touring and music development organisation, is bringing this unique project to life in partnership with the National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin.

Led by renowned composer Dee Isaacs, the project will engage students in a series of educational and creative workshops, culminating in an original theatrical music show that blends art and science.

It will conclude with a series of magical performances open to the public, featuring the students performing alongside a cast of professional singers, actors and musicians in the stunning surroundings of Ireland’s National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin in May 2026.

The project explores the potential for the arts to expose, highlight and raise awareness around climate issues and the ability for art to connect with people in a way that policies or politics often can’t.

Through a unique collaboration between the Botanic Gardens, DEIS schools, and professional artists, this Music Network project empowers children to explore creativity and biodiversity loss while building curiosity, knowledge, and a shared sense of responsibility within their community. This project is supported by Dublin City Council, Grant Thornton, Permanent TSB, Movement for Good, Ireland Funds, OPW and DCU.

Dee Isaacs – Lead Artist

Dee Isaacs professional practice focuses on music and creative arts in participatory settings across social and educational contexts. With 25 years’ experience in community music as an academic, researcher, and composer, Dee currently serves as a Senior Lecturer leading Community Music and Arts Practice at the University of Edinburgh.

Dee is committed to the transformative power of music-making for both individuals and communities. Her work includes international experience, such as coordinating War Child programmes in the Caucasus and collaborating with refugee communities in Greece.

Her practice continues to be shaped by the pedagogical and artistic learning from these projects, alongside an ongoing commitment to the communities she works with.

James Riordan – Director

James Riordan is a bilingual theatre maker from Galway, trained in physical theatre at LISPA London and the APT Berlin and currently serving as the Artistic Director of Galway based Brú Theatre.

He is a core member of Macnas, directing and performance directing the company’s work. James teaches post-graduate Mask, Mime and Movement at Griffith College, Dublin.

Darragh Conlon – 5th Class Teacher, Virgin Mary Boys School, Ballymun

Darragh is a primary school teacher working in the same disadvantaged area he grew up. He is committed to creating a warm, welcoming school environment and believes in providing children with opportunities beyond the classroom, including arts, sports, and educational trips.

Darragh places a strong emphasis on giving students access to new and meaningful experiences, particularly those they may not otherwise encounter.

Eoin Dolan – Principal of Mother of Divine Grace Primary School, Finglas

Eoin began his teaching career 18 years ago in Ballymun and has since worked exclusively in DEIS schools.

He is deeply committed to improving educational experiences for children who may have faced challenges or trauma. His approach emphasises nurturing curiosity, creativity, and imagination through play and collaboration, with creativity integrated across subjects to build confidence and encourage a lifelong love of learning.

Arts in Education Portal Documentation Award 2026
Deadline: 11 March 2026, 5pm

The Arts in Education Portal team is pleased to invite applications for a documentation award. Through the award, successful applicants will receive services to the value of €5,000 that will support them in the documentation of a current or upcoming project and a €500 stipend.

The purpose of the award is to support the development of documented outcomes from Arts in Education initiatives in Ireland, which can be shared with the arts in education community and give insights into different processes of engagement. This is part of the Arts in Education Portal Editorial Committee’s commitment to supporting and recognising the value of documentation and reflection as key components within arts in education initiatives.

Two awards will be offered through this opportunity.

Outcomes of the documentation process will include: a project video, a project feature to be showcased on the Portal’s Projects/Partnerships, and the option of a critical essay, with a view to also presenting the work as part of the Arts in Education Portal National Day in 2026.

The process will involve meetings with the Portal team and a schedule of up to 2 visits over the course of the project to capture video and photographic documentation and support reflective processes among participants.
The Portal team will edit and produce a project video and will liaise closely with the project partners to develop the content for the project feature. The critical essay would be cited in the Portal’s Reading Room and is optional. The author and focus of the essay can be decided by the project organisers in collaboration with the Portal team.

Criteria:
To be considered for this opportunity, projects must:

Additional criteria:
Successful applicants will be asked to ensure that relevant permissions/consent have been sought for the documentation of participants.
Please ensure your application has been approved by all project partners prior to submission.

How to make a submission:
Complete your application using this online google form
Deadline for submission is 5pm, Wednesday 11 March 2026.
For more information, please contact editor@artsineducation.ie

Watch previous Documentation Award project videos on artsineducation.ie/en/our-videos

The Portal Team is delighted to announce Creativity in the Classroom with five Primary Schools in Dublin 8 and Dublin 12 as the second recipient of 2025 Arts in Education Portal Documentation Award. This special award celebrates the 10th anniversary of the Arts in Education Portal.

Project: Creativity in the Classroom

Creativity in the Classroom is an artist/ teacher collaborative initiative that emerged from the social and economic devastation of working-class communities in Dublin 8 and 12 in the 1980s & 90s. At that time teachers were witnessing signs of trauma in children in local schools and sought to find ways for children to support the emotional and social wellbeing of the whole child.

In 1997 a cross sectoral discourse led by the Canals Communities Partnerships resulted in the founding of Creativity in the Classroom, (CIC) a school-based creative arts programme in the belief that the arts could actively and positively contribute to the holistic development of the child and their educational experience.

Today, Creativity in the Classroom, continues to enrich the lives of our children, enriched by the ever- growing diversity of our school communities. Children continue to inform the direction of this process-based arts project, working together with artists and teachers. Despite the many challenges facing our children and their families, creativity continues to thrive amongst this generation of makers and doers.

The longitudinal nature of this project has allowed thousands of children to access excellent quality arts education in their classroom supported by the important dynamic of teacher and artist working collaboratively

Schools currently involved
• St James Primary School, Basin Lane, Dublin 8
• Loreto Junior Primary School, Crumlin, Dublin 12
• Loreto Senior Primary School, Crumlin, Dublin 12
• Warrenmount, Presentation Primary School, Blackpitts, Dublin 8
• Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School, Inchicore, Dublin 8

Artists currently involved
Liz McMahon graduated in Fine Art from Limerick School of Art and Design in 1981 and has been involved with many art programmes, in and out of primary schools since. She is the longest serving artist on the project (since 1997) and continues to provide mentorship and support to artists.

Deirdre O’Reilly is a Ceramic artist with a collaborative and personal practice. She has developed a process based practice with children and teachers over the last 20 years in Creativity in the Classroom.

Jane Groves is a visual artist who specialises in working with young people, inspired by her own observations of nature and informed by children’s innate playfulness, and curiosity.

Duffy Mooney Shephard is the newest member of the team. Duffy is an Illustrator and Story maker. She is an experienced art education professional with expertise in workshop facilitation & programming for children, families and schools.

Melissa Hogan: Teacher/ Co-ordinator
Melissa is a primary school teacher with a special interest in the creative arts and the positive impact creative expression has on well-being. She has been involved with Creativity in the Classroom for over 25 years and is passionate about how this wonderful project has enriched the lives of the children it serves in each of the school communities

We’re delighted to share the third blog in the series from the students and staff of Marino College, Dublin 3. In this post, staff and students reflect on collaboration in the planning and organising of their Creative Minds Festival of Arts and Culture, Marino 100: Back to the Future, and talk about some of the artists, groups and organisations they worked with.

Turning the idea of our Creative Minds Festival into reality took a lot of engagement, involvement and collaboration with a wide variety of groups in our community. In this blog post, we’ll take a look at some of the people organisations we partnered with and how our collaboration enhanced the scope and ambition of what we were able to achieve.

The first, and key, partnership that led to the Festival’s success were having our Artist in Residence, Heather Gray, to work with. Heather initially came to the school as a Creative Practitioner in the pilot stages of the Arts Council’s Creative Schools Programme. She’s the creative force behind the project, guiding students, staff and community members in making and doing.

Irish teacher Joan Lyne, who first dreamt up the Festival Parade, is a constant source of great ideas and problem solving, a driving force of creativity in the school, who now coordinates the TY Creative Schools class. Our Art, Music, Home Ec., SEN and Guidance departments have collaborated extensively with visiting artists and craftspeople to facilitate opportunities for learning and fun for students. Ms French and Ms Connor’s organisational and communication skills are world class, and we’re lucky to have buy-in from all our enthusiastic and supportive staff in Marino College: all members of staff were involved in some capacity. Special mention to our Special Needs Assistants, Teresa, the two Helens, Mary, Grainne, Aisling and Tamlyn too – their indefatigable good humour and incredible way with our students made planning and organisation so much easier.

School Management, our former Principal Mary McAteer (retired) and current Principal Lisa Reid, and Deputy Principal Grainne Cullen, understood the added value creativity outside of (but linked to) the classroom brings to the school, and support Heather’s working with us in Art Club every Wednesday afternoon. Their buy-in as key stakeholders was essential, as was the support of our Board of Management. The Chair of our Board, Deputy-Lord Mayor of Dublin and local City Councillor Donna Cooney, who also helps arrange the local Welcome Fairview initiative for refugees, asylum seekers and migrants, was very supportive and joined us on the day, alongside the then Deputy-Lord Mayor Cllr. Deirdre Heney.

The Welcome Fairview Group worked on creating ceramic tableware with students and parents that we used to share food from different cultures at our Global Feast and BBQ. The BBQ couldn’t have happened without the support of Swan Youth Service on Dunne Street, supportive champions of young people in our area.

We were also lucky to be accepted, along with St. Vincent’s Girl’s National School, Mount Carmel School and St. Joseph’s CBS Fairview, in our application to become a Creative Cluster, an initiative of the Department of Education. This collaboration saw secondary students work with primary pupils in making props and costumes and artists ran workshop sessions in each of the schools. For the 2025 Parade, Heather’s already run workshops in the JCSP Library in Mount Carmel making The Morrigan puppets, which the Mount Carmel students will have in this year’s parade, along with students from all the other schools.

We received generous funding from The European Cultural Foundation’s Europe Challenge Project, which allowed us to upscale and extent the festival in year two. This project saw us work in close collaboration with the Marino Resident’s Association, and in particular their Marino 100 Committee, who coordinated the local celebrations of the area’s centenary. Our school is also extremely fortunate to have one of only 30 State-funded school libraries in the country, under the Junior Cert. Schools Programme Demonstration Library Project, allowing us to place cross-curricular teaching and learning at the heart of all of our collaborations and to host workshops and sessions in the library, linking to the library’s print and digital stock.

Fairview’s Viva School of Dance taught students to dance to the tune most associated with our area, the famous Marino Waltz, through workshops in school and with local residents. RTE Junior’s Senior Producer, Nicky Coghlan, came along on the day of the Parade and recorded a podcast with students, and Irish Times photographers took fantastic shots of the Festival and Parade too, featuring in both print and digital editions of the paper.

As part of the festivities, under the theme of Diversity and Biodiversity, we worked with Easy Treesie to plant native trees in the area, hiding a forest in the city. We worked with Dublin City Council Parks and planted trees in Fairview Park as well as in the grounds of St. Joseph’s CBS and at the Mater Step-Down Unit on Phlipsburg Avenue.

A group of students from Marino College stand around an Easy Tressie sign and potted trees

Students from Marino College in Dublin planting trees with Easy Treesie as part of the Creative Minds Festival

Our goals to challenge anti-immigrant sentiment were informed and supported by AkiDwA, Black & Irish and East Wall Here for All, alongside Mud Island Community Garden. On the morning of the Festival last year, we welcomed the assessment team from Schools of Sanctuary, who met with students and staff and awarded us our School of Sanctuary status.

Roisin Lonergan, Creative Director of the Five Lamps Arts Festival, has been a constant support, sharing her extensive skills, knowledge and contacts with us. Dublin Port Company were also very generous in their support. Many visiting artists and craftspeople enhanced the skillsets that enabled our making and doing, including Samba drummers William Ribeiro and Simeon Smith, fibre artists Sinead Lynch and Helen Gaughan and artist Maddy Schmidt, to name just a few! Local artist Steven Doody can turn his hand to anything and is always reliable for help and advice.

Closing roads for the Parade required collaboration with An Garda Síochána, whose community liaison officer in Clontarf Station couldn’t have been more helpful and helped to coordinate stewards on the day. Dublin Bus allowed us hold up the 123 bus route, and Dublin City Council Arts Office, and the City Council more widely, provided great supports, funding, advice and encouragement. We had to create a detailed Event Plan and Risk Assessment to most of these organisations. We also had to create a detailed plan showing who needed to be where, when, doing what, with an assigned role for everyone in the school and plenty more people besides!

A screenshot of a spreadsheet detailing peoples roles during the festival

Marino College Festival organisation – A designated role and an individualised schedule for everyone in the building!

St. Vincent’s Infants School on Griffith Avenue and St. Vincent de Paul School North Strand welcomed Marino students into their classrooms to run creative prop- and costume- making workshops with their pupils. Cathal Brugha Further Education and Training College, North Strand Campus, were generous in allowing us to use their facilities for creativity and for storage. Music Generation’s Peter O’Toole supported the music department, and Irish teacher Niamh Murray coordinated choreography. Local Businesses proudly promoted the festivities – literally all of the community were involved!

Logos of all the groups and organisations who supported Marino Colleges Creative Minds Festival

The many groups and organisations who supported Marino College’s Creative Minds Festival

Collaboration across our community was key to the project’s success – there are so many great organisations out there working to achieve the same goals, so it’s great to discover one another and find opportunities to work together to build on our community connections. We’re gearing up for this year’s festival, with the theme of ‘Global Myths, Local Legends’, and look forward to telling you all about it in our next blog post!


!!!! PlaySpaces announced as second recipient of the 2026 Documentation Award

The Portal team is delighted to announce PlaySpaces, a collaborative arts project with St Vincent’s Convent Primary School and Múin Afterschool in Cork, led by visual artist Chris Finnegan as the second recipient of an Arts in Education Portal Documentation Award.

We’re excited to begin working with the recipients of the 2026 Documentation Awards over the coming months. As their projects develop, we’ll be visiting Orpheus in the Garden in Dublin and PlaySpaces in Cork to capture the creative processes and experiences behind the work.

PlaySpaces – about the project

PlaySpaces is a multi-year participatory arts project demonstrating genuine child collaboration in civic design.

Beginning in early 2025 with creative workshops at St. Vincent’s Convent Primary School, Blackpool, children imagined child-only spaces through drawing, collage, storytelling and model-making.

The collaboration emerged from Cork Child Friendly City consultancy revealing children’s desire for spaces authentically designed for them. Led by artist Chris Finnegan in partnership with Cork Midsummer Festival, the project expanded in late 2025 to include three Múin Afterschool centres across Cork City, with accessibility consultation from the Crann Centre.

The process is iterative and collaborative: children’s ideas are translated into plans and prototypes, then returned for further consultation. St. Vincent’s pupils have continued testing design proposals, exploring materials, providing feedback, and shaping the project’s public-facing visual identity.

PlaySpaces aims to demonstrate that participatory arts can fundamentally shift children’s relationship with public space and civic life – not through symbolic consultation but through sustained collaboration where young voices genuinely shape outcomes. A public trail of play spaces launches in summer 2026 across Cork Opera House, The Everyman, St. Peters, Cork City Library and The Lord Mayor’s Pavilion.

A Cork Midsummer Festival production, the project is supported by the Arts Council’s Arts in Early Learning and Childcare Scheme and Cork City Council through Creative Communities Scheme. With support from Sample Studios.

Lead Artist – Chris Finnegan

Chris Finnegan is an award-winning Cork-based visual artist specialising in participatory practice with children and young people. A trained post-primary art teacher with over 10 years’ experience, he creates exhibitions, interactive installations and playful experiences that centre young voices.

Recent work includes the this/OUR Project (Arts Council Arts Participation Project Award 2025), mapping children’s play in Glenbower Wood, East Cork. An Arts Council Children and Young People Arts Bursary is supporting research into early-years play, mentored by playworker Penny Wilson, with outcomes showcased as Play This Way – an interactive early-years playscape at Cork Midsummer Festival 2026.

Chris is an Associate Artist with Helium Arts and has collaborated with Cork County Council, SpaceFest, and KID FUTURE LAB (USA). He holds a BA in Fine Art from TU Dublin and an MA in Photography from Falmouth University.

St Vincent’s Convent Primary School

St Vincent’s Convent Primary School is a school where creativity and the arts are at the heart of learning and school life. They enjoy taking part in creative projects that inspire the pupils to think imaginatively and make a real change in the world. As part of the Playspaces Project, they are very proud to contribute to the cultural landscape of Cork City.

Marie O’ Shea is a teacher at St Vincent’s Convent Primary School with a strong passion for creativity, and collaboration with artists. Marie encourages her pupils to use their voices with confidence, fostering a classroom environment where creativity and self-expression are valued and celebrated.

Michelle Singleton is an Autism Class Teacher who is passionate about creating an inclusive, creative, and supportive learning environment. Her pupils are greatly enjoying their involvement in the Playspaces Project, exploring imagination, communication, and self-expression through the arts.

Donna Keeney – Accessibility Support

Donna is an artist, facilitator and experienced drama practitioner with a background spanning over a decade in creative education and participatory arts. Her work foregrounds access, care and playful creativity, ensuring every young person can participate meaningfully and feel seen within the work.

As Inclusion Officer at Graffiti Theatre Company Donna devises and delivers a wide range of Creative Learning programmes and works across multiple youth theatre settings, leading dedicated programmes for young people with disabilities and complex needs.

Susan Holland – Producer (Cork Midsummer)

Susan is a curator and cultural producer with over 20 years’ experience across visual arts, craft and design. She has been Head of Participation and Engagement at Cork Midsummer Festival since 2022. Prior to this she led the curatorial and engagement programme at the National Design & Craft Gallery. She was Engagement Curator with Irish Design 2015 and Outreach Officer with Design & Crafts Council of Ireland. She has served as Acting Curator at VISUAL Carlow, and has worked with EVA International, Limerick Arts Office, Occupy Space, Ireland @ Venice, and Limerick City Gallery of Art.

!!!! 2026 Documentation Award: Orpheus in the Garden announced as first recipient

The Portal team is delighted to announce Orpheus in the Garden as the first recipient of a 2026 Arts in Education Portal Documentation Award.

We’re thrilled to be working with the two recipients of our documentation awards over the coming months. Their projects will be featured and showcased on the Portal as the documentation unfolds—stay tuned!

Orpheus in the Garden – About the Project

Orpheus in the Garden brings together children from two DEIS schools; Virgin Mary Boys School, Ballymun and Mother of Divine Grace Primary School, Finglas to collaborate with professional artists on a creative exploration of the biodiversity crisis.

Music Network, Ireland’s touring and music development organisation, is bringing this unique project to life in partnership with the National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin.

Led by renowned composer Dee Isaacs, the project will engage students in a series of educational and creative workshops, culminating in an original theatrical music show that blends art and science.

It will conclude with a series of magical performances open to the public, featuring the students performing alongside a cast of professional singers, actors and musicians in the stunning surroundings of Ireland’s National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin in May 2026.

The project explores the potential for the arts to expose, highlight and raise awareness around climate issues and the ability for art to connect with people in a way that policies or politics often can’t.

Through a unique collaboration between the Botanic Gardens, DEIS schools, and professional artists, this Music Network project empowers children to explore creativity and biodiversity loss while building curiosity, knowledge, and a shared sense of responsibility within their community. This project is supported by Dublin City Council, Grant Thornton, Permanent TSB, Movement for Good, Ireland Funds, OPW and DCU.

Dee Isaacs – Lead Artist

Dee Isaacs professional practice focuses on music and creative arts in participatory settings across social and educational contexts. With 25 years’ experience in community music as an academic, researcher, and composer, Dee currently serves as a Senior Lecturer leading Community Music and Arts Practice at the University of Edinburgh.

Dee is committed to the transformative power of music-making for both individuals and communities. Her work includes international experience, such as coordinating War Child programmes in the Caucasus and collaborating with refugee communities in Greece.

Her practice continues to be shaped by the pedagogical and artistic learning from these projects, alongside an ongoing commitment to the communities she works with.

James Riordan – Director

James Riordan is a bilingual theatre maker from Galway, trained in physical theatre at LISPA London and the APT Berlin and currently serving as the Artistic Director of Galway based Brú Theatre.

He is a core member of Macnas, directing and performance directing the company’s work. James teaches post-graduate Mask, Mime and Movement at Griffith College, Dublin.

Darragh Conlon – 5th Class Teacher, Virgin Mary Boys School, Ballymun

Darragh is a primary school teacher working in the same disadvantaged area he grew up. He is committed to creating a warm, welcoming school environment and believes in providing children with opportunities beyond the classroom, including arts, sports, and educational trips.

Darragh places a strong emphasis on giving students access to new and meaningful experiences, particularly those they may not otherwise encounter.

Eoin Dolan – Principal of Mother of Divine Grace Primary School, Finglas

Eoin began his teaching career 18 years ago in Ballymun and has since worked exclusively in DEIS schools.

He is deeply committed to improving educational experiences for children who may have faced challenges or trauma. His approach emphasises nurturing curiosity, creativity, and imagination through play and collaboration, with creativity integrated across subjects to build confidence and encourage a lifelong love of learning.

!!!! Opportunity: Portal Documentation Award 2026

Arts in Education Portal Documentation Award 2026
Deadline: 11 March 2026, 5pm

The Arts in Education Portal team is pleased to invite applications for a documentation award. Through the award, successful applicants will receive services to the value of €5,000 that will support them in the documentation of a current or upcoming project and a €500 stipend.

The purpose of the award is to support the development of documented outcomes from Arts in Education initiatives in Ireland, which can be shared with the arts in education community and give insights into different processes of engagement. This is part of the Arts in Education Portal Editorial Committee’s commitment to supporting and recognising the value of documentation and reflection as key components within arts in education initiatives.

Two awards will be offered through this opportunity.

Outcomes of the documentation process will include: a project video, a project feature to be showcased on the Portal’s Projects/Partnerships, and the option of a critical essay, with a view to also presenting the work as part of the Arts in Education Portal National Day in 2026.

The process will involve meetings with the Portal team and a schedule of up to 2 visits over the course of the project to capture video and photographic documentation and support reflective processes among participants.
The Portal team will edit and produce a project video and will liaise closely with the project partners to develop the content for the project feature. The critical essay would be cited in the Portal’s Reading Room and is optional. The author and focus of the essay can be decided by the project organisers in collaboration with the Portal team.

Criteria:
To be considered for this opportunity, projects must:

Additional criteria:
Successful applicants will be asked to ensure that relevant permissions/consent have been sought for the documentation of participants.
Please ensure your application has been approved by all project partners prior to submission.

How to make a submission:
Complete your application using this online google form
Deadline for submission is 5pm, Wednesday 11 March 2026.
For more information, please contact editor@artsineducation.ie

Watch previous Documentation Award project videos on artsineducation.ie/en/our-videos

!!!! 2025 Documentation Award: Creativity in the Classroom Announced as Second Recipient

The Portal Team is delighted to announce Creativity in the Classroom with five Primary Schools in Dublin 8 and Dublin 12 as the second recipient of 2025 Arts in Education Portal Documentation Award. This special award celebrates the 10th anniversary of the Arts in Education Portal.

Project: Creativity in the Classroom

Creativity in the Classroom is an artist/ teacher collaborative initiative that emerged from the social and economic devastation of working-class communities in Dublin 8 and 12 in the 1980s & 90s. At that time teachers were witnessing signs of trauma in children in local schools and sought to find ways for children to support the emotional and social wellbeing of the whole child.

In 1997 a cross sectoral discourse led by the Canals Communities Partnerships resulted in the founding of Creativity in the Classroom, (CIC) a school-based creative arts programme in the belief that the arts could actively and positively contribute to the holistic development of the child and their educational experience.

Today, Creativity in the Classroom, continues to enrich the lives of our children, enriched by the ever- growing diversity of our school communities. Children continue to inform the direction of this process-based arts project, working together with artists and teachers. Despite the many challenges facing our children and their families, creativity continues to thrive amongst this generation of makers and doers.

The longitudinal nature of this project has allowed thousands of children to access excellent quality arts education in their classroom supported by the important dynamic of teacher and artist working collaboratively

Schools currently involved
• St James Primary School, Basin Lane, Dublin 8
• Loreto Junior Primary School, Crumlin, Dublin 12
• Loreto Senior Primary School, Crumlin, Dublin 12
• Warrenmount, Presentation Primary School, Blackpitts, Dublin 8
• Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School, Inchicore, Dublin 8

Artists currently involved
Liz McMahon graduated in Fine Art from Limerick School of Art and Design in 1981 and has been involved with many art programmes, in and out of primary schools since. She is the longest serving artist on the project (since 1997) and continues to provide mentorship and support to artists.

Deirdre O’Reilly is a Ceramic artist with a collaborative and personal practice. She has developed a process based practice with children and teachers over the last 20 years in Creativity in the Classroom.

Jane Groves is a visual artist who specialises in working with young people, inspired by her own observations of nature and informed by children’s innate playfulness, and curiosity.

Duffy Mooney Shephard is the newest member of the team. Duffy is an Illustrator and Story maker. She is an experienced art education professional with expertise in workshop facilitation & programming for children, families and schools.

Melissa Hogan: Teacher/ Co-ordinator
Melissa is a primary school teacher with a special interest in the creative arts and the positive impact creative expression has on well-being. She has been involved with Creativity in the Classroom for over 25 years and is passionate about how this wonderful project has enriched the lives of the children it serves in each of the school communities

!!!! Blog 3 – Students and Staff of Marino College, Dublin 3

We’re delighted to share the third blog in the series from the students and staff of Marino College, Dublin 3. In this post, staff and students reflect on collaboration in the planning and organising of their Creative Minds Festival of Arts and Culture, Marino 100: Back to the Future, and talk about some of the artists, groups and organisations they worked with.

Turning the idea of our Creative Minds Festival into reality took a lot of engagement, involvement and collaboration with a wide variety of groups in our community. In this blog post, we’ll take a look at some of the people organisations we partnered with and how our collaboration enhanced the scope and ambition of what we were able to achieve.

The first, and key, partnership that led to the Festival’s success were having our Artist in Residence, Heather Gray, to work with. Heather initially came to the school as a Creative Practitioner in the pilot stages of the Arts Council’s Creative Schools Programme. She’s the creative force behind the project, guiding students, staff and community members in making and doing.

Irish teacher Joan Lyne, who first dreamt up the Festival Parade, is a constant source of great ideas and problem solving, a driving force of creativity in the school, who now coordinates the TY Creative Schools class. Our Art, Music, Home Ec., SEN and Guidance departments have collaborated extensively with visiting artists and craftspeople to facilitate opportunities for learning and fun for students. Ms French and Ms Connor’s organisational and communication skills are world class, and we’re lucky to have buy-in from all our enthusiastic and supportive staff in Marino College: all members of staff were involved in some capacity. Special mention to our Special Needs Assistants, Teresa, the two Helens, Mary, Grainne, Aisling and Tamlyn too – their indefatigable good humour and incredible way with our students made planning and organisation so much easier.

School Management, our former Principal Mary McAteer (retired) and current Principal Lisa Reid, and Deputy Principal Grainne Cullen, understood the added value creativity outside of (but linked to) the classroom brings to the school, and support Heather’s working with us in Art Club every Wednesday afternoon. Their buy-in as key stakeholders was essential, as was the support of our Board of Management. The Chair of our Board, Deputy-Lord Mayor of Dublin and local City Councillor Donna Cooney, who also helps arrange the local Welcome Fairview initiative for refugees, asylum seekers and migrants, was very supportive and joined us on the day, alongside the then Deputy-Lord Mayor Cllr. Deirdre Heney.

The Welcome Fairview Group worked on creating ceramic tableware with students and parents that we used to share food from different cultures at our Global Feast and BBQ. The BBQ couldn’t have happened without the support of Swan Youth Service on Dunne Street, supportive champions of young people in our area.

We were also lucky to be accepted, along with St. Vincent’s Girl’s National School, Mount Carmel School and St. Joseph’s CBS Fairview, in our application to become a Creative Cluster, an initiative of the Department of Education. This collaboration saw secondary students work with primary pupils in making props and costumes and artists ran workshop sessions in each of the schools. For the 2025 Parade, Heather’s already run workshops in the JCSP Library in Mount Carmel making The Morrigan puppets, which the Mount Carmel students will have in this year’s parade, along with students from all the other schools.

We received generous funding from The European Cultural Foundation’s Europe Challenge Project, which allowed us to upscale and extent the festival in year two. This project saw us work in close collaboration with the Marino Resident’s Association, and in particular their Marino 100 Committee, who coordinated the local celebrations of the area’s centenary. Our school is also extremely fortunate to have one of only 30 State-funded school libraries in the country, under the Junior Cert. Schools Programme Demonstration Library Project, allowing us to place cross-curricular teaching and learning at the heart of all of our collaborations and to host workshops and sessions in the library, linking to the library’s print and digital stock.

Fairview’s Viva School of Dance taught students to dance to the tune most associated with our area, the famous Marino Waltz, through workshops in school and with local residents. RTE Junior’s Senior Producer, Nicky Coghlan, came along on the day of the Parade and recorded a podcast with students, and Irish Times photographers took fantastic shots of the Festival and Parade too, featuring in both print and digital editions of the paper.

As part of the festivities, under the theme of Diversity and Biodiversity, we worked with Easy Treesie to plant native trees in the area, hiding a forest in the city. We worked with Dublin City Council Parks and planted trees in Fairview Park as well as in the grounds of St. Joseph’s CBS and at the Mater Step-Down Unit on Phlipsburg Avenue.

A group of students from Marino College stand around an Easy Tressie sign and potted trees

Students from Marino College in Dublin planting trees with Easy Treesie as part of the Creative Minds Festival

Our goals to challenge anti-immigrant sentiment were informed and supported by AkiDwA, Black & Irish and East Wall Here for All, alongside Mud Island Community Garden. On the morning of the Festival last year, we welcomed the assessment team from Schools of Sanctuary, who met with students and staff and awarded us our School of Sanctuary status.

Roisin Lonergan, Creative Director of the Five Lamps Arts Festival, has been a constant support, sharing her extensive skills, knowledge and contacts with us. Dublin Port Company were also very generous in their support. Many visiting artists and craftspeople enhanced the skillsets that enabled our making and doing, including Samba drummers William Ribeiro and Simeon Smith, fibre artists Sinead Lynch and Helen Gaughan and artist Maddy Schmidt, to name just a few! Local artist Steven Doody can turn his hand to anything and is always reliable for help and advice.

Closing roads for the Parade required collaboration with An Garda Síochána, whose community liaison officer in Clontarf Station couldn’t have been more helpful and helped to coordinate stewards on the day. Dublin Bus allowed us hold up the 123 bus route, and Dublin City Council Arts Office, and the City Council more widely, provided great supports, funding, advice and encouragement. We had to create a detailed Event Plan and Risk Assessment to most of these organisations. We also had to create a detailed plan showing who needed to be where, when, doing what, with an assigned role for everyone in the school and plenty more people besides!

A screenshot of a spreadsheet detailing peoples roles during the festival

Marino College Festival organisation – A designated role and an individualised schedule for everyone in the building!

St. Vincent’s Infants School on Griffith Avenue and St. Vincent de Paul School North Strand welcomed Marino students into their classrooms to run creative prop- and costume- making workshops with their pupils. Cathal Brugha Further Education and Training College, North Strand Campus, were generous in allowing us to use their facilities for creativity and for storage. Music Generation’s Peter O’Toole supported the music department, and Irish teacher Niamh Murray coordinated choreography. Local Businesses proudly promoted the festivities – literally all of the community were involved!

Logos of all the groups and organisations who supported Marino Colleges Creative Minds Festival

The many groups and organisations who supported Marino College’s Creative Minds Festival

Collaboration across our community was key to the project’s success – there are so many great organisations out there working to achieve the same goals, so it’s great to discover one another and find opportunities to work together to build on our community connections. We’re gearing up for this year’s festival, with the theme of ‘Global Myths, Local Legends’, and look forward to telling you all about it in our next blog post!