Ark volunteer Doreen Davitt short listed for 2008 Ireland InVOLved
Awards
The awards ceremony for the 2008 Ireland InVOLved Awards took place on
Wednesday 26 November 2008. We would like to offer our sincerest congratulations
to one of our Ark volunteers Doreen Davitt, who was short listed for the
award under the Arts, Culture and Media Category.
This awards scheme is about showcasing the work of volunteers across the
country. It honours 10 individuals, in ten different categories and one
of these ten is then selected to represent Ireland at the European Parliament
in Strasbourg, France on 5 December, International Volunteer Day. The award
ceremony shines a light on the phenomenal contribution made by ordinary
people and the amazing impact they have on every aspect of Irish life through
their volunteering activities. The campaign itself elicited a fantastic
response, illustrating the diverse and colourful activities that volunteers
engage in, the passion and commitment they have for their area of interest
and the difference they make in the lives of so many.
Since her hiring and training in summer 2008, Doreen has been involved
with no less than four programmes. Doreen’s role as volunteer at The
Ark included working on a number of different projects. Each programme required
a different set of skills, in unique settings. Doreen absolutely excelled
on each, with our General Manager and Director both taking note of her outstanding
contribution. As she has worked in a number of child-centred environments
previously, her perspective and approach to working and interacting with
children at The Ark was respectful, sensitive and truly engaging. She committed
a lot of time to volunteering with us, proving reliable as well as enthusiastic,
positive and motivated.
We would like to thank Doreen for her time and commitment to The Ark, and
wish her the best of luck with all her current and future projects.
The Canopy Project at The National College of Ireland
The National College of Ireland recently commissioned The Ark, A Cultural
Centre for Children to devise and deliver a workshop for children, to
culminate in the installation of the artwork within the courtyard space
at the NCI in Dublin Docklands.
From 9 – 13 June 2008, Ark artists Liz Smith and Laura de Búrca
embarked on these workshops with a selected group of children from the Dublin
Docklands area to produce designs for a site specific sculpture for the gardens
of the National College. Pupils from St. Laurence O'Toole's Girls School, St.
Laurence O’Toole’s CBS, St. Patrick's Girls National School, St.
Patrick’s
Boys National School and O’Connell’s Primary School were involved.
The workshops focused on the recreation of a forest canopy and the teeming life
which it supports. Liz and Laura began by exploring the biodiversity within a
forest canopy with the children, looking at the variety of plant life, insects,
birds, reptiles and mammals from several continents. The children chose which
animals, insects and plants they wanted in their own forest canopy. Some children
created exotic birds and butterflies; some chose nocturnal animals while others
made giant insects. These plants and animals were drawn onto coloured transparent
vinyl, which has a stained glass effect, using permanent marker, then cut out
and stuck directly onto a transparent plastic frieze.
The finished installed piece in the NCI courtyard will mimic the forest canopy,
with light filtering through the leaves as well as the colourful birds, insects,
reptiles and animals created by the children. The friezes will be fixed onto
a bespoke wooden garden structure, which will be built into an archway, where
visitors can view the garden with the sun bouncing through colours and textures
onto the pathway below.
We look forward to sharing images of the finished project with you soon.
On the Block wins more awards!
We're delighted to keep you up to date on the runaway success of On
The Block, the documentary made by children from the ArkLink Fatima Mansions
Film Club, produced for the RTÉ Young Peoples Department by Macalla
Teoranta.
ArkLink was developed by The Ark in partnership with Fatima Groups United and
funded by Atlantic Philanthropies and the Irish Youth Foundation.
Documentary filmmaker Katie Lincoln and ArkLink project manager Bernadette Larkin,
supported by Anne-Marie Kenny, developed the ArkLink Fatima Mansions Film Club
and worked with young people over a three year period (2003 – 2006). A
core group of children would meet up on a Saturday morning and venture out to
film the goings on around the flats. Through nurturing the children's own creativity
and confidence a model evolved that created the right environment to ensure the
children were the filmmakers. This documentary is genuinely remarkable in creating
a true, but rarely seen, picture of childhood as young people record the rebuilding
and transformation of Fatima Mansions. Following on from this production model,
there are film-makers ages 8-12 years recording their lives throughout 2008 in
four different communities around Ireland for a new series of On The Block.
To date, On the Block has won the prestigious 2007 Prix Danube International
Children and Youth Festival prize in the documentary programmes category. 39
countries entered 218 programmes into the Prix Danube Festival. On the
Block was chosen from a shortlist of 27 documentaries in its category. It was
recently awarded the Prix Jeunesse Heart Prize 2008 in Germany. The prize is
awarded to the programme that touched the hearts of most delegates. On the Block
scooped the award in the Young People category at the Celtic Media Festival in
April of this year. The Celtic Media Festival celebrates excellence in broadcasting
and film talent through the Celtic countries.
On the Block has also been screened at INPUT in Johannesburg in May of this year.
INPUT is a major annual public broadcasting conference. 80 of the most challenging
and provocative programmes from around the world, selected from hundreds entered,
are screened and discussed. It was also selected to represent the European Broadcasting
Union Children and Youth Group at the EBU Common Focus Day in Lucerne, Switzerland.
This selection was made by the Youth Experts Executive and an extract from the
best European programmes from each genre was shown to all delegates.
We will keep you posted on any new developments as the work continues to go from
strength to strength.
