The Ark’s Children’s Council Blog: April update from Shaun Dunne
So, we’re launched...
The Ark now has a children’s council!
The Ark now has an artist in residence!
A lot is happening in 2016!
I’m Shaun, the afore mentioned Artist in Residence, and monthly I’m going to be writing these blog posts on what we’re up to and why.
In case, you weren’t at our Children’s Soap Box Launch on the 18th March, I’m using this first post as a brief update on all things Council related. Here you can read about what we’re doing, who we’re doing it with, how the launch went and our plans for the next year!
It’s very exciting! Sure, boil the kettle!
Who are we?
The Children’s Council are made up of 15 young people from Dublin City. Over the past few months, The Ark and I have been reaching out to various school projects looking for any young people who might be interested in being resident with me over the course of a year. The offer was one of inclusion firstly (our young people have access to the entire 2016 programme for free) but also an opportunity for us to really begin a meaningful conversation with a group of people about our work and their responses to it. (They’re already HIGHLY opinionated!)
Our group are united by the fact that they’re all in 5th class but they range in age from 10-12. They are interested in art, theatre, dance and music- with some having had some access to these interests before while others unfortunately have not. This is where I come in!
I’m Shaun Dunne. I’m a playwright and theatre artist from inner city Dublin. Some of you might have seen some work of mine in Project Arts Centre or at the Abbey most recently. I’m mostly interested in making theatre that talks about Ireland today and I often use my own life or other people’s lived experiences as source material for the work that I make. Access is a huge theme in my plays so the opportunity to be resident in the Ark for a year with responsibility to the Council was really exciting. When I was growing up, I had lots of opportunities like this thankfully. The Abbey’s Outreach Department and the National Association of Youth Drama were instrumental in my creative development so I know firsthand how informative and formative projects like this can be.
Our members are:
Katie Learmouth & Kellyanne Daly, St Laurence O'Toole's Girls NS
Rowan Moore & Ella Gannon, City Quay NS
Saoirse Cannon, St Bridget's NS, Haddington Road.
Naoise Byrne, St Patrick's Girls NS, Ringsend.
Grace Hickey & Kelly Ogan, Rutland NS.
Ollie West, St Mary's NS, Haddington Road.
Lee Geoghegan, Scott McCluskey & Jamie Nangle, St Patrick's Boys NS, Ringsend.
Paul Barlau, Reece Butler & Adam Falegan, St Laurence O'Toole's Boys CBS
We’ve met three times so far and the 15 of them have already been keeping me very busy!
What have we been up to?
The past two sessions were mainly spent preparing for our launch. This was our opportunity to introduce the city to what we’re up to so we decided (for the year that’s in it!) that a soapbox style performance would be the best way to do this.
We had two introductory workshops where the young people and I met and discussed what it was that they would like to share. This ended up being the beginning of our charter on What Children Need and also the beginning of a new story the group are writing together about a young boy called Sam who is living in emergency accommodation.
The Council is really an opportunity for a group of young people to get creative and have fun. But we are also excited at the potential there is here to be political and the opportunity we have as an organisation to really help give voice to the young. That, as part of our remit, made what the group offered up really exciting- and I can’t wait to continue both conversations throughout the year!
In tandem with our prep, we also went to see BEES! The Musical by WillFred Theatre Company & The Ark. Afterwards, The Council had a quick chat with the actors which was really useful for me as the facilitator because I got to see firsthand how eager the group were to ask questions and learn more. This made me think we should have a review section in our Soapbox- which was later led by Grace, Adam, and Kelly who were big fans of the work. (Adam is definitely our next Peter Crawley though!
The launch itself was really exciting for the young people although probably a little nerve-wracking. Thankfully we had amazing support from RTE’s Cór naNOg which really helped root our group and encourage them forward.
What's next?
Now that we’re launched, we’re entering an observational phase where the Council really take the time to soak in what The Ark does and why. This includes some general team building and drama workshops, a Graffiti Classics performance and our Put Yourself in the Picture portraiture experience.
The Council works in a way where the young people get to guide what it is that they do themselves. So over the next few weeks and months, I will be having a lot of chats with them in The Ark about what they would like to learn, who they would like to meet and what kind of art they would like to make.
Watch this space to see what we get up to next!
Shaun Dunne is The Ark's Artist in Residence