25 Years of The Ark

This September, The Ark is celebrating our 25th birthday. Below, you can take a look back at some of the many wonderful moments we've had creating and sharing great art for, by and about children since first opening our doors in 1995.

The Ark's 25th birthday season is sponsored by BDO.

The original Faces In The Window in 1995 displayed
Children waiting at the entrance to The Ark in 1995
Machinations: the Art of the Machine, 2003
No Messin' With The Monkeys by Roddy Doyle, 2005
The Butterfly Effect: An ArkLink Retrospective (2006), celebrated the captivating artwork of the participating children of ArkLink, the culmination of the six-year programme in partnership with Fatima Mansions.
TOYS! At The Ark, 2007. Photo by Mark Stedman
Beware The Storybook Wolves, 2008, Playwright Tom Swift Adapted from the book by Lauren Child
Marina Carr's The Giant Blue Hand, directed by Selina Cartmell, 2009
The Girl Who Forgot To Sing Badly, Presented by The Ark in association with Theatre Lovett, 2011
PLAY, 2011
Crafted Creatures, 2011
Company Non Nova's L'Après-Midi Dun Foehn at Dublin Dance Festival 2014, Photo by Jean Luc Beaujault
Teddy Bear Story, 2014
A Most Peculiar Wintry Thing, by Brian Irvine, presented by The Ark and Music Network, 2014
Monster Music Improv, Presented by The Ark & Improvised Music Company, 2015
Before we had Dracula's Disco as part of the Bram Stoker Festival, we had our first Halloween Day DJ Disco with DJ Will Softly in 2015
BEES! A Musical, Presented by WillFredd Theatre in association with The Ark, 2015
The Ark's Artist In Residence Shaun Dunne working with members of our first Children's Council during a 2016 workshop
Our director Aideen Howard celebrating our 21st Birthday during our Birthday Cakes exhibition, 2016
The Ark's director Aideen Howard and Artist in Residence Shaun Dunne at a screening of our short film 'Its A Right' in Meeting House Square for Universal Children's Day, 2016
Members of The Ark's Children's Council join the ADIFF Fantastic Flix Children's Jury 2017
Teacher’s Course: A Visual Arts Approach, 2017
The Children's Council meet with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar for Universal Children's Day, 2017
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon visits The Ark for Poggle, by Barrowland Ballet and Macrobert Arts Centre (UK), Presented by The Ark & Dublin Theatre Festival, 2017
Children dance to music by Moxie at the Tradfest Children's Hub,2017
Fun Size Jazz, 2017
A Christmas Carol, Adapted from Charles Dickens' original story by Aaron Monaghan and Bryan Burroughs, 2016
In 2017, we invited children to bring their pets into the Beautiful Beasts exhibition at The Ark
Self Portraits of the Children of Ireland on Merrion Square, part of Put Yourself in the Portrait Gallery, 2017
Seedlings Workshops for ages 2-4 with our first John Coolahan Early Years Artist in Residence Lucy Hill in 2018
Artists at the PUSH Migration Lab at The Ark in 2018
A Zombie Prosthetics Workshop as part of the Fantastic Flix at The Ark, presented in partnership with Audi Dublin International Film Festival, 2018. Photo by Roisin White
Me And The City visual arts programme with Jole Bortorli, 2018
Mile(s)tones at The Ark's first BIG BANG Dublin! festival in 2019
The Ark's Artist in Residence Shaun Dunne with children from Colaiste Mhuire as part of our 2019 Neighbourhood Project resulting in the short film Iarscoláire
Curtis-Lee Ashqar & Kwaku Fortune in Peat by Kate Heffernan, 2019
Thommas Kane Byrne, Nicola Ciccarelli, Lioba Petrie and Berginald Rash in The Haircut! by Wayne Jordan & Tom Lane, 2019
Children join the Right Here, Right Now! Children's Rally 2019
Scrapefoot, Presented by ANU and The Ark, 2019
The Ark celebrates 25 Years with support from BDO, sponsors of our 25th birthday season, at our Fly Me To The Moon visual art programme, 2020