The Ark's Archive - What Next?
For over 30 years, The Ark has been creating art for, by, with and about children. Now, as we enter our fourth decade, we’re turning our attention to our archive...
The Ark's archive tells an extraordinary story about children’s culture and Ireland. A research collaboration between The Ark and the School of English at Trinity has helped us begin to explore what the archive is and what it could become. This work has been supported by funding from the Trinity Affinity Credit Card programme.
We sat down with Aideen Howard (Director of The Ark), Dr. Pádraic Whyte (Board member) and Frank & Evie Kenny (Children's Council Alumni) to chat about the unique impact and purpose of The Ark and the importance of keeping our legacy alive through a robust archive
Take a look at our 2 part video series discussing the project below!
The archive includes original architectural plans from the early 1990s, revealing how the building came together and the philosophies behind its design. It documents the experiences of artists commissioned by The Ark over 30 years — how they made work for children, their starting points, and their creative processes.
The archive holds unique material from a wide range of artists. Crucially, the archive also includes material from children themselves. Their voices have always been central to The Ark’s work. The archive will tell a story of what mattered to children, what was fun, and what was significant — offering a perspective that differs from the adult version of history.
“Hearing how children's involvement has changed over the years can be really important. Adults have gotten so much better at involving children in the conversation. And I'd say looking through the archive, you can see that change happening.” Frank Kenny, Children's Council Alumni.
With 30 years of material, from the earliest to the most recent, our aim is to explore what this archive truly holds. We have the beginnings of a plan to catalogue it and make it accessible to researchers and artists, and to inform how we create work for children in the future.
Our challenge now is to invest — time, money, and resources — to ensure the archive is maintained, preserved, protected, and developed for future generations.
“I think it will tell a story of a really changing Ireland for everyone, including kids. In 1995, Ireland looked like a very different place. Since then, we've had a million attendances by children in this organisation. The Ark archive will inevitably shed light on their cultural preferences, what they like, and what has been important to them over that time.” Aideen Howard, Director of The Ark
This project was supported by the TCD Trust. Funding provided through the generosity of the Trinity Affinity Credit Card programme. Learn more: www.tcd.ie/alumni/services/affinity-credit-card