Confidence and agency enables young people to recognise that they can make a difference to their own lives and that effort has a purpose, is important to key outcomes such as career success. There is evidence of a link between positive outcomes and self-confidence.
Circus is the third art form that we are profiling in this blog series, examining how young people in arts groups have made the transition from being a member to becoming a leader. Here Ulla Hokkanen, Circus Director at Galway Community Circus and ex-member and leader Blue Hanley, discuss their love for their art form, why they do what they do and plans for the future.
Ulla Hokkanen
In this, the final blog in our present Comic Strip series, illustrator and performer, Patrick Sanders, presents some of his unique and insightful perspectives on drawing and creativity, reminding us just why -when working with children and young people in the arts, it’s important to lead by example.
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I was very happily teaching piano in Bennekerry primary school in Carlow, when Trudi Shannon the principal approached me about forming a school choir. I had some experience of singing in choirs and could sing well, but I had never thought about leading one.
Choir is the second art form that we have chosen to profile in this blog series, examining how young people in arts groups have made the transition from being a member to becoming a leader. In the following two blogs, Artistic Director Mary Amond O’Brien and ex-member and leader Karen Kelly of Aspiro in Carlow, discuss work, the ongoing development of their group and of course the role that they now play within it.
That Little Extra
My name is Fionn McNeill, I am 16 years old and I one of the oldest attending members of Company B, the all-male contemporary Dance Group.
When I was younger, I tried to get myself involved in sport to keep fit and active. Sport seemed to be the only thing that guys did in their spare time and being good at sport always seemed to make you popular. But no matter how many different sports I tried (or how good I was at them), I just never seemed to enjoy them that much.
The Artist
Joe Coveney
Joseph Coveney has a B.A. in Fine Art Painting from N.C.A.D and an M.A in Sculpture from Winchester School of Art. Since 2007 he has divided his time between attending international residencies, exhibiting and working with groups of young people. In 2013 he was awarded a scholarship to The Domus Academy in Milan and is currently working towards an M.A in Product Design.
In this series of blogs from Bluebell Youth Project, we hear the perspectives of both Artist and Youth Worker as they discuss both the low and high points of a year -long residency.
Blog 1
The Youth Work Perspective
Bronagh O’Neill
In this, her first blog, artist and musician Jen Hesnan reflects on the personalities and influences that inspired and gently encouraged her to become a community arts facilitator, highlighting the significant impact that exposure to quality arts experiences had on her life as a young person growing up in Galway.
As part of her blog series, our first resident blogger NYCI's Senior Project Officer, Youth Arts, Anne O' Gorman continues to throw a spotlight on various aspects of NYCI's Youth Arts Programme.This week she asked Beverley Ashton to talk about her experience as a student on the Certificate in Youth Arts.
Here's what Beverley had to say:
I had been volunteering for a youth organisation for a while, in the capacity of a visual artist, working weekly with a group of young people on various projects.
