Offaly Comic Book Workshop Among Creative Projects Provided For Young Ukrainians

The Creative Ireland programme is supporting events which are free of charge for children and young people.

Young Ukrainians arriving in Ireland can now benefit from free artistic supports and creative activities across the country.

The Creative Ireland programme is supporting events which are free of charge for children and young people and are now facilitating the full participation of young Ukrainians in a variety of ways.  

Many of these events are part of the Cruinniú na nÓg programme of activities on 11th June.

Cruinniú na nÓg - which involves local authority partners - is Ireland’s annual national day of free creativity for children and young people under 18.

Events leading up to and taking place on this day include free craft classes, storytelling, drama, art, Lego play groups, doll making lessons and circus workshops.

Arts Council supports

The Arts Council, the government agency tasked with developing Arts and Culture, is also playing a key role in supporting young Ukrainians arriving in Ireland.  

It is expanding its access costs protocol to ensure schools are aware they can apply for additional funding to engage translation, or other access services needed, to meet their needs and that of other migrant children.

This funding is available to all schools participating in the Creative Schools programme and meets the costs of access supports for the children and young people, their teachers and Special Needs Assistants.

It will enable them to engage with a Creative Associate or other creative practitioners working with them as part of their Creative Schools programme activity.

 The Arts Council is currently engaging with schools identified as having a high number of new Ukrainian pupils to ensure they benefit from the supports available. 

Further resources and professional development is also being offered by the Arts Council to its 100 Creative Associates who work with schools nationwide to enable them to ensure full inclusion of Ukrainian children and others in the creative schools programme of activity.

The additional support given will include peer learning in communities of practice, and expertise from other organisations that have experience in working with refugees and migrants.  

Creative Associates work closely with schools to support them in the creative schools journey and offer advice, support and guidance to participating schools.  

This work is ongoing in the Arts Council Creative Associate communities of practice, and will feature in all planned training events for all Creative Associates in the autumn.

"The least we can do..."

Welcoming the initiatives which can help thousands of Ukrainian children now in Ireland, the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin,T.D said;

“No child should see or hear the horrors of war. The least we can do for young Ukrainians arriving in a new and unknown country is to give them opportunities to grow their creativity, both for their own wellbeing and education. It is great to see so many events planned in this year’s Cruinniú na nÓg programme which can facilitate the full participation of young Ukrainians. I want to congratulate Creative Ireland’s partners in local authorities for the care they have taken in planning these events. We hope this wide range of creative activities will give these young people and many others the opportunity to express themselves, meet new people and have fun on 11th June 2022.

“I also wish to commend the work of the Arts Council, who are working in close collaboration with the social inclusion unit of Department of Education to ensure schools which have a particularly high proportion of refugee or migrant children are aware of the opportunity to participate in Creative Schools”.

Offaly events

Offaly is among five counties with select events and resources up for grabs.

Let’s Go Fly a Kite

160 free kite sets are available for collection from the libraries in Offaly.

Once collected, young people can access a YouTube link with Ukrainian subtitles - youtube.com/watch?v=15hCGMK5OeI - here they can create their own uniquely decorated kite.

Create a Comic Cover with Marta Boniakowska (English/Ukrainian workshop)

Join local digital artist Marta Boniakowska and design your own comic book cover. This is a special English/Ukrainian bilingual workshop. 

Learn how to pose a created character for your cover design, as well as how to format a comic book cover, using titles, colour palettes and action to make your image come to life.

Once you’ve finished your comic book cover, you can even enter it into the ‘Create A Comic Book Cover’ Competition'. The deadline is 11th June, so drop your submission into any Offaly Libraries Branch following the workshop.

To book, please ring Birr Library on 0579124950 or email birrlibrary@offalycoco.ie.

Find out more at cruinniu.creativeireland.gov.ie/events/location/offaly/ and for a full overview of creative activities, visit creativeireland.gov.ie/en/.

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Оффалі - Давай запустимо повітряного змія

160 безкоштовних наборів повітряних зміїв у бібліотеках Оффалі. Коли молоді люди зберуться, вони зможуть отримати доступ до посилання на YouTube з українськими субтитрами - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15hCGMK5OeI - Тут вони можуть створити власного унікально прикрашеного повітряного змія.

Оффалі - Створіть обкладинку коміксу з Мартою Боняковською (англо-український майстер-клас)

Приєднуйтесь до місцевої цифрової художниці Марти Боняковської та створіть власну обкладинку коміксу! Це спеціальний англо-український майстер-клас. 

Дізнайтеся, як розмістити створений персонаж для дизайну обкладинки, а також як відформатувати обкладинку коміксу, використовуючи заголовки, палітри кольорів та інші дії, щоб оживити зображення.

Коли ви закінчите обкладинку коміксу, чому б не взяти участь у конкурсі «Створення обкладинки коміксу»? Дедлайн — 11 червня, тому надішліть заявку до будь-якого відділення бібліотек Оффалі одразу після майстер-класу.

Щоб забронювати квитки, зателефонуйте до бібліотеки Birr за телефоном 0579124950 або напишіть електронною поштою birrlibrary@offalycoco.ie.