A brand new festival created for children - by children, get ready for Right Here Right Now!
A vibrant celebration of art, culture and children’s rights, children won’t fail to be seen or heard across Dublin next month as children’s cultural centre The Ark kicks off its exciting new festival from 13-16 June.
Coinciding with the Creative Ireland Programme’s national day of creativity for children and young people – Cruinniú na nÓg on 15 June – all events for both festivals are free!
With children’s voices at the very heart of The Ark’s extravaganza, children were of course involved at every stage of its development. One of our 30 National Creativity Fund projects, from the festival’s very inception children advised on the name, what events should be included, while an open design call gave children the chance to design the festival’s eye-catching artwork too. Submissions from all over Ireland were received, with the final decision made by The Ark Children’s Council – made up of 35 discerning fourth and fifth class pupils.
Set to be a very special weekend of art, theatre, dance, games and film, all designed by children, advance booking for some of Right Here Right Now’s events is required, with tickets available from 14 May via www.ark.ie
Not just for children from Dublin, kids from across Ireland are invited to head to the capital and get involved. For the festival showstopper, The Ark is asking schools, children’s clubs, groups and families to get involved, and for children all over Ireland to unite and be seen and heard at The Children’s Rally on 14 June at 11am. This special rally will be held in Meeting House Square, Temple Bar. Can’t make it? No problem! Children are encouraged to hold their own rallies wherever they live, to write speeches, create your banners, flags and songs for this celebration of children’s rights. This is your moment!
In advance of the rally, a number of artists will facilitate creative workshops with a four local school groups, one of the groups will create a song with a musician while the other three groups will work with a visual artist. Children will also take part in a rights workshops with the Office of the Ombudsman for Children. The resulting artworks will all be displayed at the Dublin rally by the children and the song will be shared in advance so that children around the country might perform it at their own rally – uniting the children through song, no matter where they may be.
