Creative Kids, a documentary celebrating the Creative Ireland Programme’s Creative Schools initiative, will air this Sunday, 3rd May on RTÉ One television at 6.30pm
Minister Madigan also welcomed the extension by the Arts Council of the deadline for applications to the next round of the Creative Schools initiative until 25th June 2020
Josepha Madigan TD, Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht today (30th April 2020) announced details of the broadcast of a new documentary, Creative Kids, which will air this Sunday, 3rd May at 6.30pm on RTÉ One television.
Speaking today Minister Madigan said:
Creative Schools is a flagship of the Creative Ireland Programme – one of a number of initiatives which seek to support and enable the creative potential of every child and young person in Ireland in their homes, communities and schools. Over the past number of years, we have supported hundreds of schools the length and breadth of the country to start a new creative journey, and this documentary – which was commissioned by the Creative Ireland Programme – brilliantly captures their experiences and documents their successes.
The documentary follows five schools which have participated in Creative Schools – an initiative of the Creative Ireland Programme which seeks to support schools to fully embrace and celebrate the arts and creativity, ensuring positive experiences and strong outcomes for the student involved, while also developing and strengthening relationships between schools and their local artistic, cultural and creative communities. The initiative is led and managed by the Arts Council, and supported by the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, the Department of Education and Skills and the Department of Children and Youth Affairs.
Joe McHugh TD, Minister for Education and Skills said:
The Creative Schools initiative – one of many supporting creativity within the education system – enables us to deliver more fully on our ambition to support and nurture creativity within our school communities, to support all children and young people in Ireland in access to learning in the creative arts, as part of a full and rounded education. Creative Kids shines a light on the experience of five schools as this ambition becomes reality.
Minister Madigan also welcomed the recent decision by the Arts Council to extend the deadline for the next round of applications to the Creative Schools initiative in light of the current public health restrictions and to provide schools with more time to complete their applications.
Confirming the deadline extension, Maureen Kennelly, Director of the Arts Council said:
As everyone will see from this wonderful documentary, the Creative Schools programme is already a great success, and has changed the lives of hundreds of young people from a broad range of schools across the whole country. The Arts Council is very proud to be delivering this programme, and I would strongly encourage principals and teachers to consider applying so that their schools can participate in Creative Schools. The closing date has been extended to 25th June 2020.
Editors Note
The Creative Ireland Programme is a culture-based, all of Government initiative which places creativity at the centre of public policy. The premise is that participation in creative activities promotes individual, community and national wellbeing. The Creative Youth Plan – one of the five pillars of the Creative Ireland Programme – sets out how we will meet the overall Programme objectives for children and young people and aims to “enable the creative potential of every child”. You can find out more here.
Scoileanna Ildánacha/Creative Schools is a flagship initiative of the Creative Ireland Programme and is led by the Arts Council in partnership with the Department of Culture, Heritage & the Gaeltacht, the Department of Education & Skills and the Department of Children & Youth Affairs.
· Creative Schools was launched in 2018, with 150 schools selected to participate in the first round (commencing at the start of the 2018/19 academic year) – a further 150 schools joined the initiative in September 2019.
· Schools that are selected to participate do so over a two-year cycle, and each school is allocated an annual grant of €2,000 to implement their individual creative plans.
· Participating schools are also provided with access to a Creative Associate to assist in developing the creative plan for each school – Creative Associates may be either teachers or from a range of creative professions who draw on their practical experience of ‘creativity’ to respond to each school’s individual needs.
· The third round of applications remains open until 25th June 2020 for schools to apply for participation from the 2020/2021 academic year – more information is available here.
Creative Kids was commissioned by the Creative Ireland Programme in association with RTÉ and produced by Frontline Films. The featured schools are:
· Presentation Convent Primary School, Tralee, Co. Kerry
· De La Salle Boys Primary School, Castlebar, Co. Mayo
· Stepaside Educate Together Secondary School, Co. Dublin
· Presentation Primary School Warrenmount, Blackpitts, Dublin 8
· Scoil Athphoirt, Arranmore Island, Co. Donegal