Young people in Galway city are being encouraged to fire up their imaginations and take part in some of the many creative activities on for Cruinniú na nÓg this Saturday.
Cruinniú na nÓg is a flagship initiative of the Creative Ireland Programme’s Creative Youth plan to enable the creative potential of children and young people.
Now in its second year, Cruinniú na nÓg celebrates and encourages participation by children and young people in creative activities in their local neighbourhoods and communities.
Activities on in Galway this year include everything from fantastic wall art and murals, circus performances, live music performances, puppet making to coding and robotics.
With a strong emphasis on participation, activities are specially designed to spark an interest and encourage the inner creative in children to try something new or fulfil a secret ambition.
All events are free and activity based with opportunities for young people to get involved in ‘doing’, ‘making’, ‘creating’ and trying new things.
This one day festival is led by the local Creative Galway Team in the City Council, with support from Youth Work Ireland Galway, local artists, arts organisations, creative practitioners, and libraries.
Speaking at the programme launch Cllr Niall McNelis, then Mayor of Galway, said that he was particularly pleased that all events are free to encourage as many people as possible to take part.
“I would encourage everyone to check out what is happening in your local area and to avail of the opportunity to make this year’s Cruinniú na nÓg the spark that ignites your child’s imagination and adventures in creativity.”
“There are opportunities for participation and self-expression through creative activity. This is very important for our youth and we encourage parents to get involved also.”
Highlights of this year’s festival on Saturday include:
- Get Your Circus On! – Workshop event by the Galway Community Circus in Ballinfoile, Castlegar Neighbourhood Centre from 9:30 am – 12pm for kids to try out circus skills.
- Drama Workshops – Galway based Morgan Theatre will facilitate drama workshops with children aged 7+. Children will learn the art of theatre and drama. 11am – 12 pm Westside Library.
- Coding & Robotics – Corrib Kids coding will facilitate coding workshops for children aged 6-12. Children will engage with technology and learn basic coding. 10.20 – 12 noon & 2.30 – 4pm in Westside Library.
- Clár Techspace will also host a BlaiseTeic/Tech Taster session for children over the age of 13, where they can try out a choice of two STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths) workshops through the medium of Irish. 10am – 1pm & 2pm – 4pm Áras na n Gael, Dominick Street.
- Livefeed, a Galway 2020 project for young people (aged 13-18) interested in music performance, production and promotion where participants will take part in a live music event from 2pm – 4pm in the Galway 2020 Office on Merchants Road.
The full programme of events taking place for Cruinniú na nÓg in Galway city this Saturday can be downloaded here.
photo credit: Galway City Council/Facebook
