Posted on: May 15th, 2012 by emmaeager No Comments
Are you interested in filmmaking or acting?
Would you like to tell your story in a unique and creative way?
Creative workshops for teenagers living with chronic illness will take place in Dublin on June 26th and June 29th, facilitated by artists Emma Eager and Ben Murnane, in association with Helium Children’s Arts & Health and the Digital Hub Development Agency.
These workshops are aimed at teenagers who are interested in exploring their creativity through filmmaking, acting, writing or art. Participants will have the opportunity to take part in theatre games and creative writing sessions, to film small scenes and to try out animation software and drawing tablet apps.
The workshops are free and if you have any short stories, poems, scripts or artwork you would like to share you are welcome to bring them with you. If you can’t make it in person but would like to take part you can join us online via Skype to share your creative ideas.
Where: The Learning Studio, Digital Hub Development Agency, The Digital Exchange Building, Crane Street, Dublin 8 [download directions here] When: 26th June & 29th June 2012 (Specify which day suits you best.) Time: 2-5 pm Contact: Emma Eager at communications@helium.ie for more information and to register for one of the workshop days
If you enjoy the workshop day and you are keen to develop your filmmaking and animation skills, do some acting or turn your creative writing into a short movie, we aim to hold a film week in August where you will get the chance to collaborate with professional filmmakers and artists.
Emma and Ben teamed up with teenagers in February to make a short film based on Ben’s memoir, Two in a Million, about his teenage experiences of living with the rare genetic disease, Fanconi anaemia. Ben’s film will be screened at the workshops and you can learn more about the film, watch a trailer and view behind-the-scenes photos here
Emma Eager has been funded by the Arts Council’s Artist in the Community Scheme managed by Create – the national development agency for collaborative arts, and is kindly supported by Children in Hospital Ireland. Emma studied film and broadcasting at DIT and English literature at Trinity College, Dublin. She works with Helium on communications for various projects. Ben Murnane studied theatre and English at TCD; he has published three books, including his memoir and a collection of poetry, and written for newspapers and radio.
The Two Suitcases Project is a film & technology project which supports the creativity of teenagers living with chronic illnesses through the development of filmmaking skills. Teenagers have the opportunity to film their own stories or take on acting/production roles in the films of their peers. The project supports the creative potential of teens who are unable to participate in person through virtual collaboration with professional filmmakers and artists. In the pilot phase, the writer Ben Murnane made a short film about his experiences of living with Fanconi anaemia & the importance of creativity during his teenage years. Young people with chronic illnesses took on camera, animation, editing, art department and acting roles. We would like to thank them for the super ideas they brought to the film and the fun they brought to the set. Check out the trailer for Ben’s film below:
In February, Ben Murnane filmed his story, Two Suitcases, which we decided was a great name for the whole project. This short film is based on Ben Murnane’s memoir, Two in a Million, a beautifully written and warm account of Ben’s experiences of living with a rare genetic disorder. Ben was diagnosed with Fanconi anaemia at the age of 9 and at the age of 16 he was the first person in Ireland to receive a new type of bone marrow transplant. The title of the film comes from an old hospital saying that the nurses used to tell Ben: ‘When you go into hospital, you take two suitcases with you – one to carry your clothes, and another to pack away your dignity.’
Creativity has played a vital role throughout Ben’s life and we were keen to bring his trademark humour to the making of the film. As a child he loved superheroes and at the age of 10 he wrote and starred in ‘Superman and Supergirl’, which his father filmed and then accidentally recorded over with his sister’s ballet. In his early teens he wrote and filmed his own episode of Father Ted, the highlights of which appear in Two Suitcases. At the end of primary school Ben set up the Nottwel Club and began bringing out a monthly magazine, The Fush Monthly, with contributing articles from friends and family. The magazine was later revived as Totally Fushed in 2000 and Ben talks of the importance of his mag in his memoir: ‘I’d needed my mag through the years. Without it, I would never have known where to turn for comfort. In the summer of ’02, I wrote the first short story based on my transplant for TF… Writing about my life had become an essential part of living it. I now knew that, whatever career path I took, I would want it to leave room for my writing.’
Check out the behind-the-scenes photographs:
Photographs by Helene Hugel, Scott Anthony Kelly, Zachary Griner and Emma Eager
The pilot phase of the Two Suitcases Project was produced by Helium Children’s Arts and Health in association with Spunout.ie. We would like to acknowledge the Vodafone Ireland Foundation for sponsoring the iPhones that were used to film “Two Suitcases” and the In-kind support of the DIT Student’s Union and DIT School of Media for providing the venue for this event. The making of “Two Suitcases” would not have been possible without the support and mentorship of professional filmmakers, artists and DIT film students who volunteered their time to make it happen.
The day will include presentations from artists and healthcare workers who participated in the Puppet Portal Project, hands-on workshops, and plenary discussion on the future of participatory arts with children in hospital with contributions from a panel of healthcare professionals and arts professionals.
Helene Hugel, Artistic Director of Helium
Paula Hicks, Centre for Health Informatics, Trinity College Dublin
Mary O’Connor, CEO Children in Hospital Ireland
Una Jordan, Hospital Play Specialist
Sally Maidment, Artist
Siobhan Clancy, Artist
PANEL
Chair: Martin Drury, Arts Director at the Arts Council
Dr. Emma Curtis, Medical Director of the New Children’s Hospital
Dr. Veronica Lambert, Lecturer in the School of Nursing at DCU
Denis Roche, Curating Artist of the Open Window Project at St. James’s Hospital
Dr. David Vaughan, Directorate of Quality & Clinical Care at the HSE
Ray Yeates, Dublin City Council Arts Officer
For further information on the speakers and panel view here
ARTISTS
Siobhán Clancy, Anna Rosenfelder, Sally Maidment, Eszter Nemethi,
Emma Fisher, Fionnuala Conway, Niamh Lawlor, Helene Hugel
To learn more about the artists who participated in the Puppet Portal Project and who will be giving hands-on workshops at the symposium view here
The Puppet Portal Project was a national arts and technology programme with children in hospital which was produced by Helium in partnership with The Centre for Health Informatics, Trinity College, Dublin, and in collaboration with Kids’ Own Publishing Partnership. Over 2009 and 2010, the artist-in-residency project saw 7 artists working collaboratively with approximately 800 children for 30 weeks across seven hospitals using Ait Eile, the hospital webportal, to share their puppet making, stories, and films.
A small exhibition showcasing artwork from the Puppet Portal Project will be on display during the symposium.
This symposium is brought to you as part of The 2011 International Puppet Festival Ireland. The Puppet Portal Symposium is kindly supported by the Arts Council. Helium would like to gratefully acknowledge the in-kind support of The Ark, A Cultural Centre for Children, for providing the venue for this event.
Puppet Portal Partners
Kids’ Own Publishing Partnership is a non-profit organization that has been in operation since 1997. Kids’ Own aims to provide children and young people with the opportunity to engage with professional artists and take part in high-quality arts experiences that nurture their creative spirit. Kids’ Own champions children’s creativity and believes in the creative process as an enabler and as an essential component of learning and personal development. Kids’ Own advocates for the professionalization of arts practice with children and young people. It is a pioneer in terms of developing models of best practice, in particular through its exemplary support of artists who work in this field. www.practice.ie was developed by Kids’ Own in 2008 and is the first all-Ireland online network for artists who work with children and young people. It provides a joint space for artists to come together and share their work, as well as to support them in the development of their practice.
Trinity College Dublin – The Centre for Health Informatics (CHI) at Trinity College Dublin (TCD), is a multidisciplinary research centre engaged in national and international research in the field of Health Informatics. Health Informatics is broadly defined as the application of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to healthcare. The Puppet Portal Project brought together expertise in arts and technology and built on technology developed at the Centre for Health Informatics. The CHI has played a key role in researching and developing virtual environments for children in hospital since 2001. The culmination of this work has led to two key award winning research projects exploring this use of technology: Áit Eile (eEurope Award for eHealth 2004) and Solas Irish Healthcare Awards 2008 and Astellas Changing Tomorrow Award for Innovation 2010. These virtual environments explore a variety of technologies to provide for communication, social support, relaxation, entertainment and distraction. Áit Eile is an on-line community for children in hospital which allows children to communicate with one another, their classmates, families, and teachers via e-mail, live chat or even a video link. The aim is to empower children in hospitals to combat the medical and emotional challenges they face on a daily basis, to educate them and help them to cope with the difficulties of hospitalisation. There are also games and activities, educational resources and lots more to do in the Áit Eile community.
Posted on: September 6th, 2011 by emmaeager 2 Comments
In the paediatric ward of Cork University Hospital, artist Fiona Dowling is telling a story about a greedy pig who eats everything in sight as the children and their families create sound effects with different instruments and musician Caoimhe Conlon accompanies the action on the flute. ‘You’re such… You’re such a pig!’ Fiona cries, mimicking one of the villagers. ‘Well, thank you!’ the children reply, right on cue…
Providing children and teenagers with the opportunity to express themselves creatively in the hospital environment is at the heart of Scales & Tales, a six-month residency of music and storytelling at Cork University Hospital. Launched in May 2011, the project is produced by Helium in partnership with Cork University Hospital Arts Committee and in collaboration with MusicAlive.
Once a month, Caoimhe and Fiona invite the children of the paediatric department together with parents, siblings and hospital staff to engage with musical instruments in making stories and characters come to life. The children can choose an instrument from the musical trolley and make their own sound effects: from bongos to bells, xylophones to maracas, and everything else in between, the children are given an artistic outlet in a relaxed and informal environment.
The Storyteller, Fiona, recounts one recent experience in the ward, ‘We visited a little girl of about 9 who was with her adult brother. We told her a story and then distributed musical instruments all around, inviting the girl to make her own piece of music and bringing the other performers in and out of the music by giving them a nod. By the end of it, the child was glowing and chatty and delighted to have made a piece of music and to be in charge, giving the nod to her brother and to the two performers.’
Photographs by Samantha Hunt
There are a number of different aspects to the Scales & Tales project: the children also contribute to the stories with suggestions as to what sweets or vegetables the greedy pig might eat, for example; alongside facilitating the children in creating their own music and sound effects, Caoimhe plays name that tune on the flute with the Pink Panther theme song being a favourite; and the children are given the opportunity to have their portrait drawn by Fiona which has proved a very popular feature of the programme. One of the hospital play specialists said of a 17-month old girl, ‘I’ve never seen her so engaged and in such good form.’
Staff in the paediatric department have particularly welcomed the project as it takes places on weekends when the school and playroom are closed. Edelle Nolan, the Arts Coordinator at Cork University Hospital, comments on the project, ‘At the weekends the children have visitors that can’t typically visit during the weekdays. So having the project at a time when siblings and relatives can participate in a fun and playful art project brings the whole family together, creating happy memories of their hospital stay and visit. Research has proven that positive memories during hospitalisation, especially for children who are in hospital frequently or for long periods, have long-ranging benefits into adulthood in terms of positive socialisation.’
The Scales & Tales project evolved from a previous collaboration between Helium’s Artist on Call programme and MusicAlive’s The Musical Playground project in late 2010. Caoimhe Conlon, director of MusicAlive, says of Scales & Tales, ‘Children are constantly creating their own songs, stories and pictures while at home and the artforms regularly overlap, so it is a natural extension to incorporate this on the ward to allow the children to continue to express themselves artistically while in hospital.’
“When we entered that room and Caoimhe started playing Over the Rainbow on the flute, immediately the atmosphere changed…”
– Storyteller Fiona Dowling
Scales & Tales is one branch of Helium’s Artist on Call programme which provides hospitals with performing arts experiences. These artists can facilitate workshops or purpose-designed, site-specific performances that travel from bed to bed. Since the Artist on Call programme began in 2009, it has visited over 400 children and 500 parents, siblings and friends in 6 hospitals. This year the Artist on Call programme is also taking place at a Dublin children’s hospital with Fiona and performer Eléonore Nicolas running monthly storytelling sessions. Scales & Tales is Helium’s second residency in Cork University Hospital, following the Puppet Portal Project in 2010, and Helium is delighted to have the hospital’s continuing support.
Scales & Tales is produced by Helium in partnership with Cork University Hospital Arts Committee and in collaboration with MusicAlive. This project was made possible through funding from the Irish Youth Foundation, Cork Arts and Health Programme (CAHP), Cork University Hospital Arts Committee and the Arts Council. Scales & Tales will run until November 2011.
“When I see her happy like this, I feel so relieved”
– Mother of a 17-month old girl
Fiona and Caoimhe gave an interview to Cliff Wedgebury at CUH FM hospital radio in the autumn where they told stories and played music … giving a lovely idea of what happened on the wards. We would like to thank Cliff, Tom and Mike at CUH FM for being so accommodating. Scales & Tales radio interview with CUH FM hospital radio
Caoimhe Conlon is a flautist and music facilitator. She enables people of all ages to create their own music by intertwining song, music and movement. Caoimhe has performed in concert halls across Europe and the USA, and over the last number of years has worked on music projects in healthcare and community settings in Europe and Africa. She is co-founder of MusicAlive, Ireland’s specialist organization for music in healthcare and community settings. For more information on her work please visit www.musicalive.ie
French-Irish Fiona Dowling is a multidisciplinary artist working in painting, mosaics, clowning and storytelling. Her works explore themes of Love and Happiness in a warm and whimsical way. She has exhibited or performed in the Ashford Gallery, RHA,Temple Bar Galleries and Studios, Hillsboro Fine Arts, Dublin,The Lewis Glucksman Gallery, Cork and Droichead Art Centre, Drogheda. She was recently invited to tell stories at the Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris. Find out more about Fiona @ www.fionadowling.com and visit the blog of her storytelling group at http://story-o.blogspot.com/
Posted on: June 25th, 2011 by emmaeager No Comments
From July 6th Emma Meehan will begin a five-week residency at a children’s hospital in Dublin, providing interactive theatre games for children and their parents. Inspired by the time she spent in this hospital as a child, she is keen to highlight the subjective experience of children in hospital environments where external elements are often the focus i.e. where bodily behaviour is observed, documented and assessed from the outside. She will explore methods for collaborating with the children by creating artistic responses to their experiences in the form of movement expression, oral story-telling and object work. Games will be adapted to suit each child’s abilities and parents will be invited to participate in the performance. Staff members will also be invited to become involved in formal discussion and to engage in the process through looking at materials and offering up their own ideas.
Emma has been funded by the Arts Council/Create Artist in the Community Scheme 2011 Research and Development Award and is kindly supported by the play specialist staff of the participating hospital. “Theatre Games” is being produced in association with Helium, with mentoring support provided by Helium’s artistic director, Helene Hugel.
Keep up-to-date on Emma’s progress during the project @ her blog:
Emma Meehan is an actor with a Ph.D. in Drama Studies from Trinity College, Dublin. She specialises in physical theatre, live art and dance. She has worked as a performer for a number of theatre companies including Tall Tales and The Corn Exchange, and has also been engaged as a puppeteer for Púca Puppets.
Create is the national development agency for collaborative arts. Create supports artists across all art forms who work collaboratively with communities, be they communities of place or communities brought together by interest.
More photos can be found here and here http://bit.ly/fEoEYT and here http://bit.ly/gLF7YL.Participants traveled from Donegal and Cork to take part. Here’s some of their reflections on the day:
Posted on: July 5th, 2010 by Avril Carr No Comments
Helium invites applications from multi-disciplinary artists working in the Dublin, Letterkenny, and Cork areas to collaborate with children across 5 participating hospitals in the next phase of this arts and health and technology project. Contemporary puppetry techniques, storytelling and technology will be explored to create live, interactive, puppetry performances via the hospital web portal, Solas, an online community for children and young people in hospital. Deadline for applications: Friday, August 6th at 5pm. Download the full artist’s brief below or contact Avril Carr on info@helium.ie with ‘Puppet Portal Project’ in the subject heading.
Posted on: July 2nd, 2010 by Avril Carr No Comments
Helium was delighted to be involved in Children in Hospital Ireland’s Conference last week. This event showcased the most significant development in the delivery of hospital services and healthcare for children in Ireland: the new children’s hospital. The Minister for Health and Children, Mary Harney TD, was joined by a team of distinguished national and international contributors and commentators. Delegates from 13 countries attended the conference which was held in Dublin castle. Helium’s Artistic Director, Helene Hugel and artist Anna Rosenfelder both attended. Anna facilitated some puppet making and also collected delegates wishes for the new hospital some of which can be seen in the photos here.
Posted on: May 31st, 2010 by Avril Carr No Comments
We had some great news recently: Helium, the HSE and the Centre for Health Informatics, Trinity College Dublin have been highly commended in the Allianz Business to Arts Awards in the catagory of Best Use of Creativity for their partnership on the Puppet Portal Project in 2009. The project was collaboration between the three organisations and Kids’ Own Partnership and connected children and artists across 4 hospitals through the webportal Ait Eile. We’re absolutely delighted that the partnership has been recognised by such important awards and we’re looking forward to the next phase of the project which will commence in September, this time in 5 hospitals. For more information on the project see http://www.helium.ie/portal.html and you can check out the winners on http://www.businesstoarts.ie/awards/awards-allianz-categories/. An evaluation of the project by Spiral Orchard will be available shortly.
