Creative Connections, a 2-day professional development programme in the area of arts, health & early years (arts for babies/toddlers and their parents) was held at the end of March, with a very exciting line-up of speakers and artists from around Europe contributing.

Ruth Churchill Dower, Director of Earlyarts UK, and Catherine Maguire, President of the Irish Association for Infant Mental Health, spoke at the seminar.

Artists’ workshops were presented by Kate Wilson (Visual Artist, Ireland), Hannah Lefeuvre (Community Dance Artist, UK), Anna Rosenfelder (Children´s Theatre Artist, Facilitator, Germany) and Ger Relph (Musician, Ireland)

Creative Connections was hosted by Helium in association with Westmeath County Council Arts Office, with support from the Arts Council. Helium would like to gratefully acknowledge Mullingar Arts Centre for providing a venue for part of this event.

A PDF of key points from discussion between Ruth and Catherine, who reflected on their observation of the morning’s workshops with parents and babies/toddlers

Catherine Maguire’s presentation will be made available to download in early May.

Feedback from participants after Artists’ Workshop at Creative Connections
Artists were asked to share something that they would take away from the workshop:
• It was great to learn how early children start to absorb and react to the activities around
them.
• The importance of providing bonding experiences for parents and children.
• Fantastic Experience! Thank you so much!
• Stimulating, with inspiring workable ideas on many levels.
• Process more important than product. Concept – setup and clean up become part of
interaction. Focussed space!
• The atmosphere today has been so inspiring! I hope I can take a little of this to my own
workshop spaces. Thank you!
• Giving children space to be creative, use of storytelling, and the importance of sensory
activities.

Creative Connections: Workshop with children and their parents

Photographs by Niamh O’Connor