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.
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.
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.
