OPEN WORKSHOPS FOR ADULTS AND YOUNG PEOPLE

The Linenhall continues to offer a broad and diverse programme of arts workshops for adults and children. Previous workshops have included:

Get Creative! - art workshops giving adults the chance to explore their creativity, using a range of different art materials

Print Out - a series of workshops for young people aged 10-12 years exploring different printing techniques including block, stencil, wireframe and monoprint

Art Ahoy! - a fun-packed series of workshops for ages 8-10 years exploring paper-based making techniques including papier-mâché and paper twisting using the theme of Treasure Island

Painting Summer School - an annual Painting School for adults on the picturesque island of Inishbofin, Co. Galway under the direction of Deirdre Walsh

Full On Art - workshops for young people aged 3 - 12 years

Creative Early Years - an innovative and exciting project delivering art activities and workshops for the very young, ages 2-4 years

African drumming for adults, Egyptian Dancing, contemporary dance, and lots, lots more…!
And there’s always something in the pipeline. Contact the Linenhall for details of forthcoming workshops, summer camps and summer schools!

COMMUNITY ARTS PROJECTS

Over the years the Linenhall’s art workers have been engaged in various projects with groups in the community, including:

• Music sessions with clients of the Psychiatric Unit in Castlebar, a project run in conjunction with the Western Health Board
• Regular free Drum For Fun sessions at the Linenhall, open to all
• Mask-making and sculpture workshops in Killawalla National School, Westport
• Art Attack sessions for local National School students, based around mask-making, and the construction of giant puppets and creative head pieces
• A Contemporary Dance project with children from Rathbawn Avenue and Riverdale Court in Castlebar for Roolaboola Children’s Festival
• A programme of workshops with 10-12 year-olds from Riverdale Estate in Castlebar to create a flock of life-sized 3-dimensional sheep in mixed media
• Workshops with young people aged 4-6 years from Hollow Grove Estate in Castlebar, working with paint and mixed media collage techniques exploring ideas of portraiture
• A long-term research project by John Molloy, examining Irish and international models for working in Community Arts, documenting and compiling a proposal for best practice based on his own considerable experience and that of the Linenhall Arts Centre
• A Learning Disability workshop programme, working with service users of Western Care in music, drama and visual art for people with learning disabilities

Other Community Arts projects in association with the Linenhall have included:

LINENHALL PRODUCTIONS

Carrowbeg Enterprises is a Western Care Centre that provides a service to people with learning disabilities. The Linenhall Arts Centre formed a
partnership with Carrowbeg to produce the groundbreaking theatre project The Mystery of Miley’s Tractor, which was devised and performed by clients of the Carrowbeg Centre.

MISE FREISIN

Originally conceived by Cathal McCarthy in 1996, in association with the Linenhall Arts Centre as a co-production with Macnas, Mise Freisin was the first project of its kind in Ireland, an interactive theatre project for people with learning difficulties large-scale promenade theatre environment in which the audience journeyed through the different locations of the story. The success of the show has provided the inspiration for many other projects around the country.

ARTIST IN RESIDENCE: CRANN MÓR

Crann Mór Training Centre, Mayo County Council and the Linenhall formed a partnership which employed artist Breda Burns to work with clients at the Crann Mór Centre involving working with a variety of media and art disciplines

TRAVELLERS’ FELT PROJECT

In conjunction with the Castlebar Travellers Support Group and working closely with artist Imelda Peppard, the Linenhall devised a textiles project for young traveller women to celebrate the 1997 European Year Against Racism. The success of this project resulted in a second phase in 1998, with the same group developing their skills to the point of creating marketable craft items for general sale

DIALANN DEORAI

The Linenhall formed a partnership with Westport Refugee Support Group to produce a documentary about the experience of asylum seekers in the West of Ireland. The film was produced by Nigerian filmmaker Adebayo Oledele, an asylum seeker resident in Connemara.

CLARA PARADE

Street theatre company Ardán Gheasa organised a parade and day of events in Clara, Co. Offaly for a Day Against Racism. The Linenhall worked with 10 service users of Western Care in Castlebar and Westport, who made their own masks and costumes and participated in the parade and the day’s events - as featured in The Irish Times!c