‘Are Ya Well?’: Project exploring the importance of wellbeing

The talented young people associated with Freshly Ground Theatre were delighted to present ‘Are Ya Well?’, a project exploring the importance of wellbeing through theatre and play.

This was a project that involved them working with students at Glenasmole National School over the course of a few weeks.

Freshly Ground had previously worked with the school on ‘Anam Og’ (Young Soul), where they explored the legend of Oisin in Tir na nOg with the students and created an installation that surrounded the Bohernabreena Reservoir as part of St Patrick’s Festival.

According to Bron and Michelle, “We had kept in touch, and we were looking for an opportunity to collaborate with the school again!

“We had several conversations with the principal about brainstorming a theme for a new program, and we decided to focus on an important value within the school community: supporting wellbeing.

We had a loose structure for the program but wanted to allow space for the students to contribute their own ideas!”

The group got the idea for the project towards the end of 2023, with six creative workshops that took place in the school with students from 1st–4th class across February.

These workshops were facilitated by artists within the company, and the sessions included drama games, theatre making, and visual arts.

Each activity that they did with the students explored a different question about wellbeing.

Within the workshops, Freshly Ground was also gathering materials to design a wellbeing installation.

This artwork included brainstorms, positive affirmations, posters, letters, and words of encouragement, which came together to create a wellbeing gallery, sharing a young person’s understanding and perspective on wellbeing.

When asked about future plans for the group, Bron and Michelle replied, “We are currently working with the naíonra at Áras Chrónáin in Clondalkin to research and develop a model for early years practitioners that supports children to learn the Irish language through creative play and storytelling.

“We are so excited about this, and we’ve been having a ball doing it over the last few weeks.”

The members of Freshly Ground would like to thank Creative Ireland’s schools cultural award, SDCC Arts, and the Civic for their support with the project, and Aras Chronain for commissioning it in collaboration with them.