Thousands join in for Dublin’s first Cruinniú na nÓg festival
By Cody Hutchison
THOUSANDS of young Dubliners and their families took to the parks, beaches, community centres and libraries all over the city on Saturday, June 23, to participate in over 100 Cruinniú na nÓg events supported by Dublin City Council.
Cruinniú na nÓg, a national initiative of the Creative Ireland Programme at the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht to capture the ethos of Creative Ireland’s Creative Youth Pillar, is presented in partnership with the local authorities and RTÉ.
Abbyrose Byrne (8), Ava Doyle (6) and Karlie Jayne Molloy (9) enjoying the concert in Le Fanu Park
With a big emphasis on making and doing, events varied from making splatter prints with leaves at the Mud Island Community Garden on the North Strand, to a massive concert in La Fanu Park, Ballyfermot, that celebrated the talents of young musicians from Familibase and the Kylemore School of Music.
Throughout the city, Dublin City Council’s programme for Cruinniú na nÓg focused on activities which enabled young people to access creativity in their communities.
These included specially curated cultural experiences for children with chronic illness at IMMA, to the scouts of Clontarf who performed their own sea songs that reflected their concerns about environmental issues.
Alongside this, investigative workshops led by educator and activist Sinead Burke, will inform creative projects for Dublin’s young people in the future.
Iseult Byrne, CEO of Dublin City Council Culture Company said: “it was a great achievement by our teams, artists and venues to deliver so many events on the one day, particularly involving so many different partners and venues locally across the city.
“We all enjoyed sparking the imagination of the children who attended and participated in great numbers and took great inspiration ourselves from all of the smiles on the children’s faces and lots of very creative things made, written, shared and performed.
“The team delivered a great range of events and really entered into the spirit of creativity for young people locally – shining a spotlight on many opportunities available in all sorts of community buildings and spaces like parks, libraries and local centres and venues across the city.”
