Mullingar Arts Centre Ballet School preparing for Cruinniú na nÓg 2021
Mullingar Arts Centre has prepared seven projects for this year’s Cruinniú na nÓg, the annual national day of free creative activities for children and young people under the age of 18.
They are: Paper Folding Fun; Journey of Make Believe; Statue Poetry; Patience; Picnic in the Park; The Voiceless Performer; and Rock My Soul.
Cruinniú na nÓg 2021 is on this Saturday, June 12, and the Mullingar events are online, starting at 10am and going on throughout the day till the last one at 4pm.
On Thursday of last week, Eadaoin McKenna, who is principal of Mullingar Arts Centre ballet school, took her pupils to Belvedere House to film the performance they had been practising in their Zoom classes in recent weeks.
The piece is the Journey of Make Believe, and the young dancers were brilliant in the afternoon sunshine. That show is at 11am on Saturday. Check the Mullingar Arts Centre website (look for the Cruinniú na nÓg heading) for the times of the other events.
There is much more happening for this year’s Cruinniú na nÓg and the details are on its website, where you can search by location.
Under the Westmeath listing, as well as the arts centre events, is a Big Dig at Belvedere; Strong Women Science; Belvedere Bees with Dolores and Jim; The Belvedere Bigfoot; Inkscapre Course with WhizzKids; Singalong with Noel; and Blooms, Bees and Apples with Dolores.
Cruinniú na nÓg
Ireland is the first, and only, country to have a national day of free creativity for children and young people under 18. Cruinniú na nÓg is a flagship initiative of the Creative Ireland Programme’s Creative Youth Plan to enable the creative potential of children and young people.
The inaugural Cruinniú na nÓg took place on June 23, 2018 and for a number of years, including under exceptional circumstances in 2020, young people and families have come together to enjoy creative activities including workshops and tutorials, recitals and readings across the country.
Cruinniú na nÓg is delivered in partnership with the 31 local authorities and supported by RTÉ.