Earlier this month twenty children aged between 7-11 years of age, together with their parents and local community representatives celebrated the launch of a very special Zine, designed and produced by the children themselves, as part of a collaboration between The Model and artists from PULLED, a collaborative screen print and design studio.
Cranmore Youth City Zine project, facilitated by The Model in partnership with Cranmore Coop, culminated with an exhibition of children and young people’s artwork which is currently on view at The Model, as part of the Sligo Children’s Book Festival 2018.
The selection of artworks brings together a mix of imaginative and inventive printing styles, unique to each young artist’s own creativity. Speaking at the opening, Marie-Louise Blaney, Education Curator said that ”The Model is delighted with the young artists’ work and is proud to have their work on exhibition in the gallery.”
This unique print exhibition showcases over 100 works by 18 young artists from the Cranmore area. The project is part of the Cranmore Co-Op’s ‘Inside and Out’ project which was launched in February 2017, funded by the International Fund for Ireland and such was the success of the first year of the project, the IFI has provided additional funding to extend the project for a further twelve months.
Funded by the International Fund for Ireland, under its Peace Impact Programme, the ‘Inside and Out’ project is designed to empower people of all age groups in the Cranmore housing estate through capacity building and skills development that will enable their involvement in positive projects that will improve their own quality of life as well as the community at large.
Speaking at the launch Ms. Dorothy Clarke, Board Member of the International Fund for Ireland, said: “I would like to congratulate everyone involved in this innovative and imaginative project and in particular the children who participated and achieved such an impressive end result. They should be very proud of the fact that their very special Zine will be on exhibition in this world-class visitor centre for everyone to enjoy.”
Emer McFadden, Community Development Worker for the Inside and Out project said: “On behalf of everyone in Cranmore Co-Op and all our partners involved in this project, I would like to thank the International Fund for Ireland most sincerely for their funding support, without which, we could not have undertaken this project.”
“We are delighted with the huge response from young people to the project over the past twelve months and today’s event illustrates the positive benefits of skill sharing and learning to work together. I have no doubt that this project will leave a lasting positive legacy for the people in Cranmore and its environs.”
All images by Frances Muldoon