Longford Cruinniú na nÓg: Mol an Óige agus tiocfaidh sí

Last week pupils from schools across the county visited Backstage Theatre for workshops aimed at igniting the potential of young minds.

Under the auspices of Cruinniú na nÓg, a national programme set aside to encourage creativity in young people, the young people experienced a variety of workshops, from film to dance, from music to writing.

The free creative activities for children and young people cover a variety of genres and cater for budding artists from six to 16 years of age.
Two young people taking part in the workshop, Mairéad Hanly and Craig Gill, participated in a creative writing and drama workshop hosted by Maisie Lee.

Both pupils in Rang 3 at Gaelscoil Longfoirt were delighted to be involved in the day of creative expression. Mairéad told the Leader how they got involved: “Our teacher, Múinteoir Roibeard, told us about it. We are very excited about it.”

This is not Craig's first time in the creative hub that is Backstage: “I had a school play as part of Kids Paradise. They showed us all around the theatre. I enjoy being at plays here.”

Maisie Lee is a freelance director of theatre and radio who is inspired by work with a strong storytelling element. The storytelling can take many forms and cover many genres including theatre for adults, theatre for young audiences, radio drama and radio documentary.

Maisie took the 20 pupils from Longford Schools for the Cruinniú na nÓg event: “I've done lots of workshops with Backstage in the past on specific projects, but this is the first project under Cruinniú na nÓg.”

Maisie Lee freelance director

She explained what the participants were in for, “Mona wanted to have a range of workshops over the week. My workshop is on creating a character. We start off with games and exercises, inviting performance. Then we get to writing and creating the character, developing a backstory, writing a little bit about the character.”

The workshop is perfect for Cruinniú na nÓg: “Hopefully something they do in this workshop will spark their interest. I want to make it as broad as possible, a little writing, a little acting. Neither are for everyone, it's an introduction and hopefully it will spark the imagination. Perhaps it may open up a new interest for some in the workshop,” Maisie said.

Cruinniú na nÓg 2023 is a wonderful opportunity for the young people of Ireland to show off a little, try a new creative activity, make new friends and connect with their communities. Every event was free.