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. It aims to celebrate and encourage children and young people’s participation in culture and creativity through a compelling programme of performances, coding, theatre, art and music workshops, readings and screenings, special events and much more. Every year, this variety of activity-based youth-centred events culminates in a national day of free creativity for children and young people under 18, providing them with opportunities to get ‘doing’, ‘making’ and ‘creating’. For more information, follow this link.
Each local authority Creative Ireland Team takes responsibility for coordinating a Cruinniú na nÓg programme in their area annually. In Cork City, Cruinniú na nÓg is supported through partnership by arts organisations, cultural institutions and creative venues.
If your organisation would like to host a Cruinniú na nÓg event and have it listed in the Cork City printed and online programme, simply submit the details here.
For inspiration on how to engage children and young people creatively, see the Resources Section at the bottom of this webpage.
The full public programme for this year's Cruinnú na nÓg programme in Cork city is available here.
Creative Young Neighbourhoods is an initiative of Cork City Council supported by Creative Ireland Groups where youth aged 10+ years of age can get involved in Cruinniú na nÓg by partnering with professional creatives on a collaborative project. In 2023, awards of up to €2000 are available to fund Creative Young Neighbourhoods projects. Find out more here.
For tips on facilitating online and 'blended' or 'hybrid' activities (ie.. activities with combined online and in-person elements), see our 'Lessons from Lockdown' video series below.
Tadhg Crowley at The Glucksman Gallery offers an insight into the challenges overcome in relation to producing visual art with young people through innovative approaches to engagement.
Garry McCarthy at GMC Beats discusses challenges overcome in relation to facilitating music workshops for young people on behalf of Music Generation and demonstrates some practical tools for online engagement.
Kath Gorman at Cork Midsummer Festival gives an overview of a participatory art project produced despite COVID-related restrictions with young people in Ireland collaboration with Teatro Container in Chile. Kath Gorman describes how Cruinniú na nÓg can be a platform for showcasing larger scale initiatives such as Little Druids of Humanity, a magical virtual arts project and game for children and young people, their families and neighbourhood supported by Creative Ireland and Cork City Council.
A Garden Collective provide practical tips on online production and technology use for live streaming and more. In 2020, COVID 19 forced the collective to present elements of their Port to Port festival online.