To mark the start of pop up workshops at The Ark, children aged 6 - 11 met real life baby animals at Airfield, Dundrum and introduced them to some pop up animals already created.












From 30 March - 12 June explore the art of the pop up in small group workshops with artist Liz Smith in The Ark, A Cultural Centre for Children. Discover how to construct impressive 3D pop-ups with impact and movement by using a variety of papers, cards and creative techniques. Pop up animals, flowers, planes, trains and lots more will be created in these workshops.


Public and school workshops will run over the next few months. Public workshops are all priced at only €10 (concs €8) with special Easter holiday public workshops. Schools workshops are €6.50 (concs €4.50). Based on three separate themes the workshops will look at different interpretations of the pop up and are designed for children ages 3-6 and ages 7+.

For booking and more information, please call 01.6707788

On Wednesday 24 March, Bookmarks 2010 culminated in an awards ceremony in the Long Room of Trinity College, Dublin.

Bookmarks was a collaboration between Trinity Access Programmes and The Ark, A Cultural Centre for Children. Three schools, Scoil Mhuire SNS, Blakestown, Drimnagh Castle Boys SNS, and Our Lady of Good Counsel Girls SNS, took part in this programme. Participating children developed new skills though illustrated storytelling and bookmaking, making them the author, illustrator and publisher of their very own book. Students this year drew inspiration from Trinity’s Pollard Collection of Children’s Literature.

At the launch of the Bookmarks programme on 25 January, the three participating schools spent the day exploring the Trinity campus, visiting the Old Library, the Pollard Collection of Children’s Literature and the Book of Kells. Following the launch, through six weeks of workshops, children worked with Ark artists Liz Smith and Laura de Búrca to create their very own handmade books. Participants developed skills of story telling and artistic techniques of cut-out, silhouette, collage, cover design and pop-up illustration as well as binding their finished books.

Returning to Trinity on 24 March, the children were each presented with a certificate of achievement by author Conor Kostick at an awards ceremony to mark the opening of the exhibition.






















Conor Kostick read an extract from one of his stories and Bookmarks students gave their impressions of the project and read excerpts from their own books. Parents, teachers, students and families were all invited to be the very first to see the illustrated books in the Bookmarks exhibition.

The books will be displayed in the Long Room of Trinity College as recognition of their achievement and can be viewed by the public. The Bookmarks exhibition will run from 24 – 31 March in the Long Room, Old Library, Trinity College Dublin.

Spring up! with artist Liz Smith begins here at The Ark in just one week. Liz has been busy getting ready for the workshops, and wrote in to tell us all about it…

Hello! I hope you are enjoying the sunny spring weather as much as I am. It is giving me plenty of bright ideas for the sample pop-up illustrations that I am making to show to you when you come to The Ark this Easter. At the moment I am making a pop-up flower and a bird pop-up. I am also working on a moving illustration mechanism that allows characters to swing around. This week I will be putting the finishing touches to the wonderful pop-up techniques that I will be sharing with you in the workshops.

The spring theme and the new skills you will learn will make for really fun illustrations and I can’t wait to see what you all think of them. Maybe you can think about what type of spring illustration you would like to make in the workshops? Have a look around you and see how the animals, insects and people are enjoying this change of weather. You'll probably see lots of young animals and children out playing. I am very excited about the workshops and I look forward to seeing you soon, Liz.



Spring up! starts on Tuesday 30 March and runs through the Easter holidays until 10 April.
You can book online here or call The Ark box office on 01.6707788.

There are lots of exciting events popping up and leaping out of The Ark over the next few months.

You can explore the art of pop-up in three brand new visual arts workshops at The Ark with artist Liz Smith. Construct impressive 3D pop-ups with impact and movement by using papers, cards and creative techniques. Join us during the Easter School Holiday for Spring up! and create lively pop-up illustrations of springing lambs, jumping rabbits, blossoming flowers and anything else that springs up! Watch as your illustrations can hop, jump, swing or spring.

Then, as summer approaches, it is the perfect time to think about travelling, holidays or discovering a new land in Pop-up Travels (April – May). Mountains, boats, trains, planes and surprise characters can all be inspiration for your pop up illustration. You can pop up anywhere in the world, the universe or any place you can possibly imagine.

In Animal Magic (May – June) you can construct a moving pop-up illustration of your favourite wild animal or even create a brand new species of your own. Think about where your animal might live, what it might eat and what it is called - then use your pop-up skills to bring your new animal to life.

In May, The Ark and Dublin Dance Festival Children’s Season 2010 will bring the best of Irish and international dance to our stage. Join La BaZooKa with dance performance MonStreS, a unique show co-programmed by The Ark and Dublin Dance Festival on 13 – 15 May. Inspired by mirrors, kaleidoscopes and labyrinths, MonStreS is a fascinating dance show for 4 – 7 year olds.

The Ark works with Dublin Dance Festival to create exciting and innovative dance experiences for children and families. This year we are adding a very special workshop opportunity to the programme – Dance with Colin Dunne. On 18 & 20 May, join Colin Dunne for an interactive workshop in Irish step dance. These workshops are suitable for children and families who want to gain an appreciation of how to move to Irish music in a relaxed and fun way.

All events are now available for booking online or by calling The Ark box office on 01.6707788

We look forward to seeing you in The Ark soon.

This weekend is your last chance to catch our critically acclaimed theatre production, The Girl who Forgot to Sing Badly presented by The Ark, in association with Theatre Lovett.

This world premiere production has been on stage for over six weeks now, with actor Louis Lovett, The Ark’s Theatre-Maker in Residence for 2010: Inspire new theatre for generations.

Louis will shortly be commencing the Actor-Training programme, presented by The Ark and Louis Lovett, in association with Theatre Forum. This unique training has been specially designed for actors who are interested in theatre for children and family audiences.

Following on from this, the Theatre-Maker in Residence programme continues with An Introduction to Physical Theatre, a professional development workshop for teachers. Booking for this workshop is now open, call The Ark box office on 01.6707788 for more details or click here.

There will be more events later in 2010 as part of The Ark’s Theatre-Maker in Residence programme.

Our spring events, including pop-up visual arts workshops with Liz Smith and The Ark and Dublin Dance Festival Children’s Season, are now on sale!