On Saturday, November 18th, we gathered for a memorable creative session at The Nest, marking the culmination of our engaging workshops with the Youth Advisory Group. The event showcased a vibrant display of Kids’ Own publications, canvas and paper book projects, posters, and tapestry created with World Children’s Day was also celebrated with an inspiring address by our associate writer Mary Branley, who shared the importance of fostering creativity and connection with the attending children.

Our associate artists Francesca Hutchinson and writers Sarah O’Keeffe and Mary Branley led the creative workshop, with important support from our Youth Advisory Group.

Sarah said of the day  “On Saturday November 18th we met for our final creative session with the Youth Advisory Group at The Nest with thanks to Branching Out. This session was also an opportunity to display the work created at our previous workshops. The space was filled with Kids’ Own publications, canvas and paper book projects, posters, tapestry, and finger knitted animals! Many of the participants brought additional projects that they had been working on from home, inspired by our previous workshops. Mary and I were joined with Associate Artist Francesca, who returned with more tapestry and weaving opportunities, along with Kids’ Own CEO Ciara, and Project Manager Lorna. There were options to create canvas books, drawings, stories and even figurines. For this session we opened our doors additionally to the public, families had the opportunity to participate in creating their own work. At the end of the afternoon, we celebrated with lots of snacks and pizza, with an opportunity for story time. Everyone could share with they had created, resulting in some intriguing stories about wasps, detectives, apartments, flowers, and robots. Lots of fun, new friends, and plenty of pretzels – and as we say, it’s not goodbye, it’s “we’ll see you again soon!”

Mary added “Our YAGs finale took place on Saturday 18th at The Nest, which also was World Children’s Day. We were joined by artist Fransesca Hutchinson, most of our young advisors, Kids’ Own staff, and 15 new recruits. The main purpose of the day was to have fun, exploring a variety of materials and mark making, canvas, thread, needles and glue, paper and sharpies. Our young advisors arrived early to help with the set up and get a start on the pretzels and popcorn. It was lovely to see how comfortable they were in the art zone, with their flow of creativity, chat and munching all happening at the same time. I noticed how confident they were compared to our first gathering in June, not only had everyone grown physically, but creatively and socially as well.  They created a lovely buzz for the new children who joined, and very quickly got started on their chosen pieces. Many parents stayed around to chat and partake too, which was lovely. The time flew by until it was time for sharing and pizza. Jokes, chat and two chapters from Jasper’s novel in progress, (Polish police drama) rounded off the day. We didn’t say goodbye, we said see ya later. For me it was a very satisfying conclusion.”

This is not goodbye for the YAG and we look forward to continuing our work in 2024!