Creating Space is an innovative two year arts in education residency project delivered by multi-disciplinary artist Colm Ó Foghlú in Merlin Woods Primary School for Baboró with funding from Lifes2Good Foundation and the Arts Council. The bespoke project was designed in consultation with the school staff and children. It involved Colm visiting the same children four times a month for two years as they moved from 1st to 2nd class. The students also went to see four live performances in Galway city.
Come along to hear stakeholders reflect on this child-led project and share insights for developing meaningful arts experiences in the classroom.
Colm O'Foghlú
Colm Ó Foghlú is an Irish composer, director, and producer whose career spans music, theatre, film, and education. A graduate of UCD (M.A. in Drama & Performance) and DCU (PME), he has held residencies at St. Patrick’s College, Marino Institute of Education and with Baboró International Arts Festival for Children. As Musical Director of Riverdance, Colm toured internationally and has since composed for opera, theatre, and orchestral settings. His operas Eoghainín na nÉan and Íosagán (after P. H. Pearse) premiered in Dublin. Through Ember Productions, he co-developed acclaimed site-specific works such as Stones, Bones and Beckett and Frozen Music.
His commissions include works for RTÉ, Busch Gardens, and the Australian Film Board, while his 2022 album Returning / Filleadh was chosen as Lyric FM’s Album of the Week. Other projects include The Island Lullaby, commemorating the Blasket Islands evacuation and An Uile Bhealach Abhaile/All The Ways Home, inspired by his Connemara upbringing. Colm's music has been performed by orchestras across the world and is regularly performed by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. In film and media, he wrote and directed the award-winning short Suanscéal, formatted and mentored on TG4’s series Pitch Perfect and was head judge/mentor on TG4’s recent series Curfá.
A passionate educator, Colm has led numerous school and community arts initiatives, especially in the Irish language. Rooted in his Connemara home, Colm continues to weave traditional heritage with contemporary artistry, shaping Ireland’s cultural landscape across stage, screen and sound.
Shirley-Anne Godfrey (Bonner)
Shirley-Anne Godfrey (Bonner) holds an MA and PhD in Drama and theatre Studies, from the University of Galway. Her research includes the use of Drama in Education in primary schools and she is currently evaluating arts in education programmes for Galway Music Residency and Sligo Youth Baroque Orchestra. She is a former teacher, co-founder of the Frances Browne Literary Festival, Donegal, and a playwright. A rehearsed reading of her first play In My Mind’s Eye (2021) was performed in the Lyric Theatre Belfast, at the American Irish Historical Society, New York, and An Grianán, Letterkenny. Dramatisations include Browne’s ghostly The Legends of Ulster (2021), The Tale of Fairyfoot (2023) - a promenade performance in the woods of Drumboe, featured storytelling, music and aerial dance in association with Fidget Feet and Aislingí academy. An adaptation of Browne’s The Tale of Merrymind also in collaboration with Fidget Feet will be performed in October.
Paula O'Connor
Paula has been Principal of Merlin Woods Primary School for over 15 years, a diverse school on the east side of Galway City with almost 400 pupils and over 35 languages and nationalities. Paula is passionate about encouraging a holistic education to her pupils, providing meaningful creative opportunities for all. She encourages pupils’ love and appreciation of the Arts in all its forms. Paula sees the benefits of using the Arts to promote student voice and participation.
Bryony Hussey
Bryony Hussey is Baboró’s Outreach Projects Manager, a Visual Artist and Educator. Bryony works in educational institutions, art centres and galleries across the UK, Ireland and USA devising and delivering creative learning programmes for children and young people. Originally from Dublin, Bryony lived in London for 15 years and is passionate about place, children’s rights and neurodiverse perspectives. While in London, Bryony studied at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design. Her practice centres on multisensory play and community-led approaches.
Rita Melia (Chair)
Dr Rita Melia is a lecturer in Early Childhood Education and Care at Atlantic Technological University Galway and Mayo. As a Fulbright scholar at Harvard Graduate School of Education under the sponsorship of Professor Howard Gardner, Rita's work is guided by an image of the child as competent and confident, a child with a hundred languages and multiple intelligences. Rita is passionate about young children's right to access the arts as participants and audience. Having co-ordinated the pilot Arts in Early Learning and Care funded by the Arts Council, Rita has also successfully been awarded Artists in Residence to work with students on the BA Early Childhood Education and Care programme at ATU. Rita is currently a student at the National College of Art and Design where she is undertaking the Diploma in Arts and Ecology programme.