Young People's Programmes
WE ARE INVITING YOUNG PEOPLE TO JOIN OUR NEW PROJECT
Samhain!!! check it out!!! on our socials or click HERE
Our Youth Arts Programme is delivered in two artform strands: Uillinn Young Dancers and Youth Visual Arts. It is informed by our Young People’s Committee, the Guerruillinns and Guerruillumni, who give voice to ideas in relation to building and participating in our programmes at Uillinn and is facilitated by staff and artists working on the programme. All spaces are inclusive, and welcome young people from diverse backgrounds including LGBTQ+ and ASD. Additional opportunities take place throughout each year, enriching young people’s experience of the arts through exhibitions, once off events, networking, exchanges and outings. In addition, opportunities for participation are facilitated through Cork’s key youth arts support – Local Creative Youth Partnership (LCYP) and through Youth Theatre Ireland (YTI) and Creative Ireland.
Uillinn’s programme for Young People is part of the Creative Youth Partnership Project which in turn is part of the national Creative Ireland programme and is supported by Cork Local Creative Youth Partnership.
UILLINN YOUNG DANCERS
8 places, Membership Fee €50 per term
for ages 13 to 18 years (Second level students)
12 Sessions
Mondays 5.00pm to 6.30pm
with Esmee O’Brien, Hetty Gazzaniga and Elaine McCague
Spring: 19 January to 15 June 2026 (ex.2 & 16 Feb, 30 Mar, 6 April, 4 May and 1 June)
Summer : 13 to 17 July
Autumn/Winter : 7 September to 21 December 2026
The aerial and dance workshops are ideal for young people interested in developing skills on rope and trapeze alongside contemporary dance practice. The sessions combine facilitated and peer-to-peer learning, focusing on exploring aerial technique, choreography, and creative movement.
No previous experience in aerial work is necessary. Participation in the programme offers young dancers the opportunity to broaden their skill set, build strength and confidence, step outside their comfort zones, and discover new ways of moving and creating. Participants will work towards a self-choreographed performance, sharpening both their technical and creative skills while making connections and developing collaboratively.
About the facilitators
Esmee O’Brien began her interest in movement at home as a self taught acrobat from a very young age. Esmee has been a long time performer for the Bally de hob jazz parade, even before she decided to pursue a dance career. Out of the twenty years that the parade has been running, Esmee has been a part of almost every production. When she was seventeen she joined the youth dance program at the Uillinn Arts Centre. Esmee soon became one of the youth representatives for this dance program. At eighteen years old Esmee joined the Alan Foley Academy of dance and performed at the everyman theatre in Cork city, dancing the work of choreographer Inma Pavon. Later that year she was accepted to the University of Limerick, scoring one hundred percent on her audition. In Esmee’s first semester in college she joined the musical theatre society, where she played the role of main dancer and co-choreographer for the production of Chicago the musical. Esmee was employed by the Ballyagran lipsync company as a choreographer, where she created work for non dancers that was competing in a showcase to raise money for charity. Three out of four finalists were performing Esmee’s choreography. Esmee’s groups didn’t win the performance but they did raise the most money. Esmee has since worked with choreographer Inma Pavon on the Joyful square performance at Dance Firkin Crane. Esmee was featured in the film Falling Dreams by director David Bickley. Esmee is also currently working with artist Hammond Journeaux on a multi media collaborative art exhibition in commemoration for the feminist Irish poet Eva Gore-Booth. Esmee has performed in the Hunt museum in Limerick and the Dublin Museum of Modern Art. Esmee is currently doing co-operative work placement at the Uillinn Arts Centre and has her own residency project at the centre as well.
Hetty Gazzaniga attended Alan Foley Academy of Dance from the age of 4 and Uillinn Young Dancers from her early teens, working with artists such as Tara Brandel, Elaine McCague, and Inma Pavon. She has performed at Cork Opera House, Crawford Art Gallery, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre, and solo work at Everyman Theatre, Cork in 2023 and 2024 as part of the Alan Foley Academy of Dance Showcase. Hetty is currently studying contemporary dance at University of Limerick, Irish World Academy with choreographers including Grant McLay, Monica Munoz and Justine Cooper. Through college, she has performed at the UL Glucksman Library, Dance Limerick, The Irish World Academy, The Hunt Museum, and a site specific contemporary ballet at Kinsale Arts Festival (choreography by Patricia Crosbie). She is currently participating in a nine-month placement at Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre as Dance Project Assistant, with responsibility for leading Uillinn Young Dancers, support work for Uillinn dance residency/performed in Uillinn Dance Season, teaching with Alan Foley Academy of Dance and delivering dance workshops for Skibbereen Arts Festival and West Cork Feelgood Festival.
Elaine Mc Cague is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice explores the expressive potential of the contemporary circus body beyond its traditional forms. Her work bends the boundaries between physical performance, visual design, and sound, constructing site-responsive works that challenge genre and convention. In 2017, she was awarded the prestigious Arts Council Next Generation Award in recognition of her innovative approach to performance-making. Since 2014, Elaine has been co-artistic director of Loosysmokes, a company known for its ambitious, genre-defying productions. Drawing from a diverse background in film, writing, production, and extensive training in traditional circus techniques, Elaine’s work seeks to create immersive, high-quality experiences that resonate with both art audiences and the wider public. Since relocating to West Cork in 2020, she has continued to collaborate with local artists and communities, including her role in the creative team behind the annual Jazz Funeral Parade for the Ballydehob Jazz Festival.
for more information on Young Dancers click on the image:
UILLINN YOUTH ARTS
8 places. Membership Fee €50 per term
Fridays 4.30pm to 6.30pm
Ages 14 to 18 years
with Mich Maguire, Sylwia Migdal & Guests
Spring – 23 January to 8 May (ex. 21 February, 3 & 10 April) 2026
Summer – 13 to 17 July
Autumn/Winter – 7 September to 21 December 2026
Youth Arts is an innovative art project which invites young people to express their experience of life in Ireland today through drawing, painting, photography, puppetry, film and costume with Sylwia Migdal and guest artists. The projects spark creative investigation into the nature of the creative process and the ways in which it corresponds with contemporary challenges. The young people explore the tactile drawing, awareness of materials, spatial context and presence of others.
About the facilitator
Sylwia Migdal, Public Engagement Assistant at Uillinn, and an artist and researcher from Poland, has lived and worked in West Cork for two decades. Her artistic practice is rooted in conceptual art, soundscapes, participatory and socially engaged practice, and engaging regularity with young people in informal settings. For the past three years, she has played a significant role in delivering and developing the young people’s programme at Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre in her role as Project Assistant. Sylwia’s academic journey is marked by achievements, including a BA in Visual Arts and a Master’s Degree in Art and Environment from Technological University Dublin, School of Art and Design, with studies conducted on Sherkin Island and Dublin. She also holds a Youth Arts certification in the Youth Work Context from Maynooth University, highlighting her dedication to nurturing young creative minds.
ALAN FOLEY ACADEMY OF DANCE (AFAD) promotes dance as a vibrant and enjoyable art form through classes, workshops and performances in ballet, jazz and modern dance for 3- to 18-year-olds. AFAD is part of Cork City Ballet (CCB) which embraces a policy of engaging dancers from international companies as well as Ireland’s finest classical and contemporary dancers, to perform to audiences all over Ireland.
Founded in 1991, the Alan Foley Academy of Dance has branches in Skibbereen, Clonakilty and Carrigaline. Under the direction of Alan Foley, the School offers a complete range of classes for young children and teens who wish to pursue recreational dance instruction in a supportive and encouraging setting. See here for further details.
TERM 2 – 17 January to 10 May 2025 (ex.4 & 1 Apr) (rehearsal on 9 May and performance on 10 May) – 15 Sessions
Pre-primary (4-5) – 10:30 to 11:00. €150
Primary Ballet/Modern (5-7) – 11:00 to 11:45. €200
Junior Ballet/Modern (7-11) – 11:45 to 12:45. €230
Senior Ballet (11 upwards) – 1:15 to 2:30. €260
Senior Jazz (11 upwards) – 2:30 to 3:30. €230
Senior Ballet & Jazz €380
Rusty Frog Youth Theatre For more that 30 years West Cork Arts Centre has managed and supported a Youth Theatre with a focus on high-quality, exciting drama theatre experience for teenagers in West Cork, embedded in Youth Work practice. In 2026, we are pausing weekly workshops in acting, improvisation, stagecraft etc, to focus on aerial and contemporary dance and visual arts exploration with young people. We will remain an advocate for Youth Theatre and will work to ignite new locally based Youth Theatres, while providing a central hub for local services. As part of hub provisions we aim to host training and research days for Youth Theatre facilitators in partnership with Corks Local Creative Youth Partnership.
