Guerrilluinns: Lucija Kluzniak - Madajczak, Nori Kluzniak -Madajczak, Leo Robb, Esmeé O'Brien, Emily Brennan, Eddie Low Guerrilluinn Uillumni:  Pádraig Harrington, Mich Maguire, Hetty Gazzaniga (2021 - 2024), Charlie DeLacey (2021 - 2023)

The Guerrilluinns current project, 'Shakespeare with a Twist' is a short contemporary musical narrative using a collage of Shakespeare's scripts interpreted in a blend of artforms as the ‘ twist’. Led by the Guerrillluinns the project brings together a diverse group of young people with expertise in different art forms to create a performative installation that reflects the lives and concerns of young people in contemporary Ireland to “Say with ART what Cannot be Said with Words”, as one member expressed.

Written, Choreographed and Performed by young people attending Rusty Frog Youth Theatre, Young Dancers and Draw Mind Matters at Uillinn, with music and direction from local singer songwriter, Liz Clark working with Uillinn Project Assistant Sylwia Migdal and artform facilitators Tomasz Madajczak, Elaine McCague, Inma Pavon.

Outcomes of this ambitious project were shared via live performance Friday 29 March 2024 and exhibition at Uillinn from 5 to 29 June 2024. The exhibition includes a series of large form drawings, sculptures and a video documenting the live performance.

Guerrilluinns in Residence Guerrilluinns were in studio at Uillinn 10 -20 July 2023 welcoming all members of the Youth Arts programme to use the space to develop their own work, the committee members will spend two full days working together exploring 'succession or transition' and creating a "zine" or scrapbook, collecting the individual and collective artistic significance of the correct iteration of the Guerrillunns committee. 'Each of our members will draw on their different creative backgrounds and personal perspectives to put into words, imagery or other medium an expression of what art means to ourselves and the broader scope. Ultimately this may present as a base for the purpose of the Guerrillunns now and in the future, to highlight the presence and relevance of the arts in the locality.' Pádraig Harrington

Citizen Curation at IMMA   January 2023 - July 2023

Exhibition at Uillinn is on now from 10 June to 15 July 2023

SPICE Project (Social cohesion, Participation and inclusion through Cultural engagement). The Staff at IMMA are developing technologies that help communities select paintings, artefacts and other museum objects and share their interpretation with others. Through this, citizens can learn more about themselves and develop a better understanding of and empathy for, other communities, known as 'Citizen Curation'.

Guerruillinns were invited to take part on this programme and supported to develop their personal interpretation of cultural objects, work together as a group to present their collective view of life throughout the culture, heritage and gain an appreciation of alternative cultural viewpoints.

On the 24th of February 2023, Guerruillinns visited IMMA to collaborate with museum professionals and create an art work in response to the current exhibitions: Kevin Mooney and Patricia Hurl. Their creative visual interpretation and exploration of both, current showcases and IMMA online collection will be presented at IMMA on 28 April  and Uillinn West Cork Arts Centre from 10 June 2023.

Their visual art creative exploration workshops were led weekly by Tomasz Madajcak as part of the Draw Mind Matter programme, '

The art workshops with the Draw Mind Matter group incorporated experimental abstract drawing, painting, basis of video art, sound art and deepened spacial awareness as a base for performance and installation art. The young people are amazing to work with. Their alive imaginations and creative minds open up new areas of artistic explorations and connect the existing art with new perception of the youth. The “Spice” project have opened a new way of looking at the existing art works in IMMA’s collection. Selected art works were discussed and responded to with the use of multiple art media creating  new, thought provoking, exiting perspective on art. The next step is to meet other young people, from different parts of Ireland who are driven by new ways of looking at art and creating new connections through art with the surrounding world. Tomasz Madajczak 2023

 

About Guerrilluinns

Guerrilluinns is Uillinn's Youth Arts Committee whose primary remit is to inform and advise on the development of Uillinn’s children and young people's programming.

The current members were brought together in September 2021 representing young people's programming at Uillinn. They are Hetty Gazzaniga and Nori Kluzniak-Madajczak from Uillinn Young Dancers, Padraig Harrington and Charlie DeLacey from Rusty Frog Youth Theatre, Mich Maguire and Lucija Kluzniak-Madajczak from Draw Mind Matters and Leo Robb from Tune In Music. There are also links to the Creative Schools programme.

The group has a strong set of values begining with being young person-centred, recognising the rights of young people and holding central their active and voluntary participation. Inclusive, welcoming young people from diverse backgrounds, signposted with LGBTQI+ and gender neutral as default.

Ranging in age from 15 to 19 years old, they proudly represent the diversity in our community -  LGBTQI+, young people living with disability and learning difficulties, and a wide range of socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds.

The group meets regularly, supported by Programme Manager Justine Foster, Public Engagement Artist Kate McElroy, and Project Assistant Sylwia Migdal. These sessions include creative explorations and administrational tasks. At meetings and through their WhatApp group they are learning about Uillinn's programme, residencies, exhibitions and governance. The young people attend and support a range of events at Uillinn and make presentations at public events such as the recent Local Creative Youth Partnership for UN World Children's Day at the Crawford Gallery of Art in Cork city.

 

 

West Cork Arts Centre · West Cork Arts Centre Podcast: Guerrilluinn

 

 

Engaging in the Arts at Uillinn: A young person’s perspective
written by Charlie DeLacey for Cruinniú na naÓg 2022

“UILLINN HAS BECOME A WELCOMING HOME TO ME THESE PAST FEW YEARS” - MICH, 18

The Uillinn Arts Centre offers workshops/classes in art, dance, and theatre for young people; having these types of resources are very important for the wellbeing of local youth. For a lot of people who aren’t involved in sports it is difficult to find a place outside school to meet with and engage with people with the same interests, even though schools often have drama and art clubs, I feel that people want something not associated with school, especially because school can be negative place with exams and pressure. It is hard to be in a creative mind space in a school environment. For people who are home schooled being part of the Uillinn has positive benefits too. Giving them the opportunity to be an individual and develop their creativity through drama, the arts or dance.

I joined the Rusty Frog Youth Theatre Group when I was 15 and being home-schooled. Home-schooling can unfortunately have a negative reputation but mainstream school doesn’t suit everyone, particularly those who are more creative.

“THE ART CENTRE GAVE ME A PLACE TO EXPLORE MORE OF THE DANCE WORLD” - HETTY, 17 

In 2020, my normal became everyone’s normal and suddenly everyone was taught ‘at home’. Suddenly people couldn’t meet up with friends. Then it became more important than ever to have a close group. During the Covid Pandemic the Rusty Frog Youth Theatre went on zoom. Although it couldn’t replace meeting in person, I still looked forward to it each week. We managed to adapt to the circumstances and did two performances over zoom, one of which we performed live and the other we filmed beforehand and edited. It was challenging but fun getting used to performing in a very different way.

I am 18 now and looking back on the last 3 years joining the Rusty Frog at the Uillinn exposed me to a lot of opportunities I wouldn’t have ever been a part of e.g., being part of the Guerrilluinn Youth Rep Committee, mixing music for the production of 'Deano', designing the poster for my last performance with the Uillinn ‘Box of Frogs’ and writing a monologue for a play that I went on to perform for the audition that got me into the drama course I’ll be starting in September. I even had the opportunity to take part in auditions for the National Youth Theatre. Since then, I have studied art at college and with the RBGE. I am very lucky to have been involved in theatre at the Uillinn and in the words of Seán O'Casey, All the worlds a stage and most of us are desperately under rehearsed.’

“THE UILLINN PROVIDES AN INTEGRAL CREATIVE SPACE AS HERE IS A LACK OF ARTISTIC INFRASTRUCTURE IN THE WEST CORK AREA. BEING A MEMBER OF THE RUSTY FROG YOUTH THEATRE HAS HELPED ME BOOST MY SELF-ESTEEM AND MADE ME A MORE OUTGOING AND CONFIDENT INDIVIDUAL” - PADRAIG, 18

 

Previous Projects

Guerrilluinn in Residence at Uillinn
7 November 2022 to 28 January 2023

The aim of Guerrilluinns residency was to increase access to the arts for more young people in West Cork through an exciting and ambitious multimedia public realm project called FREEDOM. Check out the FREEDOM project padlet HERE

FREEDOM project began in September and runs through to the end of December 2022. The central purpose is bridging the art forms and the people who take part through meeting professional artists, making artform connections and developing new creative opportunities for the young people of West Cork. Workshops covering the four skill-based strands in dance, theatre, music and visual art, took place every week over a 12-week period, with Tomasz Madajczak as Creative Lead overseeing the artistic vision. Guerrilluinns are an inclusive group and everyone is welcome, regardless of their background, sexuality or gender identity. 

One of the outcomes of this multimedia art project was a public presentation of the work in Skibbereen on Saturday 3 December. 

The learning from this project will inform Cork's Local Creative Youth Partnership to develop its new strategic plan with a view to making the arts more available to young people in West Cork.