Are you between 16-19 years old and living with a chronic illness or have you spent long periods of time in hospital? Maybe someone close to you has?

Are you keen to learn about and try out some filming, acting, editing, or animating?

Would you like an opportunity to have your story heard?

If you answer yes to ANY of the above, we would love to hear from you!

Two Suitcases is a film and advocacy project in which young people living with chronic illness get the opportunity to share their experiences and film their own stories with professional mentoring and support. The aim is to raise awareness about what it’s like to be young, Irish and living with a chronic illness.

DETAILS

Stage 1: Filming Ben’s story 13th – 17th February (10am-3pm daily)

Location: Black Box Theatre, DIT Aungier Street, Dublin

Learn, have fun and act! Ben Murnane was diagnosed with Fanconi anaemia, a rare genetic disorder, when he was 9 years old and underwent a bone marrow transplant when he was 16. We are going to make a short film with Ben about his experiences. We will need volunteers to take on filming, acting, editing, animating and art department roles. If you have no experience in this area, no problem! We will have film professionals on hand who will guide you through the process.

1. - Workshops include: the basics of scriptwriting, drawing up storyboards, filming with iPhones, editing with   iMovie, creating quick but effective animations.
2. - If you can’t attend for the full 5 days, that’s okay, just let us know when you sign up what days you’re free to help  out. Travel and food expenses will be paid.
3. - During the Easter break, volunteers on Ben’s Movie will get a chance to film their own movie about their experiences.

Stage 2: Experience sharing afternoon 18th February (2-5pm)

Location: Spunout HQ, 7th Floor, Seán MacBride House, Parliament Row, Temple Bar, Dublin

Chat with other teens! An opportunity to share your experiences of living with a chronic illness and share your thoughts on how you feel the hospital environment could be improved for young people. Your experiences are important to us because we’re developing an arts and technology project for teenagers in hospital. Your ideas will inform this project and your voices will help us to create change.

Interested in all or some of this and want to find out more? Email the super-friendly Emma! communications@helium.ie

Two Suitcases is produced by Helium Children’s Arts and Health in association with Spunout.ie.

In March 2012, Helium will host a 2-day professional development programme in the area of arts and early years (arts for babies/toddlers and their parents), a very exciting and growing area of work in Ireland. On the Friday, Helium will host a morning of workshops for parents and very young children. These workshops will be given by professional artists from the UK and Ireland who have a developing arts practice in early years. There will be opportunities for healthcare staff and participating artists to observe these workshops, so as to provide a springboard for the afternoon forum. In the afternoon, there will be a seminar for artists, healthcare workers and early childhood professionals interested in arts, health, and early years, in which the role of the arts for very young children within primary and community healthcare will be discussed. During this seminar, Helium will showcase the evolvement of its Infant Imaginings primary care project.

On the Saturday there will be a professional development day for artists of any discipline who want to develop their skills in arts and early years practice. The application of this practice to working with parents and health and early intervention contexts will provide the focus here. The day will include presentations and training workshops by invited artists from the UK and Ireland with a professional arts practice in working with very young children and their parents. Invited artists will provide perspectives from across artistic disciplines, including theatre, dance, music and the visual arts.

UPDATE:
Fri, March 30 – Seminar 1:30pm-4:30pm with Catherine Maguire, president of the Irish Infant Mental Health Association and Ruth Churchill Dwyer from Earlyarts UK.

Sat, March 31st – All day workshop for artists across disciplines (music/drama/dance/visual arts), 10am-5:30pm – facilitated by artists from the UK/Germany/Ireland

All will take place in Mullingar.

Also, artists participating in the Saturday workshop are invited to observe one workshop given by the facilitating artists with Parents/Babies/Toddlers on Friday morning, either 10-11 or 11-12.

Cost of the workshop on the Saturday is €35 euro, which includes the seminar and observation opportunity on the Friday morning.

We will have the full details and application process finalised shortly.

Early interest can be registered at info@helium.ie

This professional development programme is supported by the Arts Council and Westmeath County Council Arts Office.

HELIUM LAUNCHES “THE STORYTELLERS’ NEW GAMBIT” – A Fund it CAMPAIGN FOR CHILDREN IN HOSPITAL

The Storytellers’ New Gambit is a storytelling and technology performance project led by Helium in collaboration with artists Eléonore Nicolas and Fiona Dowling that we hope, with your help, to bring to the paediatric department of a Dublin hospital this spring for a six-month residency.

We launched The Storytellers’ New Gambit on www.fundit.ie today and in return for helping to fund the project you will receive a personalised gift from the artists and enter our raffle to win 2 tickets for Mary Black in concert at The Grand Canal Theatre on 13 May 2012. Throughout the campaign, there will be opportunities to win further prizes.

What exactly will I be funding?

Eléonore and Fiona want to make their performances truly magical for the children and they plan on doing this in two ways: (1) through creating storytellers’ costumes with embedded technology so that children can choose stories, music, sound and lighting effects that transport them outside the hospital ward (2) through storytelling props created by the artists which are left with the children enabling them to develop alternative endings to the stories or invent entirely new stories in their own time.

Who will this benefit?

By funding this project you will be helping to create a memorable experience for the children during their hospital stay and the means by which they can get creative all by themselves. Helium’s mission is to develop new ways in which artists can collaborate with children in the hospital environment and to encourage the participation of parents, families and staff.

‘When I see her happy like this, I feel so relieved’ – Mother of 17 month old girl, Scales & Tales, Cork University Hospital

Click here to fund “The Storytellers’ New Gambit”

Watch Eléonore’s & Fiona’s wonderful animation about the project:

‘Where are we now?’ – A symposium examining arts for children in hospital within the context of the Puppet Portal Project, was hosted by Helium, in collaboration with Kids’ Own Publishing Partnership, at The Ark, Dublin, on October 28th 2011.

Perspectives on the Puppet Portal Project were given by Helene Hugel of Helium; Paula Hicks of the Centre for Health Informatics, TCD; and Mary O’Connor, CEO of Children in Hospital Ireland. Sally Maidment and Una Jordan co-presented from the perspectives of an artist and a healthcare professional working together and artist Siobhán Clancy reflected on her personal experiences of interacting in the hospital environment. Artists who took part in the Puppet Portal Project gave workshops on the day and an exhibition showcasing the project took place in the downstairs theatre.

Martin Drury, Arts Director at the Arts Council chaired the panel, which included Dr. Emma Curtis, Medical Director of the New Children’s Hospital; Dr. Veronica Lambert, Lecturer in the School of Nursing at DCU; Denis Roche, Curating Artist of the Open Window project at St. James’s Hospital; Dr. David Vaughan, Directorate of Quality & Clinical Care at the HSE; and Ray Yeates, Dublin City Council Arts Officer.

Presentation by Helene Hugel, Helium, ‘Where Are We Now?’ symposium from Helium Childrens Arts and Health on Vimeo.

Helene Hugel: Where are we Now_Powerpoint presentation of project overview

Presentation by Paula Hicks, Centre for Health Informatics TCD, ‘Where Are We Now?’ Symposium from Helium Childrens Arts and Health on Vimeo.

Panel Discussion – ‘Where are we now?’ Symposium from Helium Childrens Arts and Health on Vimeo.

Check out photos, video and a PDF presentation from the workshops on the day below. The workshops were given by Siobhan Clancy, Anna Rosenfelder and Emma Fisher, Eszter Nemethi, Sally Maidment and Fionnuala Conway – all artists who took part in the Puppet Portal Project in hospitals throughout Ireland in 2009 and 2010.

Thank you to everyone who took part on the day.

Siobhán Clancy’s workshop, Adapting Technology, offered suggestions on potential arts activities incorporating technology for children and young people and tips on how to facilitate them. Download the PDF here: Adapting Tech Presentation

Some comments from attendees and participants on the day:

“Great to get access to see the work that is happening inside Irish hospitals.”

“Introducing arts and health at a college level to BOTH art/drama students and the students of various medical professions could really make differences in perception (maybe even having the same lecture for both disciplines sort of melting in the middle).”

“With many thanks for an opportunity to think collectively about work done mostly alone.”

“A fantastic day of discussion and creativity. What Helium are doing is so important and integral to our health system.”

“I thought today was so informative and thought provoking, both the content of the day and participants.”

“Inspiring and encouraging – hopefully this work can genuinely grow and continue.”

Learn more about the outcomes of the Puppet Portal Project by viewing SpiralOrchard’s evaluation online here .

This symposium was hosted as part of the 2011 International Puppet Festival Ireland and was supported by the Arts Council. Helium would like to gratefully acknowledge the in-kind support of The Ark, A Cultural Centre for Children, for providing the venue for this event.

Helium is seeking a volunteer fundraising assistant to work closely with the artistic director in researching and collating information on corporate sponsorship/partnership opportunities to support the company’s programmes.

Location
Flexible. Helium is based in Westmeath but the successful applicant will also work from their own home and the hours required will be 1-2 days per week until April 2012. The start date is negotiable.

Key Responsibilities
The successful applicant will:
• Research potential funders and partners, from all sources and sectors as required;
• Source contact details for key personnel within each of the potential funding organisations;
• Investigate which organisations the sponsors have previously supported and research the companies’ corporate social responsibility policies and priorities;
• Provide reports on findings and database information to the artistic director;
• Represent Helium, acting as an advocate for the company’s mission and values at all times.

Person Specification

Qualifications
BA or comparable degree.

Training and Experience
• Active user of social media
• Some experience of research
• Experience and/or knowledge of the creative industries and the arts
• Fundraising or marketing experience (desirable)

Attitudes and Abilities
• Adept with various IT packages and comfortable working with databases
• Excellent writing skills
• Excellent verbal communication skills

Personal attributes
• Has initiative
• Self-motivated
• Works productively without close supervision
• Works well in a team environment
• Personable/Upbeat
• Supportive of Helium’s values

About Helium
Helium is an arts and health company, which produces innovative arts experiences for children in healthcare settings. Helium aims to support the Arts and Health field as a creatively charged environment with which artists can engage, where art-forms can be challenged, enriched, and extended to produce ground-breaking work which contributes to the ongoing development of childrenʼs contemporary arts in Ireland. Helium’s office is based near Mullingar, Westmeath but works nationally.

By joining our team, you can enjoy the following benefits:
• Opportunity to work with a dynamic arts and health company for children which is at the forefront of practice in Ireland
• Learn new skills and develop areas of interest
• Experience the rewards of working in the arts for children and young people

Recruitment Process:
1.)Please contact info@helium.ie to request a full role description
2.)Please send in a statement of expression of interest
3.)Helium will arrange for an informal interview to take place between December 5-9
4.)The successful volunteer will be notified within one week of the interview

Deadline for expressions of interest: Friday, November 25th