‘ Children’s education will benefit from Model idea’
A new outreach programme which sees paintings from The Model visit local national schools will have many educational benefits for young children, according to Emer McGarry, Acting Director at The Model. She was giving a presentation along with Marie Louise Blaney on the new Punc1x1 initiative. The national schools programme sees ten schools across the county welcoming one painting at a time each to give students the opportunity to learn more about them.
The name Punc refers to the Pop Up Niland Collection and the ten schools in question are Our Lady of Mercy, Carn in Gurteen, St Cecilia’s, Gaelscoil, St Patrick’s Ballinful, Holy Family Tubbercurry, Scoil Mhuire agus Iosaf Collooney, Dromore West NS, Taunaugh in Riverstown and Carns in Moneygold.
Emer said that a team from The Model will be engaging with the schools throughout the programme. “All of the children will gain confidence to their learning. We will be seeking further funding to bring each and every primary school in Sligo into the programme in the coming years.” There are aims to engage all 69 primary schools in the project by 2020. Funding for Punc1x1 comes from Sligo County Council and the Community Foundation for Ireland. She said funding for 2017/ 18 will come from the Community Foundation for Ireland until the project gets off the ground and two potential funders for 2018/ 20 have been identified. Emer added there was a duty of care to the collection and it’s vital to make sure the paintings are 100% secure when out in the schools. The programme was widely welcomed by councillors. Cllr Sinead Maguire said: “It’s a wonderful project and we often find adults enjoy the gallery experience while it can be distracting for children.” Cllr Thomas Healy paid tribute to Nora Niland, who was the person who set up the collection.