BLAST – Bringing Live Arts to Students & Teachers is an exciting Arts-in‑Education Residency initiative run by the Irish Department of Education and overseen by the 21 regional Education Support Centres. Through BLAST, each participating primary school is matched with a professional, vetted artist (working in areas such as visual arts, music, drama, printmaking, dance, literature, crafts, or film) who works alongside teachers and pupils during a 20‑hour residency—including planning, creation, and review time .
During the residency, pupils engage in imaginative, joyful projects—be it making sculptures, performing, painting, or crafting stories—uniquely tailored to the interests and needs of their class. Each project is co-designed by the artist, teacher, students, and school community, promoting collaboration, communication, critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, confidence, and fun, fun, fun!
St. Aidan's N.S. was one of the lucky schools to be chosen to take part in the Residency this year.
We were matched with Professional Artist Jo Lewis.
As part of our BLAST Artist in Residency Programme, the children worked with artist Jo for over fourteen hours during September and October. One of the highlights of the project was a wonderful Beach Day in Mullaghmore, where the children gathered natural materials such as seaweed, shells, small grasses, and sea-glass to bring back to school. Back in the classroom, the children used these materials to create beautiful Plaster Cast Tiles, making imprints of their beach finds in plaster. The finished tiles turned out so well that we decided to mount them for display in the school, where they can be proudly viewed by the whole school community and any visitors to our school. It was a fantastic, hands-on project that combined creativity, nature, and teamwork — and the children thoroughly enjoyed every minute!
