Down Arts Centre is offering a series of arts’ course for children and also one day arts’ courses for adults.
Summer Season for Kids at Down Arts Centre.
Down Arts Centre will be offering a series of exciting craft workshops for children aged between 7 and 12 years. On Saturday 7 May, tutor Diana Robinson will be hosting the first of six ‘Totally Creative’ workshops that are sure to keep the kids entertained. They will get their hands dirty from making papier mache, but will need a steady hand for glass painting and paper coiling.
They will also learn how to decorate a picture frame with mosaic tiles and to weave a colourful table mat or bag and finally, discover that buttons are not just for keeping your trousers up; they can be put to all sorts of crafty uses.
Aine McKenna will be coming to the Down Arts Centre, to host eight weeks of Kids Pottery Classes beginning on Saturday 7 May. The children will get the opportunity to create sculptural forms, animal pots, explore texture and impressing in clay, make relief tiles and coil or pinch pots.
The summer holidays are fast approaching and Down Arts Centre is providing excellent Summer Schools. There will be three age groups for the summer school, Juniors 4 to 6 years taking place on Monday 1 to Friday 5 August, Intermediate 7 to 11 years taking place Monday 8 to Friday 12 August followed by the Senior Summer School.
The Senior Summer School is designed for 12 to 18 year olds to come along and experience taking part in a performance. The week will commence on Monday 15 August and will see young people put on a performance of ‘West Side Story’. The Summer Schools will finish with ‘Rock Week’ on 22 August.
For more information on any of the classes or to book a place contact the Down Arts Centre on 028 4461 0747 or visit
Down Arts Centre One Day Workshops
Throughout the month of May, Down Arts Centre will be hosting a series of one day workshops covering a range of crafts such as dressmaking and make-up tutorials to provide adults with time to relax and enjoy themselves while learning new skills.
The first of these workshops, ‘An Introduction to Dressmaking’ will kick off on Saturday 7 May and is perfect for anyone creative with a keen interest in sewing and design. This workshop will provide attendees with the knowledge and skills required to create a perfect dress through methods of following patterns and sewing seams.
People of all ages can come along to the Down Arts Centre on Saturday 21 May to learn how to improve their confidence in applying make-up for both professional and social situations. The Make-up Tutorial workshop will focus on teaching participant how to choose the best colours of make-up suited them in order to create a look that enhances their features, maximises confidence, as well as minimising imperfections. Participants should bring their own make-up to the session so they can learn to work with what they already have, as well as trying new methods.
If you prefer working with textiles and colour there will be two silk based workshops taking place. Silk Batik workshop will be held on Saturday 4 June with artist Sarah Kileff will show participant how to experience the ancient methods of Batik by using hot wax and dyes to create a piece of wearable or frame-able art. This will be followed up with a Silk Felting (Nuno Felt) workshop on Saturday 18 June. This will give participants the opportunity to a unique, lightweight and warm Nuno silk scarf, using silk chiffon and wool tops, decorating it with silk and wool fibres.
For more information on upcoming classes and booking of places contact the Down Arts Centre Box Office on 028 4461 0747 or visit:
