NCAD Celebrates 10th Anniversary Of Access Programme
Last Thursday, the 10th of December, the National College of Art and Design (NCAD) celebrated the tenth anniversary of their Access Programme. The Access Programme has been hosting Access Days for the last ten years, inviting primary and secondary schools to NCAD for tours around the campus and offering them Easter and Summer Art projects. It’s an opportunity students who are interested in art as a career get every year, to see how how they feel about the world of arts and design, and the place they might end up studying one day.
“Since NCAD commenced our Access Programme in 2005, we have developed links with local schools and community groups, so that interest in creative studies is piqued and that the transition into third level participation is made seamless. NCAD’s Access Programme offers support for entry and progression into third level Art and Design for those who due to social and economic disadvantage, may not have the opportunity to go to college. Since its establishment in 2005, two thirds of graduates who came through the Access Programme have obtained a 2.1 honours Degree, and 20% progressed to post-graduate study at NCAD,” Director of NCAD, Professor Declan McGonagle said.
NCAD has over the years formed relationships and partnerships with 22 primary schools, 34 secondary schools, young people from the Rialto Youth Project, Digital Hub Development Agency’s ‘Future Creators’ and teenagers that take part in after-school digital media projects. Every year around 500 primary school children visit NCAD.
Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection, Joan Burton, was at the last night’s event. The evening was also an opportunity to welcome property company Kennedy Wilson’s new partnership with NCAD. “As Irish Design 2015 comes to a close, we are more aware than ever of the value that the art and design sector brings culturally and economically in Ireland. Over the past ten years, NCAD’s Access programme has opened up opportunities to follow a career in art and design to those who, due to social and economic difficulties, might not have previously had the chance and the support to do so. The integrated approach of this programme in developing, fostering and supporting and interest and passion in art and design, from primary school right up to postgraduate level, is to be commended,” An Tánaiste said.
Kennedy Wilson will be providing four NCAD students with studio space in the new year and a nine-month residency in Clancy Quay where they are currently developing 163 new residential units. Kennedy Wilson is an international real estate investment and services firm.“As property owners and members of the local community in Dublin 8, we are delighted to be able to provide space for an NCAD initiative and we are excited to see what the artists will create during their residency,” Managing Director, Peter Collins, of Kennedy Wilson said.
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