SHAPE (Social Health, Arts, and Personal Education): Making our Mark Project

In June 2023 friends and family of the participants in the School of Arts Education gathered with DCU academic staff to celebrate the culmination of the School of Arts Education and Movement’s Making our Mark course, in collaboration with DCU Age Friendly University. Dr Michael Flannery and Dr Una McCabe worked with course participants through drama and art for eight weeks on the course theme of ‘making our mark’, which celebrates wonder, self-expression and lifelong learning in the arts. The course is a SHAPE pilot research project and investigates the impact of the arts on wellbeing. The launch attendees viewed a performance by the course participants which they devised, based on the theme of aging as well as the extensive range of artwork created by the participants. The exhibition remains on view on the ground floor of the Cregan Library in St. Patrick’s campus.