Dubliners discover the inner city

Dublin Corporation and the James Joyce Centre have joined forces with two inner-city schools - North Brunswick St CBS and Larkin Community College - to deliver a pilot programme on urban space and literary heritage to Leaving Cert Applied and Transition Year students.

Students in the inner city are surrounded by cultural assets - theatres, museums and galleries - yet have little or no access to them. They are often unaware of the relevance and history of the statues and buildings that surround them.

This programme aims to give pupils an understanding of architectural design, city planning, preservation, history, literature and art. It is expected that they will emerge from the course with a new sense of ownership of public space.

According to Paul Kearns, executive planner with Dublin Corporation, "children are often the most marginalised in any social group because they have no voice in planning. This project gives inner-city children a forum to realise and put a vocabulary on what's going on around them."

According to Suzanna Gallagher, the James Joyce Centre's education officer, the project's approach is holistic and interdisciplinary. "We're approaching works of art from different angles. We're encouraging people to be creative and make their own art rather than have art imposed upon them. We're not ramming books down their throats. We won't get into text work until students have acquired skills, seen the places and understood the history." The programme, which is funded by Dublin Corporation and the EBS, will culminate in May with a multimedia art exhibition in the Civic Offices.