Project Schools Residency Programme 2023

The Schools Residency Programme offers students in Deis schools the opportunity to work with professional artists, both on and offsite, embedding artistic practice in community settings across the inner city. 

The aim of this programme is to build an appreciation for contemporary arts process and practice, to highlight programmed events and performances, and to facilitate young people engaging with the arts for the first time.  

Students are invited to at least one performance per year and are also invited to artists’ talks and gallery tours throughout the year.  

With a specific focus on dance in 2023 we were delighted to have artists Jessie Thompson and Matt Szczerek engage with Stanhope Street Secondary School and St Paul’s (Brunner) Secondary School, and to have tours and talks onsite with artist Tobi Balogun and Cabra Community College.  

Jessie Thompson

Jessie works as a professional Dancer, Choreographer, and Movement Director across live performance and film as well as teaching and mentoring multidisciplinary artists. Her work has been commissioned and supported by Dublin Dance Festival, Top 8, Project Arts Centre, Liz Roche Dance Company, Galway Dance Project, Dance Ireland, and the Arts Council.  

As a dance and theatre performer, she has worked with United Fall, OneTwoOneTwo, TasteInYourMouth, Monica Munoz, and Shaun Dunne among others, as well as being heavily immersed in the Irish Street Dance Community and Film Industry. 

In May 2023 Jessie worked with 4th, 5th & 6th year students at Stanhope Street Secondary School.

Matt Szczerek

Matt Szczerek is a Dublin-based dance artist and professional member of Dance Ireland. His recent work includes a Digital RSS Commission 2021 in The Civic as a lead artist, choreography for dance/circus production Blame Game, which premiered at Bristol Circus City in October 2021 and is planned for touring in 2023. From 2018 – 2023 Matt was the Artistic Director of Dance2Connect Festival, a 3-day Street Dance event at The Civic supported by Arts Council Festival funding. 

Matt is currently Artistic Director of Human Collective, a Dublin-based dance company and Kundle Cru, a company made up of international circus and dance practitioners.  

In May 2023 Matt worked with Transition Year boys at St Paul’s secondary school (Brunner) 

Previous Residencies have included:

Osaro Azams | Stanhope Street Secondary School | 2022 

Bio: Amanda Osaro Azams is a Dublin based West African Artist whose seven years of work spans across theatre, music and dance, including the Hot Brown Honey: Hive City Legacy which won Best Ensemble (2022) at Dublin Fringe Festival.  

Since establishing the Fried Plantains Collective (FPC), which focuses on fostering social inclusion, Osaro has co-created events for a live audience with Dublin Fringe Festival, including Black Jam, a live music show which won the Wild Courage Award (2019), Judges Choice Award (2018) and the featured artist Damola, winning Best Performer for Black Jam (2018). 

Receiving the Romily Walton Masters Award in partnership with the Centre Culturel Irlandais and Dublin Fringe Festival has been a pivotal moment as an establishing musician for the first time. Arriving back in Ireland, Osaro created the original audio-visual piece OBSIDIAN BLACK, which was shortlisted for GAZE LGBT International Film Festival 2022.  

Lucia Kickham | Stanhope Street Secondary School | 2021  

Bio: Trained in the Netherlands she has worked with companies and artists which include Liz Roche Company, Company Philip Connaughton, Junk Ensemble, Jessie Keenan + Tonnta, Maria Nilsson Waller, Luke Murphy, Mary Wycherly, TRASH(NL) and Oonagh Kearney. 
 
Training intensively with David Zambrano in Flying Low and Passing Through techniques, Lucia has developed her interest in group dynamics within improvisation, composition and teaching environments. She has received coaching from Rosalind Crisp in choreographic improvisation and is invested in this line of inquiry. Lucia is a guest tutor at IWAMD at University of Limerick, teaches on Dance Ireland’s professional training programme and regularly leads workshops at dance centres across Ireland. She is a mentor on the Noise Moves Emergence programme for young dance-makers. 
 
In recent years Lucia has been a recipient of awards from Dance Ireland, Tyrone Guthrie Centre, Tipperary Dance, Grand Studio Brussels, Tanztendenz Munich and the Arts Council of Ireland, including the Next Generation and Commission Awards. 

Shaun Dunne | St Paul’s secondary school (Brunner) | 2021 

Shaun Dunne is a Project Artist. See more https://projectartscentre.ie/artist/shaun-dunne/