• See related work in: Access All Areas

A priority for Kids’ Own in 2007 is to work

• To explore new ways to increase access for children and families to engage with writers, artists, books.
• To create a greater understanding of the relevance and value of children’s work by promoting work by children to a wider audience.
• To reach those who may otherwise have limited access to arts and literature.

Kids’ Own on the road: celebrating regional diversity as part of the Arts Council Touring Experiment

We are delighted to be confirmed as a Research Partner in the Arts Council Touring Experiment. The aim of the Kids' Own tour is to bring our work and our process on the road. The name of our tour is called Access All Areas. We aim to work with children and families who are not regular participants in the arts or regular library goers. This Tour will take place in October as part of the Children Books Ireland Festival.

The theme for the workshops will be on: All Equal All Different (Working Title)

This programme will inspire all children of all abilities to awaken their imaginations through story time workshops and the creation of their own writing and pictures for a new picture book celebrating local humour, language, accents, food and activities.

The first part of the workshop will involve a story time with writer Mary Branley. The second part of the workshop will involve a hands on activity working alongside Kids’ Own to develop new writing and pictures that will go towards a larger publication made by children in Dublin, Donegal, Cork and Mayo.

The aim of the resulting publication is two fold. First we hope that the publication will be a beautiful and fun book that everyone can read and enjoy. Second, we hope that the content of the book will highlight and celebrate the wealth of diversity existing in Ireland. We hope Teachers and others use this book as a resource and as a prompt to open up a wider discussion about culture, heritage, diversity, equality and fairness in the Ireland and the world today.