Boys in the Making | Fiona Whelan and Rialto Youth Project
Exhibition, Programme & Conference
Conference: Friday 14 February – more detail to follow.
In collaboration with Scoil Chiaráin CBS, Aaron Sunderland Carey, Feidlim Cannon, Gary Keegan, Dara Clear, Dr Robert Grant, Dr Ernesto Vasquez del Aguila, Dr Ciaran Smyth, Jim Lawlor, Poppintree Youth Project, Space Forms and Heart of Glass. Curated by Anne Kelly, NCAD Gallery.
The Boys in the Making programme forms part of a long-term project called What Does He Need? – a collaboration between artist, writer and educator Dr Fiona Whelan, Rialto Youth Project and Brokentalkers theatre company.
He is a boy.
He is from here.
And we are responsible for him.
Established in 2018,Boys in the Making is a dynamic place-based programme for boys and young men, which sees groups come together over time, to co-create a boy and explore his needs and experiences as he interacts with the world around him. The programme aims to explore, communicate and learn from the lived experiences and knowledge of boys and young men as they engage in a creative exploration of masculinity and its formation.
The methodology of Boys in the Making was developed by artist and educator Fiona Whelan and youthworkers in Rialto Youth Project, who supported a group of young men to co-create the life of Stevie. The programme continues to grow in Rialto, and since 2022, is being further tested and developed in a range of educational and community contexts across Dublin, engaging new partners and artists, with 19 boys now co-created.
The Boys in the Making exhibition at NCAD Gallery offers the public an opportunity to see inside this programme, to connect with the fictional characters and artworks that have been created to date, and the methodology that gave rise to them. Through the exhibition and programme of events, Boys in the Making considers how men and boys are shaped by and influence the world they live in.
The Boys in the Making programme forms part of a long-term project called What Does He Need? Through public art, performance, educational programmes and workshops, What Does He Need? aims to create significant public dialogue about the current state of masculinity.
Dublin 8