After 45 years entertaining and educating children all over the world, The Armagh Rhymers are keenly aware of the importance of the arts in education.
Research by The Cultural Learning Alliance in 2017 showed that children who studied the arts are more likely to attend university and are more employable.
The research also showed that studying the arts can improve a young person’s cognitive abilities by up to 17% and contributes to raising young people’s attainment in Maths and English – particularly for children from low-income backgrounds.
A report published by the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre (PEC) also shows the value of a creative education for all children. The report finds that studying a creative subject supports positive mental health.
One project highlighted found that 93% of 16–18-year-olds felt a creative education – which encourages self-expression, collaboration and empathy – had impacted positively on their well-being.
With a mental health epidemic seen amongst young people, exacerbated by the pandemic, this is a critical finding.
During 2020 and 2021 The Armagh Rhymers couldn’t perform in schools for the first time in their history.
They quickly adapted and offered Zoom performances. This shift to an online world raised its own challenges however the feedback from teachers and students was overwhelmingly positive with teachers saying it reengaged children with movement and fun when assemblies, visitors to the school and school trips weren’t possible.
They wanted to build on this success and continue to provide digital resources to complement and extend live performances.
Enter, The Armagh Rhymers Digital Classroom – an online portal featuring short films, animations, activity ideas and teacher resources so that educators can bring the magic of The Armagh Rhymers to life in their classroom at any time.
With new content added regularly, educators have an ‘always on’ arts resource covering a variety of topics from art and craft, traditional music, Irish Language resources, dance, poetry and more.
With special seasonal content uploaded throughout the year, linked to the Celtic Calendar resources are available to celebrate and promote our unique local customs and traditions all year round.
For the festive season teachers and students can enjoy a series of special recordings, filmed on location at the Ulster Folk Museum, Cultra there are three special songs, traditional Christmas carol ‘The Holly & The Ivy’, a hilarious Irish-American song that tells the story of the fate of the visitors of poor Miss Fogarty and her disastrous Christmas Cake, and The Armagh Rhymers most famous tune ‘The Wren’ that explains the mumming tradition and history of house visiting on Wren Day (26th December).
For Irish language learners, there is a special animation (created with support from Foras na Gaeilge) ‘Lá and Dreolín, that tells the story of a traditional house visit from the Rhymers on 26th December.
New for 2024 there is also a Mumming Handbook available (created in partnership with Lough Erne Landscape Partnership) that gives educators a handy guide to creating your own mummers group with costume ideas, scripts and character lines.