Waterford’s Joanna Cunningham, MA, on the Importance of the Arts in Childhood Development
The arts as part of a child’s primary education can be a crucial catalyst in their lives and healthy development. The integration of the arts across all disciplines; visual, performance and movement-based can support balanced development of fine and gross motor skills, social skills, emotional development, literacy, numeracy, and spatial perception.
Joanna Cunningham, who is from Co. Kildare, Ireland, is the Executive Director of the Watergate Theatre in Kilkenny, Ireland. Joanna graduated from University College Cork with a Bachelor of Music before completing an MA at University of Limerick with a focus on the developmental, social and educational origins of music and its therapeutic potential. Before taking up her post at the Watergate Theatre in 2018 Joanna headed up the Music Programme at Garter Lane Arts Centre, Waterford and before that worked as Deputy Director of the Waterford Healing Arts Trust at Waterford University Hospital. Joanna ran a community arts programme in Ballyfermot, Dublin for 8 years before moving to Waterford in 2010.
Throughout her career, Joanna has aimed to create high-quality arts experiences which provide depth of engagement across all age groups, interests and back grounds. Her primary focus is on access, inclusion and diversity and finding ways of providing a bridge to the arts in the lives and education of children and young people.
Social Development
Social interaction is a central element in childhood development. According to Joanna Cunningham, Executive Director of Watergate Theatre, the arts can have a role in contributing to the learning of turn taking, self-awareness, empathy, and communication from the earliest stage of a child’s social development.
In her chapter, ‘Music to promote attachment between mother and baby in marginalised communities’, edited by Dr. Jane Edwards and published by Oxford University Press Joanna explores the power of interactive vocal music making in the formation of strong attachments between parent and baby. This attachment builds the foundations for balanced, well-adjusted, resilient adults.
Educational Benefits
The careful structuring of artistic activities in the classroom can enhance and support literacy and numeracy milestones. A simple and familiar example of this is the use of a well-known and much sung melody to learn and memorise the alphabet. Further to this the concurrent use of the left- and right-hand in the playing of simple percussion instruments provides a play-based framework for the forging of neural pathway connections which feed the development of fine and gross motor skills as well as broad spatial awareness, mental and physical co-ordination. In simple terms children whose education includes active playing of musical instruments are likely to have measurably better hand eye co-ordination as well as the capacity to multitask and problem solve.
Joanna Cunningham on Creativity
Art, creativity, and a person’s development go hand in hand. ‘When we are deciding on how best to educate our children, we must remember that access to the arts and creativity should not be seen as a luxury,’ says Joanna Cunningham, former Deputy Director of the Waterford Healing Arts Trust and current Executive Director of the Watergate Theatre, Kilkenny. The skills that the arts provide in early childhood remain throughout their lives. ‘As someone who has dedicated their working life to providing access to the arts through local Arts Centres and Theatres, I recognise my responsibility in the curation of relatable and accessible opportunities for children, families and educators to engage with and participate in the arts.
