Background
ARTiculation is a competition that was begun in museums in Britain and was adopted by Kerry County Museum and the Tipperary Museum of Hidden History in Ireland in recent years. This year, Clare Museum became involved as part of our strategy to develop the museum as a resource for education providers. We worked behind the scenes with a local secondary school to get this initiative off the ground in Clare for the first time.
In this competition, secondary school students (usually Transition Years) are invited to deliver a 10-minute presentation to an audience about a work of art, architecture or an artefact of their choice. Adjudicators then assess each presentation, looking at content, structure, delivery and the speaker’s approach.
Schools are required to hold internal school heats to select a student to represent their school at regional heats or regional finals which takes place at their school or local museum. Heat winners then go forward to the National Final.
Benefits
Taking part in Articulation will improve:
- Oracy skills, including public speaking
- Independent research skills
- Presentation skills
- Critical thinking
- Visual analysis
- Interview skills
While other benefits include:
- Increase confidence
- Encourages students to share research ideas and passion for their area of interest
- Prepares young people for employability and using transferable skills
Our involvement
ARTiculation is organised by Julia Walsh (Tipperary Museum of Hidden History) and Claudia Kohler (Kerry County Museum) and has been running in Ireland for the last ten years. It is aimed at school students aged between 15-19 years. Clare Museum was invited to take part this year for the first time, and Rice College’s Transition Year’s class agreed to participate.
Eoghan McAleer, Dylan McGloin and Kierin Moran of Rice College gave presentations on their chosen topics: Duomo Di Milano, Vincent Van Gogh: the starry night and Contemporary Art respectively. Judging the competition were Teresa Carmody O’Shea, Education and Outreach Officer at Clare Museum, and Clodagh Power who teaches languages at Rice College.
The participating students were presented with medals, certificates and vouchers to acknowledge their hard work and the winner, Dylan McGloin, will now go on to represent County Clare at the All-Ireland Final in Limerick in April.
It is our intention to roll out ARTiculation to more schools in Clare in 2026 and beyond. If you are interested in your school taking part, please contact us at claremuseum@clarecoco.ie.