Today is the last day of The Dream Factory summer project! Apologies for not writing recently, it's been a hectic two weeks here at axis. I've really loved working on the Dream Factory and I'm continually impressed with the focus and talent that the children have. It's been wonderful to watch many of them blosom over the past couple weeks and really find a passion for what they're creating. I'm excited to see the end product of their workshops and I think they're just as excited to show it off! I encourage any parents who haven't to enrol their children in a project like the Dream Factory, its positive influence on the children is apparent.

Today was the first day of our summer arts project the Dream Factory. There was a fun buzz about the building this morning when all the children started to come in. Niamh and I did their warm ups with them and have been running around all day making sure everything goes as planned.

I feel like this week has just flown by because of everything that's been happening. It's so hard to believe I only have two more weeks left interning at axis! The launch went off wonderfully, although it was so hot most of the guests drank more ice water than they did wine. Mia and Elena's work was extremely well received and they both seemed pleased with the event at the end of the night. It was fun to see the product of the first big project I've helped with and experience the direct result of my work(well, sort of my work).

   This week is going to be a busy one. We're launching our new art exhibition in the gallery called 'Made in Dreams' by Elena Brossa and Mia Van Evelingen. They both came in this morning and I've been helping them put up the pieces and prepare for the big opening. The exhibition "is about your inner child, your daydreams and your inner imagination." Mia and Elena have a passion for bringing art into children's lives, feeding the imagination and keeping a childlike spirit in their work. Many of their pieces are light and colorful but some of them are rather dark. It's a versatile collection and the pieces are absolutely lovely, it's a shame I don't have a couple hundred euro that I could spend on one of the paintings to bring home to Washington. This is an exciting time for me because I haven't really gotten to experience the gallery and art exhibition side to axis yet, it's fun to see it come together. I'm looking forward to the launch on wednesday and the preparations for the Dream Factory, our summer youth arts project that starts next week. Our production of 'The Parting Glass' by Dermot Bolger also leaves this weekend to tour in New York City for the last bit of July. There's so much going on all at once! I'll keep you updated on the launch, and you can also follow 'The Parting Glass' tour on facebook at 'The Parting Glass NYC.'

   Been working on stuff for the new gallery exhibition. We just took down Willie Abbott's 'Recycle' exhibition, in which all of the art was made from completely recycled materials. He has some really cool work if you ever get the chance to look him up. Also, I was in the civic centre yesterday and saw an exhibition of chairs made from broken down chairs and paintings that were painted on the old hoods of cars. I feel like I've been running into a lot of recycled art recently. I'm not sure if it's a trend or if it's specific to the Dublin area. I've seen a couple things like it in the states but using recycled debris as art material seems to be more popular here. I think it's a great idea and has kind of a cool underlying theme of reusing and conservation, which the world could use a little more of!

   This morning I sat in on a meeting with Niamh NiChonchubhair for Arts & Disability Ireland to plan abära, an international disability film festival (Ireland's first!) that axis will be involved with later this year. Arts & Disability Ireland is a really great organization dedicated to promoting "the engagement of people with disabilities in the arts at the highest level, as audience members, artists, performers, paricipants, advisors and employees." If you're at all interested, you should read more about them on their website www.adiarts.ie.

   This morning was a nice break from the marketing and planning work on 'The Parting Glass' I've been doing in the office (even though it's been interesting to kind of see how a tour gets pieced together.) I helped Niamh Fitzpatrick teach a dance class for the little ones from the creche. I'd forgotten how much I really like working with children; I have to admit I've missed it this summer as I spent last summer as a camp counselor in the states. Of course, none of them are old enough to really understand rhythm or choreography or do much of anything except hold your hand and tell you how pretty their hair clips are. But still, it was a fun morning. Afterwards Niamh thanked me for being around to help wrangle and observed that there is always something random happening in the building that needs an extra hand, which is something that I really like about axis. Many people's jobs in the building have at least a couple different aspects to them. Everyone does a fair share of office and executive work but then also does a lot of hands on stuff like teaching or doing tech or running errands. It's nice to see and be a part of such a versatile, creative workplace. I think I'm discovering that, as much as I don't mind office work and completely undserstand how necessary it is, I'd much rather have a job where I'm always moving and interacting with other people or at least a job where I do a mix of both.

This morning I got to sit in on a rehearsal in the theatre of Street Literature, a rap group managed by axis' own Dean Scurry for their gig tonight supporting Wu Tang Clan. The rehearsal was awesome to watch. Street Literature has a really passionate energy that honestly kind of surprised me. Dublin isn't normally a place that people outside Ireland associate with hip hop culture, but rap and hip hop definitely have a strong presence here. I also got to chat with Dean for a bit about Street Literature and their philosophy on hip hop. Dean explained to me that up until recently, authentic Irish rap wasn't a very common media. Most people in Ireland were consumers of American hip hop and most Irish bands would use American accents in their raps to be more marketable. But there's been a recent  Irish hip hop movement that doesn't hide their accents and promotes writing about what they're passionate about. The projects and bands Dean manages are part of this movement and it's really freaking cool. Street Literature has strong lyrics and a really unique style and I wish them the best of luck tonight!

   When organizing one of the offices yesterday I got to catch a glimpse of many of the scripts and plays that get submitted to axis for production. I'm really interested in how axis chooses its shows and how it functions compared to a traditional theatre. Is the theatre in axis geared towards something in particular?

   I had the pleasure last Saturday of getting to see the performance of one of the arts development youth programs here at axis called "Re-Invent." The show was the product of six months of intense creative work by a group of young people from Ballymun, Omagh and Fintona. Their work included songs, raps, poems and spoken word about their lives, experiences, thoughts, emotions or really whatever they felt they needed to put into words. The project was inspired by a similar project axis did in 2008 called "Invent" but the goal of this current project was not only to introduce young people to creation and artistic expression but also to bring together teenagers from different communities in Dublin and teach them how work collaboratively with one another. I have to tell you, these kids really impressed me. Emma told me that some of them had done performance before but most of them had never been on a stage. As an actor, I can tell you how terrifying it is to not only perform in front of others for the first time but to be that vulnerable and honest on stage. I am only just now learning how to really express myself honestly in my work in college and these young people did it beautifully. I don't know that I'd be able to do what they did when I was their age; I was moved and a little surprised at how strong their work was. It makes me think of my own hometown and how much I wish I had been exposed to the arts sooner, because it wasn't until later in high school that I really got into theatre or learned how much it could improve my quality of life. It was a night of humor, art, music, and honesty that I really, really enjoyed.The youth involved should be incredibly proud!

   Hello! My name is Francesca Betancourt and I'll be interning at axis for the next five weeks. I study sociology and theatre as an acting concentration at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington (state), although I'm originally from Tucson, Arizona and grew up there until I moved to Washington for school. I just arrived in Dublin about two weeks ago and I love it so far. I've worked a lot in both social services and theatre and I've worked a fair amount with children but I've never been exposed to an arts company as versatile and unique as axis is. I'm really excited be working with them for the next month or so. The purpose of this blog, as Mark and I discussed, will be mostly to provide an outsider's perspective on axis. It will follow me as I learn about how the organization works and what it stands for and then hopefully I'll be able to connect the work the people here at axis do with my own work in the states. Something I think is sort of cool about the concept of this blog is that it will morph and change through the process of me writing it. I might start out with the intention of having the blog be about one thing and end up writing about something completely different. As nice as it is to have that extra room to play, it's also a little overwhelming. So please bear with me as I leap into this process. I suppose it's best to just kind of...start.