CRAFT Maker Space at Mary Immaculate College Limerick
Year Awarded
2025
Amount
€329,590.9
- Organisation:Mary Immaculate College
- Co-funded with Dept of Education:Yes
Project Summary
The CRAFT (Creative Arts / Future Technologies) Maker Space at Mary Immaculate College is a dynamic STEAM engagement centre that delivers inclusive, hands-on educational experiences to children, families, educators, and communities across the Mid-West Region of Ireland and beyond. Participants at CRAFT workshops, explore STEAM through engineering design challenges that incorporate new and innovative technologies, co-created and co-delivered with experts from education, industry, and the arts. CRAFT has become integral to the STEM landscape in the Mid-West, serving as a go-to hub for schools, families, and community groups seeking meaningful, inclusive and high-quality STEAM engagement.
To facilitate expansion, the newly established ‘CRAFT Across Communities’ initiative will involve the delivery of workshops to children in their schools and in a variety of different public spaces. This will allow CRAFT to engage with people that do not normally avail of such opportunities due to social, economic and geographical barriers. As part of this initiative, funding for transport will also allow schools to attend the inspiring CRAFT Maker Space at MIC for a day of STEAM exploration.
This expansion will include pre-service teachers at MIC creating and delivering meaningful and transformative community based STEAM workshops, developing outstanding STEM educators for the future and so deepening the long-term impact of CRAFT. The initiative will also strengthen its partnerships with industry, co-developing new content in areas such as climate action, sustainability, and digital transformation.
CRAFT is committed to inclusive, high-quality STEAM engagement that is research-informed, community-connected, and future-focused contributing to STEAM education policy, practice, and innovation.