Ms Lorraine Comer:

Encountering the Arts Ireland, ETAI, is an alliance of organisations and individuals committed to arts and education with a focus on children and young people. Several ETAI board directors are in attendance as observers at the committee, Máire O'Higgins, assistant principal, Larkin Community College, Phil Kingston, community and education manager of the Abbey Theatre, and Arthur Lappin, independent arts consultant and film producer.

ETAI evolved and was shaped by several key developments which took place in Ireland over the past number of years. It began as an informal grouping in 2008 following the publication of the artists-schools guidelines in 2006 and the points of alignment in 2008. The former initiative brought together individuals from both sectors to articulate their shared understanding and values around what characterises arts in education practice. Points of alignment, which represented the findings of the then Oireachtas Joint Committee on Arts and Education, was set up in 2007 by the then Ministers, John O'Donoghue and Mary Hanafin. It called for greater joined-up thinking from all those involved in the arts and education sector. Several individuals involved in these initiatives identified the need for greater collaboration and the bringing together of the existing wealth of knowledge, skills and expertise across the arts and education sectors. This was for the purpose of providing young people with a rich engagement in the arts and culture, both in and out of school. ETAI was born out of this need.

ETAI started out as an informal grouping in 2008 and developed into a company limited by guarantee in 2015. ETAI was formally launched by both the then Minister for the Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Jimmy Deenihan, and the then Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn, in 2013, following the publication of the Arts in Education Charter. ETAI is made up of an alliance of organisations and individuals committed to arts and education, focusing on children and young people in Ireland. As a company limited by guarantee, with an eight-member board of directors, this grassroots organisation has up to 40 organisations and 100 individuals as members representing the educational, arts, heritage and cultural sectors from across Ireland.

The current board is chaired by Jane O'Hanlon, head of education at Poetry Ireland. As well as myself, Ms O'Donoghue and the observers, the remaining board member is Mary Manley, primary school principal and director of the Association of Creativity and Arts in Education.

Advisers to the board include Mr. Aidan Clifford, former director of the City of Dublin Education and Training Board curriculum development unit, and Ms Mary Shine Thompson, Dublin City University trustee.

The purpose of the alliance is to broaden and deepen the access, creation, participation and engagement of children and young people in the arts and culture by using its combined strength, resources and expertise. Encountering the Arts Ireland is committed to fostering the greater strategic alignment of the arts, culture and education policies in Ireland, identifying new synergies for the sustained engagement of all children and young people in the arts and culture. The alliance provides platforms and opportunities for the voice of the child and young person to be heard.