"RADE's innovative programme of combatting substance abuse through art introduces addicts to their own genius, their own best selves, it focuses on the buzz that living a positive life can bring,a buzz that is genuine and life enhancing"
President Mary McAleese
Archive for 2025
RADE Exhibition at the Royal Hibernian Academy
Recovery Through Art, Drama & Education (RADE) was delighted to present a special exhibition at the Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts (RHA), which ran from 18–28 September 2025.
The exhibition showcased an inspiring collection of drawings, portraiture, textiles, and mixed media works created by RADE participants. Through these pieces, participants explored themes of identity, creativity, and the transformative power of the artistic process.
At RADE, we engage people in recovery through a range of creative programmes spanning visual art, drama, film, and writing. By providing a safe and inclusive space for expression, we affirm that creativity is open to all and that the arts can play a vital role in building confidence, connection, and community.
We are deeply proud of the creativity and commitment shown by everyone involved in bringing this body of work to life. Our sincere thanks go to Dorothy Smith ARHA and Ciara Harrison, RHA Learning and Public Engagement Curator, for their invaluable facilitation and guidance.
This project was made possible with the generous support of a Dublin City Council Community Development Grant.
Job applications
Community Employment Support Worker
This job is an excellent opportunity for someone interested in working in the field of addiction, recovery and community development. The CE Support Worker will have daily contact with the participants, offering guidance, encouragement, and practical support as they progress in their recovery and personal development.
A key part of the role involves assisting in the planning, delivery and evaluation of arts-based, educational, and life-skills workshops, as well as providing one-to-one key working support. The CE Support Worker will also contribute to maintaining accurate records, attending regular team meetings, and supporting RADE’s communications, including social media and public showcases.
To Apply: Please express your interest by contacting karen@rade.ie.
Momentous Day 1st September 2025
RADE’s work featured in three public settings on Monday 1st September 2025. We are so proud of our participants who made the work that was showcased on the three different creative platforms of theatre, film and tv on this momentous day.
RADE at the Gate
Our first event of the day was a visit to the Gate Theatre for The Next Chapter – a series of staged readings of short plays written by community groups across the city. This project is a collaboration between Fighting Words and the Gate Theatre and was funded by Adult Literacy for Life and Solas Learning Works and was co-ordinated by Colm Quearney and John Taite. Fighting Words’ mission is to promote creativity and writing as a fun and powerful means of self-expression and we have been working with them during 2024 and 2025 to develop our play “Lonely Man’s Road”.
We were privileged to have writer Hilary Fannin as lead facilitator supported by Mary Jennings. Together they crafted the script with RADE participants, preparing it for this staged reading at the Gate theatre where we were warmly welcomed. There was great pride in watching the professional actors Janet Moran, Lloyd Cooney, Eric O’Brien and Roxanna Nic Liam bringing the RADE work to life on such a famous Dublin stage.
We were so pleased to be seated alongside other communities in Dublin including SAOL community project, WAS group Ballyogan, Coolmine, Daughters of Charity Writing Group, Exchange House Ireland, the Foundations Project, Shaping Futures Project at INOU and Jane’s Place Merchant’s Quay. The plays all worked well together, like a collection of short stories. They were hard-hitting, emotional and deftly representative of the difficult situations that many of the characters found themselves in.
RADE film featured at Citywide Event
Citywide marked their 30th anniversary at the Fergus McCabe Memorial Summer School at TUI Grangegorman on 1st September 2025 also. RADE had been asked to make a short film for inclusion in the afternoon session Implementing Drug Policy – A Community Development Approach. With the help of Brian Greene and Dublin Community Television, RADE participants made a short film during our weekly workshops, platforming the views of individual participants on the role of RADE in the community. You can watch this short film by clicking the link below. It was an honour to see the first screening of this film how RADE is made at this event which was well attended by people working in addiction services across the city. We were proud to hear Anna Quigley speak of our work as part of her introduction to this session.
RADE’s final public outing of the day was on Dublin Community Television which is broadcast on Virgin Media Channel 802. We were featured in the Cityscapes TV series which ran nightly from 28th August to 5th September 2025. This series, produced by Susan Jackson of UR Media Ireland showcased the different communities that make up the Dublin City Public Participation Network. We were very grateful to be included in this eye-opening series.
Yoga in the Park 2025
Yoga in the Park is back! RADE is offering FREE Yoga in the Park classes to our local community in St Patrick’s Cathedral Park. Classes will be held from 10:00am – 11:00am on August 20th, August 27th, September 3rd, and September 10th.
Yoga mats will be provided
Suitable for all levels
Tea and coffee will be served after class
Everyone is welcome
In order to attend Yoga in the Park, you must sign up by visiting the link provided below.
RADE won an Aontas Star Award in the Health and Wellness Category at the annual Aontas awards at Croke Park on Friday 7th March 2025.
Dee Lynch Mental Health Ireland, Ruaidhri McAuliffe RADE, John Washington RADE, Pauline McGlynn
After receiving the exciting news that RADE had been shortlisted for an Aontas star award, we were invited to attend a judging event on February 6th 2025. The RADE team of two staff members and two participants were interviewed by judges and filmed for clips to be screened at the upcoming awards ceremony. We were thrilled to make the shortlist and enjoyed meeting and talking to other shortlisted organisations as we waited for our slots with the judges and the film crew.
A month later, on March 7th 2025, Aontas hosted all the shortlisted organisations at a glittering awards event at Croke Park. We were treated to interactive entertainment from champion bhodrán player Robbie Walsh of The Bodhrán Buzz. Imagine our collective surprise when under every table we discovered a bhodrán for each of us. Robbie then led us in a giant bhodrán ensemble piece which energised the room with its distinctive rhythms, building excitement for the imminent announcements of the award winners.
We were also addressed by Dearbháil Lawless Aontas CEO, John D’Arcy Chairperson of the Aontas Board, and SOLAS CEO Andrew Brownlee, (co-sponsors of the event) all of whom talked about the importance of adult education and the roles we play in making it available.
Pauline McGlynn, actor and author, also spoke to the gathering about her experiences of learning and what she sees as the great optimism and power in making a choice to be an adult learner.
We watched inspiring short film clips of all the shortlisted organisations. It was a proud moment to see one of our participants on the big screen watched by a captive audience of 170 people talking about the importance of RADE in her life. “RADE will give you wings” she concluded.
We felt honoured to be chosen alongside so many other outstanding organisations who do so much to validate the importance and role of adult education in the community across the whole island of Ireland. It was also wonderful to see so many adult learners proudly representing their respective communities at the event.
Our award category ‘Health and Wellness” had two winners, one in the small/medium organisation category and one in the large organisation category. We were delighted that our co-winners were our Dublin 8 neighbours, The Blocks, an animated short film project from Rialto Community Drug Team and City of Dublin Education and Training Board who won in the large organisation category. Our category was sponsored by Mental Health Ireland and we would like to extend our thanks to them also.
Over 100 organisations competed for these national awards and over 30 of those were in the Health and Wellness Category. It means so much to all of us to be chosen amongst our esteemed peers and to see our work validated and applauded by a national organisation such as Aontas.
Aontas is Ireland’s National Adult Learning Organisation. Their mission is “to advocate for empowering adult learning that drives social equality, justice, and collective action across the island of Ireland” – Aontas Mission Statement Strategic Plan 2023-2026 https://www.aontas.com/
On receiving the award, our Project Director Gill McCaw spoke about adult education. “Adult Education is not always available. Adult Education is not always an option. Adult Education is not always achievable. It takes time, it takes resources, it takes self-belief.
Thankfully we are here today to celebrate communities which cherish those things. Communities who make it available, who make it an option and who make it achievable. But this award is for our participants who take the brave step and put themselves forward for education, to find their voice. So thank you for giving us a reason to be here. “
The award event was topped off by an invitation to appear on Ireland AM a few days later. We hosted Ireland AM presenter Deric Hartigan and his cameraman at our premises and enjoyed a taste of live television with all its excitement and energy.
The RADE building was all abuzz with people by 7.30 am including RADE staff and participants, staff from Aontas, and fellow award winners Welcome English Language Centre, Cork who won a star award in the Social Inclusion: Small/Medium Organisation Category. Our Ireland AM segment showcased the Aontas awards and Aontas’ work promoting adult education alongside an opportunity for both RADE and Welcome English to talk about what we do. It was a very proud moment to be talking about RADE on National Television. Click here for a taster Virgin Media’s Ireland AM are in the house! and visit the dedicated post on our website
A selection of photos from the awards at Croke Park
You can read more about the awards here on the Aontas website. Aontas Star Awards
Links to all other organisations in the Health and Wellness category are included here:
With thanks to our award sponsors Mental Health Ireland and overall sponsors Aontas and Solas.
RADE on Ireland AM
RADE was invited to appear on Virgin Media’s morning show, Ireland AM, on Tuesday 11th March to celebrate winning an Aontas Star Award 2025 in the Health and Wellness.
We hosted Ireland AM presenter Deric Hartigan and his cameraman at our premises and enjoyed a taste of live television with all its excitement and energy. The RADE building was all abuzz with people by 7.30 am including our own staff and participants, staff from Aontas, and fellow award-winners Welcome English Language Centre, Cork who won a star award in the Social Inclusion: Small/Medium Organisation Category. Our Ireland AM segment showcased the Aontas awards and Aontas’ work to promote adult education alongside an opportunity for both RADE and Welcome English to talk about what we do.
It was a very proud moment to be talking about RADE on national television.
You can watch two clips from our segment showing interviews with participant Shelden Carroll and project director Gill McCaw
Art and Impact: Personal, Social, Political
We were delighted to have a full house at our lunchtime panel discussion on Thursday 26th September 2024 which touched on themes of the right to art and the transformative power of the arts. This event was in celebration of the close of our Create Your Rights IHREC project and we were thrilled to share the beautiful creative work of our participants which was on display in the form of a booklet of images and text, t-shirts and badges with the logo developed during the project “Let’s Talk about Rights”. We also took the opportunity to celebrate 20 years of RADE and to acknowledge the phenomenal role of Mick Egan in bringing RADE from its foundations to the thriving service that it is today.
RADE and IHREQ- Create Your Rights booklet Published September 2024
We hope you enjoy this collection of our photos from the day. Photos by Emma Loughran.
Panellists L to R Robbie O’Connor, Marie Fleming, Brian Maguire, John O’Donnell
Let’s Talk About Rights Logo – by RADE participant, Bill Prime
Socially Engaged Artist Opportunity
Are you a professional artist who wants to grow their community and socially engaged arts practice? RADE is seeking to collaborate with socially engaged artists particularly if you are practicing in the disciplines of theatre, dance, visual arts, music or poetry.
If your practice would benefit from aligning with a small community organisation, whose principles are based on the transformative power of the arts, and you would like to explore the opportunity to work with us we would love to hear from you.
Contact RADE Project Director Gill McCaw on gill@rade.ie or call 01 454 8733
Previous socially engaged arts projects at RADE include Ó Liath Go Glas with Artist Louis Haugh and the Project Arts Centre in July 2023.
