Cork's youth forging their own futures in a home from home

A youth-led Cork project, nurturing teen talent in a welcoming environment, is a huge success, says Liz Dunphy.

PASS by Marlboro Street in Cork most evenings, and you’ll find a cluster of enviably hip youths gathered at the door to the GroundFloor Project at the YMCA, chatting and laughing within a four-foot radius of the entrance, as if magnetically bound to the old red-brick building.

Inside, a beautifully busy mosaic tile floor that’s borne years of heavy footprints lightly, welcomes you to this place that now nurtures some of Cork’s most talented youth. The GroundFloor Project provides an open space for people to come and hang out, play and record music, watch movies, play video games, and take part in media workshops.