Interview 36: Grace Brennan

In this episode of If I Were the Minister for Education, I speak with Grace Brennan, founder of Higgle, about process-driven visual arts and creative thinking in primary classrooms. Grace shares her education journey from County Wexford to art and design studies and entrepreneurship supported by Enterprise Ireland and local programmes, and reflects on how third-level art opened her mind to experimentation and careers. We discuss how art can become outcome-focused “cookie cutter” work influenced by social media, often because teachers lack training and time to explore materials, and why this can harm children’s creativity and confidence. Grace explains Higgle as a digital prompt generator that supports open-ended, cross-curricular art problems adaptable to available materials and diverse classroom needs, and she outlines her EPV courses for teachers.

00:00 Welcome and Art Chat
01:24 Grace Brennan Journey
03:35 Simon Art Teaching Roots
04:56 Mentors and Creativity
07:57 Leaving Cert Art Reality
09:03 Fixing Cookie Cutter Art
16:31 Why Art Foundations Matter
20:00 STEAM and New Curriculum
22:55 What Is Higgle
24:47 Inside the Prompt Generator
26:12 Pencil and Paper Challenge
27:45 Minister for a Day
30:32 Where to Find Higgle
31:52 Final Thanks and Wrap