 Featured case study: Artists in Residence in Service to People at End of Life Welcome,We are delighted to be offering two bursary awards in 2024, funded by the Arts Council and the HSE. The nature of arts and health practice means that much of it happens behind closed doors and there are challenges in terms of making the process and outcomes of this work public. The Documentation Bursary was established in 2013 to highlight the arts in healthcare through high quality, sensitively produced short films, audio documentaries and publications.
Emerging artists working in healthcare are not always afforded the same opportunities to reflect on and interrogate their practice as their more experienced peers. The Emerging Artist Bursary is purposely designed to provide headspace for reflective enquiry as artists develop and shape their arts and health practice.
Determining the best methods to evaluate arts and health interventions and the outcomes that will matter most to the people you work with is no easy task. A very welcome development in this area was the launch in April of the Institute of Public Health's toolkit and two free online courses to support the evaluation of arts and creativity programmes for older adults.
Finally, some reading material to inspire your practice! Our recent case studies include an exploration of the Irish Hospice Foundation's Artists in Residence in Service to People at End of Life, stories of recovery and resilience from people with Acquired Brain Injury on the Storytelling through Weaving project in Cork, and a Kids' Own collaboration with children of families who foster, sharing their experiences of having foster siblings in the publication A Bright Light. Our NewsArts + Health Bursaries 2024: Documentation Bursary and Emerging Artist Bursary The national arts and health website is offering two bursaries in 2024, funded by the Arts Council and the HSE. The closing date for both bursaries is 12 June 2024. Documentation Bursary: Artists, healthcare professionals, arts and health organisations, and others working in Arts and Health are invited to apply for a €4000 bursary to produce a short film, audio documentary or publication about an arts and health project in the Republic of Ireland. Emerging Artist Bursary: Professional artists with an emerging arts and health practice are invited to apply for a €2000 bursary to reflect on their practice. Read more. Sector News 
Evaluating arts programmes for older adults: IPH launches toolkit & online learning courses
An evaluation toolkit and two free online learning courses on how to use evidence to show the benefits of arts and creativity in later life were launched by the Institute of Public Health (IPH) on 25 April. The toolkit provides a ‘how to’ guide for assessing the impact of arts and creativity interventions for older adults. The online courses provide evidence on the benefits of arts and creativity in later life and a step-by-step practical guide, for those designing or delivering programmes, on how to use evaluation methods to show the benefits for older adults. Read more.
Blooming Minds Club: A creative hub for young people with mental health difficulties
The Blooming Minds Club is a youth-led artist-supported creative arts hub for young people experiencing mental health difficulties attending Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in Louth. Based at Creative Spark Dundalk, with outreach workshops in Drogheda, participants are meeting to make art of various forms over a two-year period until September 2025, funded by the Creative Ireland Nurture Fund. Read more.
World Music Therapy Day at TUH: An Arts & Health and Music Therapy Collaboration
Arts and Health at TUH and the Music Therapy Service hosted vibrant celebrations for World Music Therapy Day in Tallaght University Hospital on 15 April. A series of events raised awareness of the work of Clara Monahan (Senior Music Therapist) and Rory Adams (Music Therapist, Psychiatry) including a ‘Pop-Up Sing-Along’ with Musician in Residence Mary Louise O’Donnell, volunteer musicians and staff members of Heartbeats TUH Choir. Read more.
Art in Dialysis – Punchestown Kidney Research Fund and amateur jockeys visit TUH
Tallaght University Hospital runs a varied and vibrant arts programme in the Vartry Renal Unit, offering a break from clinical worries that patients may have while undergoing their dialysis treatment. The Arts & Health Department recently welcomed James Nolan, Chairman of the Punchestown Kidney Research Fund, and amateur jockeys competing in the Punchestown Festival Charity Race on 4 May to the Unit for presentations highlighting key arts and music projects funded by PKRF. Read more. OpportunitiesInclusive Adaptive Céilí – Dance Leader Training ProgrammesAll Irish Dance’s evidence-based training empowers you with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to lead fun, inclusive adaptive céilí activities in your local community or care setting. Applications are now open for Dance Leader training in Reels on Wheels (Wheelchair Céilí), Some Dance to Remember for people living with dementia, Céilí Recall for older adults, and Y-Céilí for teens and young adults. Deadline for applications: 2 May. Read more.
 Open Call for Socially Engaged Artists: AIC Artist Mentoring Award 2024
Are you an artist working with communities or who is interested in developing a socially engaged practice? Would you like to avail of mentoring from an experienced artist? The Artist Mentoring Award, funded through the Artist in the Community Scheme, offers capacity building and arts practice development. Deadline: 13 May. Read more.
Workshop for artists: Working with young people experiencing mental heath difficulties
As part of The Blooming Minds Club at Creative Spark Dundalk, artist and art therapist Jenny Slater will present a workshop for professional artists on 28 May, exploring youth mental health within community group art contexts from an Art Therapist’s perspective. The Blooming Minds Club is a youth-led artist-supported creative arts hub for young people experiencing mental health difficulties. Read more. Events 
Bealtaine Festival 2024 – Ireland’s national celebration of the arts and creativity as we age
There are lots of great Bealtaine events for public audiences and care settings across the country. Do you know someone who would like a poetry reading over the phone from an award-winning poet? Then check out The Poetry Line. Prom Night offers older LGBTQIA+ individuals and those who missed out on prom experiences an opportunity to dress up and relive the magic of Prom. And nursing homes across the country will be showcasing their creativity during National Arts in Nursing Homes Day on 17 May. Check out some of our highlights!
Caring for Creativity at Roscommon Arts Centre
Caring for Creativity brings together work by artists who had residencies in local care settings in Roscommon over the past year. Curated by artist Andy Parsons, the exhibition explores what is given by the artists – and what they receive in return. The idea of reciprocity, an exchange of inspiration and ideas, is the theme that connects the varied work in the exhibition. Running at Roscommon Arts Centre from May - June as part of Bealtaine Festival. Read more.
Rewire Your Choir: Embracing Neurodiversity – Cork International Choral Festival
Cork International Choral Festival is hosting a free interactive workshop on 3 May to demonstrate accessible and creative ways to rewire traditional approaches to choral teaching, creating an enjoyable and accessible space for everyone. The workshop will be led by Dr Eva McMullan-Glossop from the Department of Music at UCC. Read more.
Northern Ireland Mental Health Arts Festival celebrates its 10th anniversary
The Northern Ireland Mental Health Arts Festival (NIMHAF) celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. The festival aims to challenge the stigma associated with talking about our mental health and wellbeing, celebrating the significant role of our creativity, self-expression and the arts as a catalyst for change. Running from 10-19 May across Northern Ireland, this year's celebration includes two symposia, in Derry/Londonderry and Belfast. Read more.
A Sense of Self exhibition at Dungarvan Library
A Sense of Self, a new exhibition by participants from Waterford Healing Arts' Iontas Arts and Mental Health Programme, will be on show at Dungarvan Library until 12 May. The artworks were created during 12 weekly workshops in 2023 at the Primary Care Centre in Dungarvan, facilitated by artist Kasia Pylyponko and Jennifer O’Mahoney, Senior Occupational Therapist with the Waterford Wexford Mental Health Services. The participants' self-portraits form the basis of the exhibition. Read more.Cork Cultural Companions: Creative workshops for older adults in Cork CityNarratives Unfolded is a series of six workshops from Cork Cultural Companions, aimed at enriching the lives of older adults in Cork City through engagement with visual arts and creative writing. Participants will be provided with the opportunity to explore visual art exhibitions in Cork City and creatively respond to them through prose, poetry, or storytelling. Taking place as part of Bealtaine Festival across May and June, beginning on 14 May. Read more. International News 
Room 12 at Aalborg University Hospital: Somaesthetic art for families experiencing still births
Cultivating a more empathetic environment for families experiencing stillbirth is at the heart of a collaboration between arts and health collective Studio Poesis and staff from the Department of Obstetrics at Aalborg University Hospital in North Denmark. The commemorative artwork and ritual ‘The Light’ has been developed specifically for Delivery Room 12 to create a calming backdrop for the first meeting and final farewell with the infant, offering families a supportive element in the grieving process. Read more. The national arts and health website is continually updated with new resources, case studies and perspectives on arts and health practice. Some recent additions include:
Case Studies
 A Bright Light was a collaborative book project with children of families who foster, about their experiences of having foster siblings. The project was a partnership between Kids’ Own Publishing Partnership, a children’s arts organisation and publishing house, and the Foster Care Resource Service Sligo, Leitrim, and West Cavan Area. Creative sessions with children and young people from families who foster took place in 2022 in Sligo.
 Storytelling through Weaving was designed and delivered by wellbeing artist Lucy Hyland and participants from Headway in Cork, a national support service for people affected by stroke and Acquired Brain Injury (ABI). Participants created individual weaves and the project culminated in a shared woven wall hanging as a visual account of their recovery from ABI and stroke.
 Artists in Residence in Service to People at End of Life: The arts and cultural engagement in all their forms help people of all ages explore and articulate loss, death, dying, and grief. In 2023, the Irish Hospice Foundation Arts & Cultural Engagement team trialled an artist residency project in palliative care. Visual artist Caroline Schofield was embedded at St Luke’s General Hospital Kilkenny, and writer Kevin Toolis at University Hospital Limerick. This case study explores how the project was developed and the ethical dimensions of collaborating with people at end of life.
Reports & Publications
A Guide for Care Settings: Engaging an Artist and Sourcing Funding
Age & Opportunity have published a new guide addressing two of the biggest queries relating to arts for older people in Irish care settings: how to engage an artist and where to source funding. The guide includes links to lots of useful resources to help get you started
Art By Their Side
Irish Hospice Foundation’s Arts and Cultural Engagement programme embarked on a yearlong artist residency project in service to people at end of life. Art By Their Side showcases the creative work that emerged from the residencies, and presents multiple voices and perspectives from concentric circles of care – the professional care staff, the artist’s team, and various types of support staff. At the centre of these circles are those who were dying.
Experience 2023: Reflection by Noelle Brown
Experience 2023: An Introduction to Arts, Health and the Older Person was a learning programme aimed at professional arts practitioners with an interest in working with older people in a health context. Writer, actor and activist Noelle Brown was commissioned to participate, observe and write a reflection on the day. If you would like to share a news article, event, opportunity or research in the field of arts and health, please submit your information to info@artsandhealth.ie by Friday 21 June for consideration in the July 2024 e-bulletin. In the meantime, check out artsandhealth.ie for up-to-date news. If you haven't done so yet, connect with us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. |
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