Programme: Kerry
WHO Theme: Community Support and Health Services
Cost: 1000 – 5000
Status: Ongoing
Description
Following a well-attended meeting re arts engagement, led by the HSE Arts and Health Programme and Age Friendly Kerry in Cahersiveen in February 2023, opportunities were sought to develop creative projects locally in south Kerry. A process for stakeholder nomination was agreed. An invitation was then circulated to those attending previous stakeholder meetings. Terms of Reference were reviewed and agreed upon.
Funding was secured for a project from Healthy Kerry through the Age Friendly initiatives fund.
Regular meetings were held with the various stakeholders to develop a plan to communicate with key service user groups through interagency partnership representatives.
Creative Cahersiveen was facilitated by Cahersiveen Chamber Alliance, and was funded by Healthy Kerry through Age Friendly initiatives. Creative Cahersiveen was, and continues to be a collaboration between the HSE and various stakeholders including Healthy Kerry, Creative Ireland Kerry, Kerry County Council Arts Office, Kerry County Council, South Kerry Development Partnership, Cahersiveen Chamber Alliance and Kerry Education and Training Board.
A Service Level Agreement (SLA) for the delivery of the project was developed by the Age Friendly Kerry programme with the Cahersiveen Chamber Alliance.
The committee decided that a total of 12 Taster Sessions were to be held:
• 4 Workshops were held in the Cahersiveen Library during May. These included Printmaking with Darragh Kinch on Thursday 9th May and Saturday 11th May, and Wool Felt making with Fiona Ladden Loughlin on Saturday 18th and 8th June.
• 8 other taster sessions were organised with groups including Cahersiveen Men’s Shed, Glencar Community Social Group, Cahersiveen Active Retired and Cahersiveen Social Services. These workshops include Pottery, Drama, Felting/Textiles and Writing/Reminiscence.
It was agreed that a Community Education process will support follow on workshops that are preferred following the taster sessions either in Waterville or Caherciveen. These workshops will be organised with the assistance of the Kerry ETB, who will issue an outreach artist call for this project.
Artist Selection:
A process was agreed for commissioning the work including artists /venues/ timeline. Expressions of Interest were sought by Kerry County Council Arts Office for hosting a series of Taster Workshops in South Kerry. Following an EOI process, there was a good level of interest, with 44 applications received from all over Kerry from different artistic genres. https://m.facebook.com/KerryCoArts/posts/929912922468632/
It was agreed that the project would be in the format of Taster Sessions of 6 artists providing 2 sessions each at the library and with local Groups. This panel was narrowed down to 6 artists :
• 3 artists for Older People’s community groups
• 2 artist workshops in the library
• 1 Artist for the Men’s Shed
The four Community Groups that were offered to be included in this initiative were:
1. Caherciveen Social Services
2. Caherciveen Active Retired
3. Cahirciveen Men’s Shed
4. Glencar Active Retired
Promotion:
A plan was developed to communicate with key service user groups through interagency partnership representatives. The Taster Sessions were promoted through the PPN, Cahersiveen Chamber Alliance, Kerry County Council, a press release and communications to local press, and the various community groups that Age Friendly Kerry work with.
Communication and promotion included:
• Poster to promote through committee email networks
• Kerry County Council : https://m.facebook.com/KerryCoArts/posts/929912922468632/
• Kerry PPN
• Cahersiveen Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/photo/fbid=868122925345637&set=a.560824756075457&__cft__[0]=AZXHHWbfyQcIaHaTV3ESlbsYTqHnHEtbnduByhq0ytVW8hs0fhxMKRb9eDiSWrw59cxLLCS4Ga1ZG8wFyDtYfMZi4RqJVpCc8LDgLO39QOOCBOK6EiRZ1Fk3wyUWZ7h04oucuaS5bgrOflE5wlX2nSx7qrtoZu2yDkRwl5wiarxN7ZAL_AFLDO5dyDEQUjChX0lZvd8BdtScxVKTnz5J&__tn__=EH-R
• Bealtaine Festival website
https://bealtaine.ie/bealtaine-event/creative-cahersiveen-print-making/
https://bealtaine.ie/bealtaine-event/creative-cahersiveen-wool-felting-2/
• Press release to Kerry media
https://x.com/Priscilla1Lynch/status/1788560601867804674
All Taster Sessions/Workshops have been completed. Feedback from sessions has been received, and an Evaluation of the feedback from each workshop has been assessed. It is clear that older people are interested in trying new art forms and creative activities as many of the people involved had not engaged in this type of activity previously.
The Taster Workshops were the first step in a long-term developmental process for the socially engaged arts in South Kerry and we hope that there will be many other opportunities to work with Kerry based artists who are interested in developing their practice through community participation and engagement and sharing their creative expertise with the wider aging community.
Working together in partnership with the various stakeholders displayed the potential of the different programmes collaborating on the delivery of a very worthwhile programme.
A Community Education process will support follow on workshops. These workshops will be organised with the assistance of the Kerry ETB, who will issue an outreach artist call for this project.
Evaluation of the Project:
Feedback Forms were printed off for each Workshop, and Facilitators invited each participant to complete the form at the end of each session.
It was agreed that there would be a full evaluation of the project, which would provide
analysis of the feedback to inform future projects
Aim of Initiative
The aim of Creative Cahersiveen was to give the opportunity to get involved in various art taster sessions to encourage older people to explore their creative side, improve wellbeing and live a more active and healthy lifestyle.
The Taster Workshops were the first step in a long-term developmental process for the socially engaged arts in South Kerry, and we hope that there will be many other opportunities to work with Kerry based artists who are interested in developing their practice through community participation and engagement and sharing their creative expertise with the wider aging community.
Active Aging proposes that aging occurs with more positive outcomes when adults stay active and maintain social interactions as they get older. It is well documented that quality of life can be enhanced by taking part in cultural and creative activities locally, and this project helps provide direction to promote positive ageing.
The scope of the Creative Cahersiveen project included:
The three pillars of active aging:
• Physical and Mental Health
• Participation in social activities
• Lifelong Learning/Mental Stimulation
The Principles of Active Aging:
• Independence
• Participation
• Dignity
• Care
• Self-fulfilment.
Who is it aimed at
The initiative is aimed at older adults (55 years +).
3 Steps critical to success
- Local Community Engagement to determine the need and the focus of the project. It was built on local meetings including older people and agencies and a wider stakeholder group
- The success of the collaboration between the agencies and the local community to deliver a programme based on this locally determined need was critical. Working together in partnership with the various stakeholders displayed the potential of the different programmes collaborating on the delivery of a very worthwhile outcome. The Arts Office was able to procure the artists, the Age Friendly Kerry programme was able to secure the funding through Healthy Kerry, the HSE provided leadership and guidance on programme management, and the Cahersiveen Chamber Alliance provided the governance requirements and the processing of the grant. This was a good example of maximising resources to good effect.
- Programme Delivery – Kerry County Council and HSE provided administration support which was crucial to the professional implementation of the project.
3 Challenges in Planning / Delivery
- Agreeing the Terms of Reference and the Roles and Responsibilities of each stakeholder required negotiation and clarification. Once this was clear the project progressed well.
- Lessons learned from Governance, such as Artist’s insurance, GDPR, procurement. Not all artists were set up to work with older people’s groups
- Aiming the publicity at the relevant target group. All types of publicity were used to ensure that as many as people as possible were made aware of the programme (bearing in mind that not everyone is on social media, so library promotion and posters in local shops and post offices were very important in this promotion).
3 Outcomes / Benefits
- This project determined the need for this type of activity in the area and it also determined a way of sustaining it into the future.
- The value of collaborative approach by stakeholders in the delivery of a project that meets a local need.
The Cahersiveen Chamber Alliance role was vital as the local link. - The evaluation gave good guidance for future delivery of this type of programme. Examples include information on how people travelled to and from the workshops, the type of booking system that worked for this rural community (online and in person booking was made available).