In February 2024, the Creative Ireland Programme invited applications from Local Authorities for grant funding for projects supporting Health and Wellbeing through Creativity across 2024 and 2025. The call encouraged collaboration with neighbouring Local Authorities. 15 Creative Health and Wellbeing in the Community projects were successful. These include four all-island projects supported as part of the Shared Island Initiative, which will see Local Authorities work with partners in Northern Ireland. Over the coming weeks we will share a series of blogs from Creative Ireland, giving details of these exciting and important projects as they get underway.
Blog #2
Mayo Roscommon: Care & Creativity in Context – Roscommon County Council in partnership with Mayo County Council
This project aims to build capacity and deliver training in end-of-life care knowledge, grief support and bereavement for artists, facilitators, project leads and healthcare personnel in Mayo and Roscommon, supporting reach amongst the wider community in these areas. This will develop into more focused training / mentoring with the Irish Hospice Foundation Arts and Cultural Engagement Team to inform and engage artists who are interested in working in this field.
The initiative will bring artists and creatives into care settings for residencies, in particular end-of-life care contexts, with Mayo Roscommon Hospice Units and Palliative Care, as well as with older people in nursing homes, where they will develop relationships and practices.
For those living in their own homes, the project will draw on the learnings of the Hearth project, led by artist Breda Mayock, where art is brought to older people who are isolated geographically, or restricted for other reasons.
The overall goal is to help support positive mental health, promote positive ageing, support people to manage their health and wellbeing while living with a chronic disease, and assist in acute and end-of-life care.
Collaborative capacity building and the sharing of experience is at the heart of the initiative, with Mayo and Roscommon County Councils, Healthy Ireland, the Irish Hospice Foundation and the HSE all working together on its delivery, and the development of the Mayo Hearth Programme and Roscommon HSE Nursing Home Artist in Residence Programme via a knowledge exchange programme with artists.
2024 will see the initial stages of the training and residencies take place. The focus in 2025 will be to continue the residencies and create an evaluation publication to support the dissemination of learnings and practices.
