Three Education and Training Boards are to pilot a new initiative promoting young people’s creativity.

Part of the Creative Ireland Programme, the three Education and Training Boards (ETBs) set to pilot these important local creative partnerships were announced yesterday by Minister for Education and Skills, Joe McHugh TD.

The partnerships help each pilot ETB area to share information and foster collaboration between local creative youth service providers – better utilising existing resources, practices and initiatives.

The three successful pilot ETBs are:

·       Kerry Education and Training Board

·       Laois and Offaly Education and Training Board

·       Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board

With €300,000 made available for the pilot by the Department of Education and Skills, the partnerships will engage with the Department of Children and Youth Affairs to develop youth consultation processes for their area. This will allow the unique voices of children and young people to play a central role in just how the partnerships evolve.

Speaking at the announcement, Minister McHugh said:

“These partnerships will help to deliver a wide range of activity for children and young people in these areas and I am hopeful that they will be a success. It is important that skills in creativity and flexibility are developed in our children and young people to equip them for the future.”

Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Josepha Madigan TD., added:

“A vital engine of the Creative Ireland Programme, these new partnerships will act as change agents within their local communities, unlocking new ways of working and supporting the creative and cultural education of thousands of our children and young people.”

An exceptional opportunity for Education and Training Boards to grow new partnerships and collaborations with their locality’s vital cultural and creativity resources, these promising partnerships will also complement the creative outlet that school provides for young people.