Make or Break – Cork County Council in partnership with Kerry County Council

The aim of Make or Break is to develop and provide a creative wellbeing programme that can be accessed through the workplace at lunchtime. Providing employees with an opportunity to engage in creativity and social interaction, the programme will encourage a culture of creativity in the workplace with a focus on collaboration and innovation.

Designed to promote and increase a sense of wellbeing among staff, Make or Break will be informed by participant feedback and preference, and tested and evaluated through their active participation.

Building on the learnings of The Council of Creativity; a pilot lunchtime programme of creative engagement activities at Cork County Council’s main campus, this project will be scaled up and delivered in partnership with both Cork and Kerry County Councils, Healthy Ireland, the HSE and Crawford Art Gallery. A project coordinator will lead the initiative, which will be delivered by, and in consultation with, professional creative practitioners with a track record of delivering quality workshops.

Make or Break will be accessible through the workplace in Cork and Kerry County Councils, the HSE campuses and the private sector, with the aim to deliver 168 workshops for 338 people in 14 locations over two 6 week blocks in each location.

In 2025, the project will be scaled up to include privately funded workshops in the private industry.

Let’s Get Social DLR: making creative connections and inspiring inclusivity across the county – Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council

Let’s Get Social is an innovative framework that builds on DLR’s current health and wellbeing programmes. It will develop initiatives that combat social isolation for older people, migrants and those who are affected adversely by health challenges.

Activities will include an extension of the Creative Cafés programme, with the aim to deliver 62 across 2024 and 2025. Building on the successful partnership with Southside Partnership dlr’s Social Prescribing Team, the programme supports participants by connecting them socially with others and with DLR’s community and cultural spaces. In addition, a new series of bi-monthly alumni Creative Cafés will be developed over the two years.

The Creative Brainwaves talks/podcast series will also continue with nine events envisaged. Curated by the Global Brain Health Institute team, the series will explore how creative arts can improve brain health with contributions from neuroscientists, researchers and creative artists.

The Arts Office will also deliver capacity building professional development sessions. These will comprise bespoke workshops for creatives, healthcare professionals, and four pilot creative projects in healthcare/community settings that will engage with the older community, including those living with dementia.

Finally, two new performing arts clubs will be piloted and led by DLR’s Age Friendly Programme and Social Inclusion Unit. These will focus on those in active retirement and IPA/migrant communities. These workshops to be delivered by highly skilled arts professionals.

Through this ambitious programme, Let’s Get Social DLR will support participants to adopt healthy lifestyles and behaviours, enable positive ageing across the county, contribute to an improvement in participant’s mental and physical wellbeing through arts and culture, increase the number of experienced creatives/artists who work in healthcare and community contexts, and enable greater knowledge within the healthcare sector and wider public about the positive impacts of creativity for our ageing population.