Leitrim as a county is regarded as being culturally vibrant, rich in heritage and remarkable, relative to its size, for its levels of activity and capacity across a wide range of art forms and cultural arenas. A place of unspoilt beauty, unmatched character and dynamic culture, Leitrim boasts a strong network of communities rich with artists, writers, actors, filmmakers, dancers and musicians, and one of the highest percentages of creative sector employment in the country.

The Creative Ireland Leitrim Open Call Programme as well as Cruinniú na nÓg has, since its formation in 2017, developed and encouraged many rich and diverse collaborative projects to take place in County Leitrim. These have been spread across a variety of art forms and creative contexts working with a huge range of community groups spread across the county.
Leitrim County Council’s commitment to and recognition of the value of creativity to social, cultural and economic development is at the forefront of its Creative Ireland Culture and Creativity Strategy. Participation and access are central to the vision. Empowering artists and other creators and connecting them to communities is also essential to that vision. In order to arrive at a Creative Ireland Vision for Leitrim, Leitrim County Council established a Culture Team that traverses the different departments of the Council ensuring an all-of-local-government approach much as the all-of-government principal of the programme at a national level has been key to the programmes success.

The Creative Ireland values of Collaboration, Communication, Community, Participation, Inclusivity and Empowerment have informed the development of Leitrim’s Culture & Creativity strategy. In the first instance the Creative Ireland programme is a significant and meaningful demonstration of collaboration between local and national government in the area of culture and creativity. Within Leitrim County Council, the strategy and programme has given rise to enhanced collaboration across different departments within the organisation. While the process of developing the strategy has been collaborative in nature in the broadest sense, the measures included in the programme, and the Creative Ireland Open Call in particular, are designed to encourage a wider collaboration between the local authority, practitioners in the sector, and communities of place or interest across the entire county.