Minister Madigan announced investment to broaden the impact of the Creative Ireland Programme and achieve its mission; to promote the well-being of the individual, the community and the people of the country.

This investment of € 7.2m will be spent on the commitment to our cultural, creative and well-being initiative for 2019. Government belief in the cultural value and power of the arts, culture and creativity is reinforced as a means to make a meaningful change to everyone’s life.

Some of the specific results include:

• Employ new people to the 31 Creative Ireland program Cultural Teams to deliver and implement their Culture and Creativity Strategies 2018-2022 .
• Cruinniu na nOg – national day of creativity for our children and young people – expansion. Ireland is the only country in the world to have a full day dedicated to creative activities taking place in local communities across the country.
• The network of Creative Schools, which currently has 150 schools, will be expanded. This is a flagship initiative of the Creative Ireland Programme led by the Arts Council in partnership with the Department of Education and Skills.
• Activation and implementation of the 30 ambitious initiatives arising from the National Creativity Fund . They include a number of cutting-edge research projects, in areas such as creativity and mental health , working with teaching hospitals, creative hospice and end-of-life care units. It is hoped that these initiatives will inform government policies and contribute to the well-being of all people regardless of our future life circumstances.