• €1,021,000 for 15 Creative Health and Wellbeing in the Community projects including 4 all-island projects supported as part of the Shared Island Initiative, with projects spanning community choirs, creative storytelling and creativity as part of holistic cardio-vascular care

• €200,000 co-funded with Department of Health for 11 Live Music in Residential Healthcare Settings projects funded with Department of Health

The Creative Health and Wellbeing in the Community Scheme will deliver:

• €756,360 from Creative Ireland to 11 Local Authority partnerships for arts and health projects in the community and HSE community and hospital settings.
• An additional €265,133 funded as part of the Shared Island-dimension of the Creative Ireland programme for 4 Local Authority led cross-border arts and health partnerships across the island of Ireland.
• All 15 projects are designed to improve the health and wellbeing of all age groups in areas such as:
  • Social prescribing activities
  • Children with chronic conditions
  • End of life and bereavement
  • Positive ageing

Each of these 15 projects will demonstrate how creativity, be it through performing or visual arts, craft or heritage-based activities, promotes positive health and wellbeing.  Finding their creative pathway helps people to connect socially, enhancing their self-esteem and resilience, enabling recovery and empowering them to manage their own health and wellbeing through their lives. The all-island projects will place an emphasis on cross community cultural and creative engagement to support collective wellbeing across all communities.

Live Music Performances in Residential Healthcare Settings began during Covid and delivered1800 concerts in nursing homes. These performances supported positive ageing, and provided creative engagement opportunities for older people who were socially isolated.

The Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media and the Minister for Public Health, Wellbeing and the National Drugs Strategy have agreed to continue to support live music in residential healthcare facilities throughout 2024.  This will be facilitated through the all-of-Government programmes in Creative Ireland and Healthy Ireland in Cavan, Cork City, Donegal, Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, Kilkenny, Laois, Limerick (with Clare and Tipperary),Mayo, Meath, Monaghan and Wexford.

Speaking today at a gathering of Local Authority Creative Ireland and Healthy Ireland teams, Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin, TD said:

“Participation in creativity, whether active or passive, plays an important role in promoting positive health and wellbeing.  It creates a space for social connection, enhancing self-esteem and resilience.  It helps people to de-stress and relax, and supports people to manage their health and wellbeing and enable recovery. This grant funding will enable the Local Authority Creative Ireland and Healthy Ireland teams to continue the great work they are doing within their communities, to enhance wellbeing through creativity.  I am particularly pleased to support projects which will promote collective wellbeing on an all-island basis and bring communities together to explore how creativity can be deployed for the benefit of our overall health”

 Minister for Public Health, Wellbeing and the National Drugs Strategy Colm Burke said:

“Evidence has shown that the creativity and arts can positively influence physical and mental health.  The Creative Health and Wellbeing in the Community Scheme and Live Music Performances in Residential Healthcare Settings projects provide high quality, collaborative and innovative creative offerings to a diverse range of people, spanning from childhood to older ages, providing the potential to increase social and individual wellbeing and support healthy lifestyles.

As well as having a positive effect on participants, and adding to the growing evidence base and knowledge sharing that exists internationally, these initiatives will also strengthen the structures and mechanisms for collaboration nationally, through both the Local Government sector and the new health regions.”

Shared Island initiative

The Shared Island initiative is a whole of government priority to engage with all communities and political traditions to build consensus around a shared future on the island, underpinned by the Good Friday Agreement.

The Shared Island initiative is backed by the government’s Shared Island Fund, with at least €1 billion out to 2030 ring-fenced for delivery of all-island investment commitments and objectives in the Programme for Government and revised National Development Plan 2021-30; and informed by a programme of engagement with people across the island through the Shared Island Dialogue series and a comprehensive policy research programme, which provides a stronger evidence base and analysis of the island of Ireland across a range of economic, environmental and social areas.

The Shared Island dimension to the Creative Ireland Programme seeks to deploy creativity on a shared island basis to, inter alia, deepen collaborations for a more environmentally and socially sustainable island. Further details on the Shared Island Initiative, including projects related to the Creative Ireland Programme, is available at www.gov.ie/sharedisland .