We are delighted to announce we are one of the organisations who will deliver the Government’s new Creativity In Older Age Programme.
The Minister for Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and the Gaeltacht, Catherine Martin has announced a €500,000 investment in the Creative Ireland Programme’s new ‘Creativity in Older Age’ programme, to be delivered by the Creative Ireland Programme through its strategic national partners and the local authorities. It has been designed to counteract the social side effects of the pandemic, will begin immediately and will be rolled out over the next 18 months.
Commenting on the need for creative activity for older people, Minister Catherine Martin T.D. said:
“The effect of the pandemic on our older citizens has been devastating. Through necessity they have had to isolate themselves away from family and friends and in doing so have lost the social links that generate contentment, confidence and mental wellbeing. My department knows the arts and creative programmes can help to rebuild the social connections that have been lost.”
Irish Hospice Foundation (IHF) will deliver a programme of projects designed to give meaning to the difficulties experienced by dying, death and bereavement. These will include the curation of a poetry collection By Your Side that will assist with articulating feelings around dying, death and loss.
Other projects include a series of creative residencies concentrating on dance, music and performance in six care settings around the country delivered by Age and Opportunity, a research project with The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) to measure the effects of participation in social and creative activities on the health and wellbeing of adults aged 50+ and Renew, a multi-arts programme specifically for older people cocooning which will be part of the Well Festival of Arts and Wellbeing developed by Waterford Healing Arts Trust (WHAT).
In addition to the national programme, Creative Ireland will also deliver 25 creative projects for older people with our local authority partners around the country.
Highlights include projections of slow motion video portraits of older people in Carlow, a Community Notebook project in Kildare, Modern Day Mummers in Leitrim, an intergenerational film project in Louth with young people and their older neighbours recounting their experiences of lockdown, the publishing and recording of a 77 year old’s diary in Meath and mobile opera concerts in Waterford.
Commenting on the participation of local authorities in Creative Ireland’s Positive Ageing and Creative Well Being Programme, Minister Catherine Martin T.D. said:
“The enthusiasm and energy behind the projects that will be delivered by the local authorities is extraordinary. They are truly imaginative and are innately responsive to the needs of their community. I am delighted to be able to support such thoughtful and engaging projects for our older citizens.”
For more information on the Creative Ireland Programme Creativity in Older Age programme, please go to creativeireland.gov.ie
