In celebration of Ireland hosting the EU Presidency in 2013, the Waterford Healing Arts Trust will bring together key musicians involved in the Music in Hospitals programme for a three-day residency in Waterford from 1-3 May. Music in Hospitals was a very successful European exchange programme which took place in 2006, comprising Musique et Sante, Paris, Arts for Health, Manchester, and the Waterford Healing Arts Trust.

Musicians Philippe Bouteloup (Artistic Director, Musique et Sante, Paris), Ros Howley (Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester) and Kevin O’Shanahan (MusicAlive, Cork), who were at the core of the 2006 project, will reunite with WHAT musicians Mary Prendergast, Liam Merriman and Leah Clark to showcase and share how their work has progressed in the intervening period.

During the 2006 project, these musicians explored and proved the necessity of the presence of live music in particular areas of the hospital setting including Paediatrics, Renal Dialysis and Mental Health Settings. The forthcoming residency during which the same principles will be celebrated will continue this work and endeavour to promote, discuss and demonstrate the healing power of music for people of all ages and conditions coping with difficult, painful and sometimes tedious hospital experiences.

The musicians will co-facilitate a series of workshops with clients of Waterford Regional Hospital and St.Otteran’s Hospital. There will also be a public event in the WHAT Centre for Arts and Health on 3 May at 11am. Audience members will have an opportunity to hear about how this pioneering work is impacting on clients, family members and staff of the hospital settings where they are based. This event will be an exciting learning and information sharing platform for anyone interested in the creative processes and challenges behind bringing music to the hospital setting. It will include a concert during which musicians will demonstrate playing styles and the methodologies used as part of this.

Music in Hospitals – 7 Years On will be documented by a film and disseminated through artsandhealth.ie.

For more information phone 051-842664 or email WHAT@hse.ie

Music in Hospitals – 7 Years On is taking place as part of the Partners for Imagination strand of Culture Connects, the Arts Council programme marking Ireland’s EU Presidency. Partners for Imagination showcases some of the arts organisations in Ireland that have been exceptionally committed to working across national borders in Europe. The project has been funded through the Arts Council and Waterford City Council.

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