Creative Ireland awards over €1million to creative projects for older people

The Creative Ireland programme has announced it is awarding €1,000,000 to creative projects that will enhance the health and wellbeing of Ireland’s older people as they emerge from the pandemic. These projects are part of Creative Ireland’s Creativity in Older Age programme and will be rolled out this year by Creative Ireland’s national partners and local authorities.

Creative Ireland is an all-of-government culture and wellbeing initiative. The funding announced includes €500,000 to the Mobile Music Machine to perform 400 concerts in residential care homes. Since 2020 some of Ireland’s best known musicians have performed with the Mobile Music Machine in over 1,000 concerts in care homes around the country. Led by cellist Gerald Peregrine, these concerts brought a welcome relief and the joy of live music to those isolated by the pandemic.

Creative Ireland has also awarded €560,000 to 16 new Creativity in Older Age projects that will be delivered by local authorities. These projects include creating a radio soap opera in West Cork, developing lace making skills in the Men’s Sheds in Carlow, creating a community garden in South Dublin and working with analogue cameras in Cork. Each one of the 16 projects selected respond to the specific needs of the older residents of each locality.

To celebrate the work of front line workers the Mobile Music Machine, with support from Creative Ireland, will host a special gala concert in the National Concert Hall on 15 June 2022. The concert will feature a 45 piece orchestra with conductor David Brophy and performances from many of the artists who worked with the Mobile Music Machine over the past two years. These include Claudia Boyle, Emmet Cahill, Steve Cooney, Mary Coughlan, Jerry Fish, Red Hurley, Niamh Kavanagh, Séan Keane, Iarla Ó’Lionáird, Simon Morgan and more. Also performing will be the Frontline Workers choir and the Age Friendly Ireland intergenerational choir.

‘Creative Ireland’s broad programme of creative activities for older people did much to relieve the loneliness and isolation brought about by the pandemic. This important work must be continued because we know that our older citizens who participate in creative activities enjoy a higher quality of life than their contemporaries who do not.’ – Catherine Martin TD, Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media

For more information on the Creative Ireland Programme’s Creativity in Older Age programme visit www.creativeireland.gov.ie