These case studies showcase examples of diverse arts and health projects which are characterised by clear artistic vision, goals and outcomes, and are delivered by professional artists. The diversity of artforms, contexts, partnerships and structures gives an insight into the full range of arts and health practice.
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Case study
A Dive in Line showcases a yearlong exploratory project in West Cork between six individuals experiencing Parkinson’s disease / Parkinsonism, healthcare staff in Dunmanway Community Hospital and Day Care Centre, and participatory artist / speech & language therapist Áine Rose Connell.
9 October, 2024
Case study
Making My Mark is a pilot art programme with renal dialysis patients at the BBraun Wellstone Wexford Renal Care Centre. Delivered by artist Kate Murphy, the programme ran from February to June 2024, and culminated in a public exhibition of patient artwork.
1 September, 2024
Case study
Artist Vincent Devine, cancer researchers at UCD Conway Institute, and patient partners with a lived experience of cancer worked collaboratively to integrate art and science. From these conversations, Devine created a powerful visual representation that offers a glimpse into the journey of cancer, from its molecular origins to its profound effects on an individual’s wellbeing.
24 August, 2024
Case study
Inclusive Dance Club is a creative dance project for children and young people with additional needs, exploring dance with a team of professional dance artists in a calm and safe environment. The project forms part of DL.BRIDGE, a Dance Limerick programme led by choreographer Katy Hewison.
27 June, 2024
Case study
A Bright Light was a collaborative book project with children of families who foster, about their experiences of having foster siblings. The project was a partnership between Kids’ Own Publishing Partnership and the Foster Care Resource Service Sligo, Leitrim, and West Cavan Area. Creative sessions with children and young people from families who foster took place in 2022 in Sligo.
1 May, 2024
Case study
The Storytelling through Weaving project was designed and delivered by wellbeing artist Lucy Hyland and participants from Headway in Cork, a support service for people affected by stroke and Acquired Brain Injury (ABI). Participants created individual weaves and the project culminated in a shared woven wall hanging as a visual account of their recovery from ABI and stroke.
20 April, 2024
Case study
The arts and cultural engagement in all their forms help people of all ages explore and articulate loss, death, dying, and grief. Since Irish Hospice Foundation’s Arts and Cultural Engagement programme began in 2021, we’ve focused mainly on the bereaved and grieving. In 2023, we trialled an Artists in Residence in Service to People at End of Life project.
12 March, 2024
Case study
Songlines brought together artists and people living with dementia and cognitive impairment to discuss favourite poems and songs in four care settings in Waterford and Wexford. A series of workshops in 2023 drew out memories, and resulted in the creation of new work, which was performed by artists, residents, and staff at celebratory live performances as part of Festival in a Van.
6 February, 2024
Case study
Creative Carers is a community-based strand of the Arts for Health Partnership Programme in West Cork, initiated in 2022. The programme creates access to engage with the arts for and with family carers, taking place at carers' homes, in arts spaces and in community settings across the region.
2 January, 2024
Case study
Exploring the role of music in mental health recovery for individuals attending community mental health services and those in residential settings in County Wexford, the programme is funded as part of the Arts Ability Programme, a partnership with the HSE Mental Health Services and Wexford County Council Arts Department.
18 December, 2023
Case study
Participatory artist and maker Ciara Harrison worked with a group of young people who access the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in Waterford. During the summer of 2022, they embroidered, painted, wrote, and explored many different craft and artistic mediums together.
28 November, 2023
Case study
Visual artist Rozzi Kennedy began collaborating with older people in County Louth care settings in 2019 as part of a sequence of An Táin Arts Centre outreach projects. The projects were adapted throughout the Covid-19 pandemic with changing government guidelines, and further developed after restrictions lifted.
9 October, 2023
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