Arts + Health Co-ordinators Ireland

Arts + Health Co-ordinators Ireland (AHCI) is a support network of professionals who are responsible for managing arts and health initiatives in Ireland.

Mission / Aims

Formed in 2003, AHCI aims to build capacity and maximise resources for its membership through peer support and networking and to create clarity about the role and nature of arts and health practice in Ireland.

Areas of activities

The network members co-ordinate a range of arts and health activity, including participatory and collaborative arts practice, environmental enhancement, professional development for artists and staff, artist residencies, health promotion and research.

Working together the members have collaborated on a number of projects including:

• Doing the Rounds, a touring visual art exhibition  as part of The Arts Council Touring Experiment in 2008.
• Celebrating Poetry Day Ireland, Menu of Poems serves a helping of poetry on the hospital meal trays of Ireland annually since its conception in 2009.
• In 2011, the network was awarded Arts Council funding for Dialogue Arts + Health, a peer learning initiative for artists working in healthcare contexts in four regional centres – Cavan, Offaly, Limerick and Galway. This project culminated in a day long national event in Rua Red, Tallaght in 2011.
• In 2016, a group of ten members gathered for a reflective retreat at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, Annaghmakerrig, to develop A Manifesto for Arts and Health Practice in Ireland.
• In 2020, AHCI engaged researcher Dr. Francesca Farina to undertake a mapping exercise of Arts and Health activities in Ireland in 2019.