Irish Hospice Foundation

The Irish Hospice Foundation’s Arts and Cultural Engagement programme was initiated in 2020 with support from The Creative Ireland programme.

Engaging with the arts, cultural and creative mediums offer pathways towards the human experience of dying, death, grief and loss. Exploring through the arts, culture and creativity allows for an expression of what it means to be alive, how to approach the end of life, how death can be marked and understood, and how to process loss and grief.

There is little precedent for art and creative engagement with the dying or bereaved. This programme is innovating and establishing practice, process and policy with relevance beyond these shores.

We explore and collaborate with artists and cultural organisations guided by  The People’s Charter on Death Dying and Bereavement  and our Policy on Arts and Creative Engagement.

Areas of activities

Current work includes:

• Compassionate Culture Network: Since September 2021 we have been developing a Compassionate Culture Network across Ireland where artist-facilitators and support workers invited local communities to explore loss and grief.
• Roots and Shoots supports projects arising from our Seed Grant projects that are beyond the scope of a micro-grant programme, or which have been identified from our other arts programmes, and would benefit from a different approach, perhaps longer and more considered development or a developmental approach with facilitated collaborations.
• Artists in Residence in Service to People at End of Life: By partnering with hospitals to integrate artists into care settings, the aim of the project was to provide patients, families, and staff with a unique outlet for self-expression and to foster compassion in the acute healthcare system.
• Signature Projects and Artists Support: In partnership with Creative Ireland, IHF offer their expertise as consultancy to significant exhibitions, performance and creative works in cultural venues.

Previous work includes:

• Seed Grants Programme (2021-2023):  The aim was to inspire and support the work of groups, organisations or individuals who wish to mark in some tangible way their response to the universal realities of dying, death, and bereavement. Priority was given to creative initiatives that took innovative approaches to reflection and remembrance.
• HSE Pause Project: Four artists were commissioned to develop resources to support the wellbeing of HSE staff.
• Events: The Arts Roundtable Gathering took place in June 2023, to share learnings from the past three years, and reflect on the benefits of creative work in loss and bereavement.
• Craft: The Bereavement Pin with designer Alan Ardiff
• Design: The End-of-Life Symbol developed from the ancient carvings of Newgrange
• Music and Literature: Peter and The Wolf, Sergei Prokofiev’s classic re-worked by Gavin Friday, the Friday-Seezer Ensemble and illustrated by Bono.