Booking opens for Réalta’s Arts + Health: Check Up Check In 2026:
– Thursday 30 April in The Dock, Carrick-on-Shannon;
– Keynote Speaker: Karrie Marshall
– Book your ticket here
We are delighted to announce details for Arts + Health: Check Up Check In 2026. The annual national gathering of the arts + health sector in Ireland, Arts + Health: Check Up Check In this year will take place on Thursday 30 April at The Dock Arts Centre, Carrick-on-Shannon, County Leitrim, and will feature a keynote address by artist, author and educator Karrie Marshall, in addition to presentations by some of the most exciting, innovative and creative practitioners working in arts + health in Ireland today. The fee for the full day, including lunch, is €30. Book your ticket here Arts + Health: Check Up Check In 2026 is funded by the Arts Council and the HSE, with additional support from the Arts Office of Leitrim County Council.
The ‘go to’ event for artists, healthcare professionals and arts + health practitioners, Arts + Health: Check Up Check In promotes solidarity, practice sharing and exchange, and is open to anyone working in, or interested in learning more about arts + health. For her Keynote Address, Karrie Marshall will draw on her experience working at the intersection of arts, health and social care, and her decades of practice in social-engaged arts, healthcare, adult education, and supporting individuals, staff and leaders under pressure. Karrie’s work explores how creativity with compassion can measurably improve wellbeing and quality of life, and the work of the arts-based company she founded, Creativity in Care CIC, in dementia care, mental health, family support and community settings, is recognised as best practice by the UK All Party Parliamentary Group for Arts, Health and Wellbeing.
Arts + Health: Check Up Check In also provides an opportunity for participants to come together to share their experiences, exchange ideas, and support and inspire each other in their practice through a range of themed presentations and workshops, with additional opportunities for networking throughout the day.
Announcing details of Arts + Health: Check Up Check In 2026, Claire Meaney, Director of Réalta, said “We are thrilled to bring Check Up Check In to The Dock Arts Centre in beautiful Carrick-on-Shannon this year. Our aim with this packed day is for participants to feel revived, encouraged, supported and motivated at the end of the day, and to have lots of new contacts! We’ll be sharing our full programme in early April, but in the meantime, tickets should be booked early, as we fill up quickly every year. We are most grateful to our event partner, the Arts Office of Leitrim County Council and to our funders the Arts Council and the HSE for their ongoing tremendous support of Check Up Check In.”
Réalta is the national resource organisation dedicated to developing arts + health in Ireland. Through its national programme, Réalta delivers training; provides information, mentoring and advice; supports networking; engages with the HSE and other policy makers to increase understanding and support for arts + health; and provides the national information hub artsandhealth.ie. At local level, Réalta delivers its extensive Waterford Healing Arts programmes, which bring arts experiences – music, visual art, creative writing, storytelling – to patients at University Hospital Waterford (UHW) and other healthcare settings to promote creativity, connection and discovery, and reduce isolation, anxiety and stress for patients, family members and staff. The Waterford Healing Arts programmes also provide rich examples of good practice, and opportunities to research, pilot and evaluate new ideas, all of which informs Réalta’s national work. Réalta is core funded by the Arts Council and the HSE.
EVENT: Arts + Health: Check Up Check In 2026
DATE: Thursday 30 April
VENUE: The Dock Arts Centre, Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrim
TO BOOK: Click here to book your ticket
WORKSHOPS: Ticket-holders will be notified about booking for afternoon workshops in early April.
Photo: Karrie Marshall
ENDS
