Posted Jun 5, 2025
A rich seam of mature practice exists in Ireland connected to an expanding international movement promoting art as a health-positive activity. Ireland has leadership status in this area, but can it sustain it? What patterns emerge over time? What can this teach a wider audience? As part of Creative Brain Week 2025, over three days Réalta will lead a discussion themed Arts and Health: An Irish Timeline, which will explore creative work as transformation or transaction, apprenticeship, the cultural ecosystem and the ability of Ireland’s rich tradition of arts + health to collaborate meaningfully with its health and care services. The discussion will be facilitated by Claire Meaney, Director of Réalta and Emma Eager, Réalta Project Co-ordinator and Project Manager of artsandhealth.ie, with contributions from Justine Foster (Arts for Health Partnership Programme West Cork) and Mary Grehan (Children’s Health Ireland Arts in Health Programme), on Wednesday 11 and Thursday 12 June respectively. The backdrop to this discussion will be a timeline of arts + health development in Ireland, created by Justine Foster, which explores the development of the Arts for Health Partnership Programme West Cork, in the context of national and international advancements in arts + health. The timeline will be organic and will be added to following each day’s discussion. It is hoped that reviewing arts + health through the lens of this timeline will enhance understanding and inspire discussion on the future direction of this exciting field of practice. Arts and Health: An Irish Timeline is part of the Threads programme at Creative Brain Week 2025, which sees cluster groups exploring topics through cross-disciplinary and inter-agency dialogues....
Posted Apr 24, 2025
Réalta is pleased and excited to publish the full, packed programme for this year’s Arts + Health: Check Up Check In. Click this link: Arts and Health Check Up Check In 2025 Programme and we look forward to welcoming you to Tullamore on Wednesday 30 April. Tickets for the full day, including a Hearty, Not Arty lunch, cost €30. Book your place here Arts + Health: Check Up Check In is funded by the Arts Council and the HSE, and in 2025 is supported by Offaly County Council and Esker Arts....
Posted Apr 8, 2025
Réalta has published details for Arts + Health: Check Up Check In 2025 and is thrilled to reveal that Dr Tony Bates will be this year’s Keynote Speaker. Dr Bates is a clinical psychologist and Adjunct Professor of Psychology at University College Dublin. He is well known throughout Ireland for his warm and engaging writing and interviews on psychology-related topics. For Check Up Check In, his Keynote title will be ‘The Art of Making our Lives Work’. Arts + Health: Check Up Check In will take place on Wednesday 30 April in Esker Arts, Tullamore. Organised by Réalta, this ‘go to’ event for the arts and health sector features presentations by some of the most exciting and inspiring practitioners working in this field today. The fee for the full day, including lunch, is €30. Click here to book your place Arts + Health: Check Up Check In is open to arts practitioners, healthcare professionals, and anyone interested in learning more about this exciting area. Check Up Check In 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. Keynote Speaker Dr Tony Bates was Head of the Dept of Psychology for 30 years at St James’ Hospital Dublin. Following psychotherapy training at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Oxford, he established the MSc in Cognitive Psychotherapy at Trinity College Dublin. In 2006, he created Jigsaw, The National Centre for Youth Mental Health. He trained as a mindfulness teacher at the University of Wales, Bangor, in 2001...
Posted Oct 14, 2024
Speakers announced for Experience 2024: An Introduction to Arts, Health & the Older Person – Keynote Speaker Dr Trudy Meehan The speakers for Experience 2024: An Introduction to Arts, Health and the Older Person have been announced, with a reminder that the deadline for applications is Thursday 31 October. This one-day learning programme for artists and arts practitioners of all disciplines takes place on Thursday 5 December at Limerick City Gallery of Art. The exciting line-up of speakers includes Dr Trudy Meehan, Clinical Psychologist, with a specialty in the Psychiatry of Later Life; dancer and choreographer Mary Nunan; composer and musician Justin Grounds; dementia specialist Sarah Cairns; artists Caroline Schofield, Marie Brett and Joanna Hopkins; dance artist Katy Hewison; Dr Tara Byrne and Brian Dooney of Age & Opportunity, and Claire Meaney of Réalta. Over the course of the day, Experience 2024 will aim to outline the essential elements involved in working with older people in an arts and health context. Experience 2024 is presented by Age & Opportunity, the national organisation working to enable the best quality of life for us all as we age, and Réalta, the national resource organisation dedicated to developing arts + health in Ireland. Places are limited to 20 and cost €30.00 each, including a hot lunch. The application deadline is Thursday 31 October. Experience 2024 is funded by the Arts Council and the HSE, with support from Limerick City and County Council Arts Office and Limerick City Gallery of Art. This is the fourth year of Experience, which was devised in 2021 in response to the need for more training and practical orientation for...
