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....