Seven Clare schools join Arts Council Creative Schools programme
New group includes 51 DEIS schools and 23 Irish language schools
The Arts Council has announced that 184 new schools and Youthreach centres across Ireland will join its Creative Schools programme.
Seven Clare schools are among the new schools to join the programme; Scoil Mhichil, St. Mochullas N.S, Colaiste Muire Ennis, Doora N.S, St Augustines National School, St Joseph's Secondary School, and Scoil Iosef Naofa.
This brings to 1,100 the number of Irish schools who have participated since the programme began in 2018. One in four Irish schools will have now been part of the Creative Schools programme.
This is a critical development for the arts and young people in Clare and Ireland and helps to fulfil the Arts Council’s aim for all children to have the opportunity to participate fully in a range of art forms within the education system.
The Arts Council works to ensure that all children can fully enjoy their right to arts and culture.
This year’s Creative Schools intake includes 53 DEIS schools and 23 Irish language schools as well as seven youthreach centres and eight special schools.
The 184 schools chosen will each receive a €4,000 grant and will work with a professional Creative Associate for two years who will support them to develop and implement their own bespoke Creative School Plan.
Speaking at the launch, Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media Catherine Martin TD said this new cohort of schools and school communities have "the opportunity to embark on a unique two-year journey of creativity and discovery."
"With this additional set of schools, it now means that, since inception in 2018, 1 in 4 schools in Ireland will have experienced Creative Schools."
Participating in the Creative School programme empowers children and young people to develop, implement and evaluate arts and creative activity throughout their schools and Youthreach centres.
The initiative also enables schools to discover additional ways of working and uncover the impact of creativity on children and young people’s learning, development and well-being.
Schools who take part explore creativity in all its forms and embrace how it can be celebrated in so many ways.
From baking to creating and designing gardens, from photography to performance, from working with other community groups to transforming areas of their own schools, the impact of Creative Schools is already felt in every county.
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