Five Westmeath schools join Arts Council creativity programme
The Arts Council has announced that five new schools in Westmeath will join its Creative Schools programme.
The five schools are Athlone Community College, Emper National School, St Etchen's National School in Kinnegad, the Presentation Senior National School in Mullingar, and Crowenstown National School.
Three schools from Roscommon will also join the programme, Woodbrook National School, Cloontuskert National School and Croghan National School.
They will be part of the 184 new schools and Youthreach centres across Ireland taking part in the two-year initiative.
The schools chosen will each receive a €4,000 grant. They will also work with a professional creative associate for two years, who will support them to develop and implement their own bespoke creative school plan.
A total of 1,100 Irish schools, one in four, have now participated in Creative Schools programme since it began in 2018.
The programme 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.
There were 300 applications to the programmme this year, a significant increase on 2023 numbers.
This year’s intake includes 53 DEIS schools and 23 Irish language schools as well as seven youthreach centres and eight special schools.
Participating in the Creative School programme is aimed at empowering 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 that take part explore creativity in all its forms and embrace how it can be celebrated in many ways, including baking, creating and designing gardens, photography, performance, working with other community groups and transforming areas of their own schools,.
Minister for Education Norma Foley TD said: “It is wonderful to welcome the 186 schools to the Creative Schools initiative 2024. I would like to personally welcome these new schools into this unique programme.
“I’m very excited to see how these creative and captivating projects will develop over the coming two years."
Also speaking today, 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.
“Again, this year sees a continuous increase in the diversity of settings in receipt of support. This is a testament to its impact and the strength of the partnership between the Art Council, the Department of Education and the all-of-government Creative Ireland Programme.”
Speaking about the announcement, Director of the Arts Council Maureen Kennelly said: “Following the wonderful success of Creative February for schools this year, we are heartened to see a clear increase in applications for this incredible resource.
"By this stage of the programme, we’re delighted to say that 25% of all schools in Ireland have connected with us. We know that arts experiences with, for and by children can be transformative.
“Working with our partners in the Department of Education, and in the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media and in Creative Ireland, we are looking forward to another school year full of exploration, creative thinking, discovery and, most importantly, fun”.