Arts for Health, West Cork

Arts for Health Partnership Programme is based in West Cork and provides a managed arts programme for older adults accessing healthcare services, since 2005. The programme takes place in widespread, rural locations including Uillinn West Cork Arts Centre, five Day Care Centres: Bantry, Castletownbere, Clonakilty, Dunmanway, Skibbereen; five Community Hospitals: Castletownbere, Clonakilty, Dunmanway, Schull, Skibbereen, Bantry General Hospital, Care of the Elderly Unit, in community settings and more recently, at home. Managed by Uillinn West Cork Arts Centre, Arts for Health runs all year round and is delivered by a team of professional artists from different disciplines.

Access to and engagement with the arts in healthcare settings improves the quality of life for individuals in residential care and encourages conversation with the wider community. By being integrated into the culture of the care setting, the Arts for Health programme allows the ideas and individual creative interests of the participants to be nurtured, developed and implemented over time.