It’s been a wonderful summer so far for Arts for Health and our artist team!
Our calendar is jam-packed, and music, writing, and visual art workshops have been taking place in healthcare settings across West Cork every day throughout the last couple of months. We are always hugely proud of our artist team and the amazing work they do, so it was particularly special to see two team members recently recognised for their work through national funding awards.
Justin Grounds
Musician and composer Justin Grounds was awarded a Participatory Arts Bursary Award by The Arts Council this year. Justin plans to use this award to undertake research and development work which will bring together his training and practice as a composer with his ongoing work and research in music and dementia. Last year, supported by Arts for Health, Justin completed study into the science of how music affects the brain, especially with people with cognitive decline. The Participatory Arts Bursary will enable Justin to start to develop practical arts-based ideas. Justin will engage with three classically trained musicians, and introduce them to the participants in four community hospitals. They will develop ideas for interactive scores which could act as an invitation for musicians and hospital residents to create music together.
If you would like to learn more about Justin’s 2025 research on music and dementia, you can watch his presentation here.
Étáin Collins
Arts for Health musician Étáin Collins was recently awarded the Emerging Artist Research & Development Bursary from artsandhealth.ie. This award will allow Étáin to explore how to translate her own songwriting practice into something she and participants can do together. To support this learning, Étáin will undertake a series of mentorship workshops with Justin Grounds. She will also spend time on her own research and practice. The learning will focus on moving conversation and story sharing into a shared creative writing practice. It will also look at composing a melody as a group, recording in the healthcare setting, and collaborative producing.
Thank you to The Arts Council, artsandhealth.ie, Réalta, HSE, and Healthy Ireland for supporting our artists. Keep an eye on our social media and website to see how this work progresses!
Photo credit: Justin Grounds by Gavin Millar, Étáin Collins by Elisa Babkina.