What is National Arts in Nursing Homes Day?
National Arts in Nursing Homes Day celebrates the creativity of people in nursing homes and care settings and the integral role the arts fulfils in supporting them. It takes place on the third Friday of May each year, as part of the Bealtaine Festival.
National Arts in Nursing Homes Day is organised by Age & Opportunity in partnership with Nursing Homes Ireland. We invite care homes, day care settings and community hospitals around Ireland to engage artists and residents and to showcase their creative work on National Arts in Nursing Homes Day.
How does it work?
We know that creative activity happens all year around in nursing homes and care settings. However we encourage you to work with professional artists and your residents to schedule a special creative activity on the third Friday in May. By focusing on one day, we hope to garner more public attention for this wonderful work.
Whether you would like to focus on one activity or pack the day with different workshops, performances and exhibitions, there is lots to choose from. Why not canvas your residents to see if there is something new they would like to try their hand at? Or look through our Toolkit for Arts & Creativity in Care Settings for ideas.
You can also check out our leaflet for lots of ideas for your National Arts in Nursing Homes Day.
Watch our 2023 compilation video
National Arts in Nursing Homes Day Award
This award aims to encourage and support access to the arts for the residents of care settings and their participation in the National Arts in Nursing Homes Day. The award also aims to demonstrate how the arts can contribute to the overall well-being and care of the residents of care settings.
Each year Age & Opportunity invites nursing homes, day services and community hospitals, in partnership with a professional artist, to submit an application for an innovative event for the National Arts in Nursing Homes Day Award. The selected projects are supported with a bursary and showcased in the Bealtaine printed programme.
How can I get involved
Plan your National Arts in Nursing Homes Day, on the third Friday each May, with the help of our leaflet and resources. Applications for the 2024 Award will open in January along with an information webinar. Sign up to our newsletter in the footer of the website for the most up to date information.
You can also register your event on our Bealtaine website.
After that we would love you to share your images with us on social media. Use the hashtag #ArtsInNursingHomesDay
Contact
For information or support, speak to our Arts team.
01 805 7713
arts@ageandopportunity.ie
ORGANISATION & ART PRACTICE DEVELOPMENT : To support and inform arts organisations (and sometimes non-arts organisations) who work with or wish to work with older people and to raise the standard of arts practice more generally in the area of the arts and older people.
