Arts

Bealtaine Flagship Choir 2020 – Open Call

Age & Opportunity invites applications from choirs to fill the role of Bealtaine Festival Flagship Choir for the Dawn and Dusk Chorus events, in 2020, Bealtaine’s 25^th anniversary year. Following the success of the inaugural flagship choir in 2019, Age & Opportunity once again invites choirs to apply to be the Bealtaine Festival choir for 2020.

For these flagship events the Bealtaine Festival wishes to showcase a choir that celebrates the Bealtaine spirit in some way – it may be that they are intergenerational or that they are championing creativity as we age or that they have been staging their own Dawn Chorus events for the past number of years.

For full details, download the application guidelines and application form below. Deadline extended to Thursday 26th September 2019.

Bealtaine Flagship Choir 2020 – Guidelines (PDF)

Bealtaine Flagship Choir 2020 – Application form (PDF)

Artist in Residence in a Care Setting – Call for Artists of all art forms – Deadline Extended to 16th August

Arts, Care Setting, News

Age & Opportunity has created an opportunity for care settings and older people living in or attending those settings to engage creatively with an artist over the course of a number of months. Age & Opportunity also wishes to offer an opportunity for an artist to develop their specific skills in relation to working in arts and health settings. In 2019, six artist residencies of this kind will be offered. The application process is two-part: care settings have applied and been selected for this unique opportunity based on an open competition and artists are now invited to apply for a residency in one of these specific care settings.

Please read the guidelines below carefully before completing the application form.

PLEASE NOTE: THE DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS HAS BEEN EXTENDED TO FRIDAY 16th AUGUST 2019.

Care Residencies ARTIST Guidelines 2019 (PDF)

Download the application form here:

http://bealtaine.ie/page/opportunities

Application Deadline 28th June 2019 – Artist in Residence in a Care Setting

Arts, Care Setting, News

This initiative aims to make arts and creativity intrinsic to life-in-care settings for older people, particularly those who live outside major urban areas and in hard-to-reach places. Applications are invited from publicly funded and not for profit care settings including day care, residential care and hospice care.

Please note that the deadline for CARE SETTINGS to apply for our Artist in Residence initiative is 28th June 2019.

Funding provided by the Creative Ireland Programme’s National Creativity Fund, HSE National Lottery Funding (CHO areas 4 & 7), and the Arts Council.

Further information can be found here: Artist Residency Guidelines for Care Settings (Doc)

Application form can be found here: Artist Residency Application Form for Care Settings (PDF)

Sing out loud with Bealtaine and the St. Patrick’s Festival

Arts, Community, News

St. Patrick’s Festival and the Bealtaine Festival are delighted to announce its first ever joint event centring around a number of fun choral pop ups for all to get involved with this weekend.

On Saturday, take to the streets for Sing Out Loud, an inclusive, celebratory programme in partnership with Tesco finest*, with a choral trail featuring older persons and inter-generational choirs including The Forget Me Nots and Forever Young choirs, performing at Dublin’s most iconic landmarks sharing their stories though song. Click here for full details of the choirs performing.

Age & Opportunity’s Bealtaine Festival has been celebrating choral singing through its Dawn Chorus events since 2009, where choirs around the country are invited to sing outdoors, at a scenic location, on a morning in May. In 2019, for the first time, a Bealtaine Festival Choir will represent the festival at a number of events. This choir was selected by Age & Opportunity and Sing Ireland and embodies the spirit of the Bealtaine Festival and will preview their Dawn Chorus performance along with other favourites at this very special national St. Patrick’s Festival event.

Join the choral trail on Saturday for a fun pop up sing-a-long – bring the kids, the grandkids and Sing Out Loud with us! Or come along to the national Festival Parade on Sunday to get a flavour of the Dawn Chorus which promises to be an uplifting and joyful performance by the Bealtaine Festival Choir.

The Bealtaine Festival Dawn Chorus will take place in Co. Carlow, by the River Barrow in the town park on Sunday 5^th of May at 6am – if you are in the area, come and join us to herald the day with song!

Artist in Residence in Care Setting to provide increased access to the arts for older people.

Arts, Care Setting, News

5 new residencies to take place across the country in 2019
Initiative will reach up to 250 older people who don’t have easy access to arts
Research shows significant benefits for older people in care with access to the arts

Age & Opportunity, the national development organisation for active and engaged ageing today announced the expansion of their Artist(s) in Residence in a Care Setting, with five additional residencies to take place across the country during 2019.

Through funding provided by the Creative Ireland National Creativity Fund, Age & Opportunity will develop a programme of nationwide artists’ residencies in care settings, one in each province. These aim to make arts and creativity intrinsic to life-in-care settings for older people, particularly those who live outside major urban areas and in hard-to-reach areas. Each residency has approximately 30- 50 residents so it’s estimated that the expansion of this initiative will result in increased arts participation for up to 250 older people in care settings.

Creativity and cultural participation are key contributors to wellbeing in older age. Research has shown that arts programmes have a profound influence on the quality of life of older people in residential care, with positive impacts on health, psychological well-being and autonomy.

The Age & Opportunity Artist(s) in Residence in a Care Setting initiative, now in its third year, creates an opportunity for the staff and residents of a publicly-funded care setting to engage creatively with an artist, allowing them to realise their full creative potential in a nurturing and inclusive environment. The residency places an artist in a care setting for a sustained period of time allowing for a deep engagement between the artist and older residents to take place. It showcases the value of creative activity to the staff and broadens the base of skilled artists working in the area of arts and health.

Commenting on the launch Dr. Tara Byrne, Manager of Age & Opportunity ARTS & Bealtaine Festival Director said: “Through the residency initiative we hope to foster an understanding of the value of creative activity, particularly in a care setting, and demonstrate and celebrate the positive impact of ageing creatively. Through our mentoring and support we will facilitate both care staff and the artists to gain more confidence and acquire new skills in the area of arts and health, and to share and practice them with residents. We also hope to push the boundaries in relation to opportunities for activity, creativity and visibility of older people in Ireland, a key objective in Age & Opportunity’s new Strategic Plan 2018-2020.”

Karen Smyth, CEO of Age & Opportunity said: “The presence of an artist in a care home setting is an invaluable addition to the quality of life of the residents and gives those older people the opportunity to access arts activities as their independent peers do. This represents another first for Age & Opportunity’s arts programme, and builds on our ongoing programme of engagement with care settings. We know from our work in this area that arts activities can have a direct impact on the quality of life of an older person in care, and in the community. We are delighted that Age & Opportunity will reach new groups through the funding provided by the Creative Ireland creativity fund, particularly those in hard-to-reach areas.”

The artist residency initiative is also supported by the Waterford Healing Arts Trust (WHAT) and Mercer’s Institute for Creative Ageing (MISA), based in St. James’ Hospital. These partner organisations will offer their expert perspective on the steering group and provide mentoring and support during the programme.

Age & Opportunity are now inviting care settings to apply for this exciting opportunity, with submissions due by 28^th June 2019. This will be followed by a call out for artists later in the year.

Age & Opportunity gratefully acknowledges the support of our arts programme funders, the Arts Council, the Creative Ireland National Creativity Fund, and the HSE.

A Cup of Creativi-TEA

Arts, Care Setting, News

Age & Opportunity are delighted to announce the Fairland Collective as the newly appointed Age & Opportunity Artist(s) in Residence in a Care Setting for 2018.

Fairland Collective is a group of visual artists who collaborate together on socially-engaged art projects. They produce work that recognises and prompts creativity in daily life, often using cooking and meals to engage networks of people and communities. Through art and action, their work facilitates encounters that imagine and create new common ways of working and living together.

The Age & Opportunity Artist(s) in Residence in a Care Setting initiative, now in its second year, creates an opportunity for the staff and residents of a care setting to engage creatively with a visual artist, allowing them to realise their full creative potential in a nurturing and inclusive environment. It showcases the value of creative activity to the care setting staff, residents and their families, and broadens the base of skilled artists working in the area of arts and health.

Commencing in November 2018, over the course of three months the Fairland Collective will work with the staff and residents of St Joseph’s Day Care Centre in Shankhill Dublin, a care setting specialising in Dementia care. The duration of the residency ensures that the artist spends a significant amount of time in the care setting to build up a relationship with the residents and the staff. People with dementia were selected as a group who would greatly benefit from an artist’s sustained engagement, and a group often ignored in relation to arts provision.

As part of the residency Fairland Collective will create Tea House – a multi-sensory space for drinking tea, which will be developed collaboratively with the residents of St Joseph’s. The intention is for Tea House to be full of colour and rich in smells, but also familiar – celebrating the everyday ritual of drinking tea. To realise this the artists and residents will work to create a variety of objects – including ceramics, hand-printed linens, and flower arrangements – through workshops, conversations and many shared pots of tea.

Commenting on the residency, the Fairland Collective said:

We are excited to have this fantastic opportunity to collaborate with the staff and residents of St. Joseph’s Day Care Centre. We envisage Tea House as a warm and uniquely personalised space, which celebrates the imperfection of handmade things. Drawing on the ‘Butterfly Model of Care’ offered by St Joseph’s, Tea House will provide space and time for moments of enchantment and creativity in everyday life, for residents, staff and visitors.

Creativity and cultural participation are key contributors to wellbeing in older age. Research shows that arts programmes involving music, visual arts and drama, among other activities, have a profound influence on the quality of life of older people in residential care, with positive impacts on health, psychological well-being, confidence and autonomy.

Dr. Tara Byrne, Age & Opportunity Arts Manager & Bealtaine Festival Director commented:

“Through the residency initiative we hope to foster an understanding of the value of the arts and creative activity, particularly in a care setting, and demonstrate and celebrate the positive impact of ageing creatively. Through our mentoring and support we will facilitate the artists to work more confidently in this sensitive environment and support the care staff to consider more creative ways of approaching their work. We also hope to explore and push the boundaries in relation to opportunities for activity, creativity and visibility of older people in Ireland, a key objective in Age & Opportunity’s new Strategic Plan 2018-2020.”

Age & Opportunity is also pleased to announce a series of additional residencies in care settings to take place nationwide in 2019. Through funding provided by the Creative Ireland National Creativity Fund we will develop a number of artists’ residencies in care settings in each province. These aim to make arts and creativity intrinsic to life-in-care settings for older people, particularly those who live outside major urban areas and in hard-to-reach situations, so that they can realise their full creative potential.

Age & Opportunity and the Bealtaine Festival gratefully acknowledges the support of our arts programme funders, the Arts Council and the HSE and the Creative Ireland National Creativity Fund.