Create has played a key role in developing and providing support in policy developments in many areas of collaborative arts practice and broader policy areas in the arts.
Create staff were part of the steering group on Participatory Arts; Arts Council Arts and Health - Policy and Strategy Working Group and the Cultural Diversity research management process.
Create has supported the development of policy in relation to Arts and Health in a number of initiatives and in partnership with key arts and health organisations.
Development of ArtsandHealth.ie in partnership with Waterford Healing Arts Trust
In 2010-11 Create the national development agency for collaborative arts teamed with Waterford Healing Arts Trust (WHAT), to jointly develop a new independent national Arts and Health website.
The new website ArtsandHealth.ie, launched on October 5 at Dublin Dental Hospital, is the first national independent Arts and Health website in Ireland. The development phase of the site was funded by the Arts Council as part of its ongoing commitment to Arts and Health. It is a single and independent resource to meet the current and evolving needs of those involved in Arts and Health.
The development phase of ArtsandHealth.ie was supported by an Editorial Working Group. The Editorial Working Group members were: Aidan Warner, Principal Community Worker, HSE South; Jo O'Rourke, Senior Health Promotion Officer, HSE ; Nicola Dunne, Arts and Health specialist, Kildare County Arts office; Lucina Russell, Arts Officer, Kildare County Arts Office; Ciara McMahon, artist; Claire Meaney, Assistant Arts Director, WHAT; Mary Grehan , director WHAT; Sarah Tuck. director Create; Katrina Goldstone, Communications, Create.
Arts and Health Policy Working Group
Sarah Tuck, director Create, was a member of the Arts Council Arts and Health - Policy and Strategy Working Group led by Ann O Connor, Arts and Health Advisor, Arts Council. Other members included Denis Roche, Helene Hugel; Lucina Russell; Margaret Flannery; Margaret Feeney; Deirdre Walsh; Mary Grehan; Justine Foster.
Professional Development Course for Artists Working in Healthcare Settings
This course programme was designed by Create, The Adelaide and Meath Hospital, incorporating the National Children's Hospital, Dublin, and the Institute of Art, Design and Technology – IADT. It was directly funded by the Arts Council. The course was developed for artists, across all art form disciplines, who planned to work in healthcare settings. The successful applicants to the course were: Jenny Walsh-Bassett (radio drama); Jennie Moran (visual arts) ; Sharon Barker (visual arts); Deirdre O’Neill (dance); Tricia McCarthy (visual arts); Anne Walsh (visual arts); Sarah Ruttle (visual arts); Mary O’Brien (literature); Roisin Ni Maoilearca (curator); Kathy Marsh (visual arts) ;Sarah Fuller (visual arts); Dawn Freeborn (visual arts); Sally-Anne Duffy (film); Emily Boylan (visual arts). The course ran from September 6 to October 31, 2008.
On 23 September, 2010 , the Arts Council published the findings of the research and consultancy - Cultural Diversity and the Arts conducted by Create. The Arts Council launched a pamphlet Cultural Diversity and the Arts: Language and Meanings based on the research findings. The work undertaken by Create will inform the Arts Council over the coming years and it is hoped that the pamphlet will be a resource to support the sector in developing its thinking and practice in this area.
The in depth research and consultation process was managed by Create, commissioned by the Arts Council, funded by the Department of Justice for Equality, and Law Reform under the Government’s National Action Plan against Racism.
About the research
The Arts Council and the National Action Plan against Racism (NPAR) entered into a partnership to carry out research designed to develop a cultural diversity policy for the arts. An action plan, informed by this research, was developed in order to support cultural diversity practice into the future.
The Arts Council engaged Create, the national development agency for collaborative arts, to manage this extensive research and consultation.
The process
The research took place throughout 2008 and 2009, combining national and international desk research, extensive consultation, analysis and completion of a report and recommendations
The people involved
Create managed a team of researchers, each focusing on a specific element of the research:
The international research was undertaken by researchers from the Change Institute (Jagtar Singh, Lakhbir Bandal and Will Hammonds) while the national research was conducted by Drs. Suzanna Chan and Daniel Jewesbury (University of Ulster) with Project Director Sarah Tuck of Create.
The consultation process with national agencies and resource organisations was conducted by Rustom Bharucha (writer, dramaturge and cultural diversity consultant) while regional consultation with different stakeholders and minority ethnic and cultural groups also conducted By Dr Daniel Jewesbury. A research advisory team was established, including Dr. Ronit Lentin ( Head Department of Sociology, Trinity); Piaras MacÉinrí (Migration Studies, NUI Cork) and Dr. Alice Feldman (Migration and Citizenship Research Initiative, UCD).
The research was overseen by a steering group made up of: Dr. Aileen Pearson Evans (Chair, DCU); Janet Lacey (Dept of Justice, Equality and Law Reform); Orla Moloney (Arts Council); Sabina O’Donnell (Dept. of Arts, Sport and Tourism); Dominic Campbell (artist/ consultant); Chinedu Onyejelem (Publisher, Metro Eireann); Shalini Sinha (Independent media producer); Deirdre Figueiredo (Chair of Arts Council England Cultural Diversity Advisory and Monitoring Panel); Ruairí Ó Cuív (Chair of Create/independent arts consultant); Katrina Goldstone (Create ;in independent capacity); Kataryzna Mejger, independent advisor).
Create has facilitated the establishment of an Arts and Prison Network for artists working in prisons across all artforms, with a programme curated by artist Aideen McDonald. The inaugural network meeting took place on December 10, 2010.
In order to promote principles of practice in the context of arts and prisons, the Network have scheduled two events (as of July 2011) including Transformed by Dance.
Voluntary Arts Ireland Chief Officer Kevin Murphy introducing the Create and Voluntary Arts Ireland Arts and Civil Society Symposium, 20 and 21 October 2011, Christchurch, Triskel Arts Centre, Cork.
Defining Participation and Practice - Policy Perspectives. Martin Drury, Pat Cooke, Marian Fitzgibbon, Pauline Conroy. Chair: Fiona Kearney.
Defining Participation and Practice – Policy Perspectives panel. Seated left to right: Martin Drury, Pat Cooke, Fiona Kearney (Chair), Marian Fitzgibbon, Pauline Conroy.
Create Director Sarah Tuck introducing the keynote address by Dr Anthony Downey.
Engaging Communities – The Permeable Institution. One of three concurrent LAB Debates. Left to right: Lisa Moran, Topher Campbell, Declan McGonagle (Chair), Tom Creed, William Ring.
LAB Reports panel. Left to right: Liz Burns, Robin Simpson, Tony Fegan (Chair), Declan McGonagle.
Rethinking Cultural and Civic Space. Pictured (left to right): Mícheál Ó Domhnaill, Annette Moloney, Bernadette Quinn (Chair).
Rethinking Cultural and Civic Space. Pictured (left to right): Annette Moloney (presenting), Bernadette Quinn (Chair), Frank McDonald, Faisal Abdu’ Allah.
Arts, Civil Society and Crisis panel. Pictured (left to right): Augustine Zenakos, Carlota Álvarez Basso, Daniel Jewesbury (chair), Gabriel Gbadamosi, Silvana Carotenuto.
Arts, Civil Society and Crisis. Pictured: Daniel Jewesbury (chair), Nuno Sacramento. Arts and Civil Society Symposium, Cork, October 20-21, 2011. All photos: Susan Walsh.
Christian Buchner, Katia Rush-Hall (Symposium Coordinator), Aoife O'Leary, Pamela Murray. All photos: Susan Walsh.