Tom Neville
Question:106. Deputy Tom Neville asked the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the status of the creative schools programme 2018 including the pilot projects that are underway. [39820/18]
View answerTuesday, 2 October 2018
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Written answers
The Creative School Programme is one of the key initiatives of the Creative Youth Plan, an initiative of the Creative Ireland Programme. It is led by the Arts Council in collaboration with and funded by my Department and the Department of Education and Skills.
Following an open application process, 150 schools were selected for the pilot in the school year 2018/19. These schools have approximately 38,000 pupils. There are a diverse range of school types involved, in different parts of the country, rural and urban, primary and post primary, DEIS schools, special schools, and Youthreach centres.
Schools who participate in the pilot will work with artists, creative practitioners and educators to develop their own unique programme of arts and creative work, connecting them to the full range of local and regional cultural resources and opportunities. In addition, all schools will also receive a further range of supports including a once-off grant of €2,000.
The Programme is well underway and training for the Creative Associates has already taken place earlier this month.
Through this pilot programme the creativity of children and young people across the country will be enabled. Students will be directly connected to artists and to the arts within their own communities and nationally. A direct, long term connection will be created between these students and the creative, cultural and artistic resources of the state, now and into their future.
This is a pilot initiative and it will therefore be reviewed before rolling it out to all schools.