Speakers announced for Experience 2024: An Introduction to Arts, Health & the Older Person – Keynote Speaker Dr Trudy Meehan
The speakers for Experience 2024: An Introduction to Arts, Health and the Older Person have been announced, with a reminder that the deadline for applications is Thursday 31 October. This one-day learning programme for artists and arts practitioners of all disciplines takes place on Thursday 5 December at Limerick City Gallery of Art. The exciting line-up of speakers includes Dr Trudy Meehan, Clinical Psychologist, with a specialty in the Psychiatry of Later Life; dancer and choreographer Mary Nunan; composer and musician Justin Grounds; dementia specialist Sarah Cairns; artists Caroline Schofield, Marie Brett and Joanna Hopkins; dance artist Katy Hewison; Dr Tara Byrne and Brian Dooney of Age & Opportunity, and Claire Meaney of Réalta. Experience 2024 is funded by the Arts Council and the HSE, with support from Limerick City and County Council Arts Office and Limerick City Gallery of Art.
This is the fourth year of Experience, which was devised in 2021 in response to the need for more training and practical orientation for artists and arts practitioners of all disciplines who already have experience of participatory work in a health context, and who are interested in developing their practice to include working with older people. Participants over the last two years have described the programme as “excellent”, “essential”, “uplifting”, “insightful”, “inspiring”, “full of great advice and ideas”, “loads of practical and creative information offered” and “so well put together, beyond what I imagined; learned loads,” with people highlighting the expertise and passion of the speakers, and the opportunity to interact with fellow artists.
In a programme which strives once again to be inspiring and pragmatic, participants will gain an overview of approaches and ways of thinking in this rewarding area of work, practical information and advice for different art forms and disciplines, valuable insight from artists, healthcare professionals and arts + health participants, and opportunities to share ideas and build contacts with their peers.
Keynote speaker Dr Trudy Meehan is a Chartered Clinical Psychologist and a Lecturer in the Centre for Positive Psychology and Health at RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dublin, Ireland. Trudy previously worked for Stanford University as Director of the BING Overseas Study Programme, Cape Town, and as a clinician she was a Senior Clinical Psychologist in the HSE where she worked in the Psychiatry of Later Life in St James’ Hospital, Dublin. Trudy’s research explores the value of art in the context of health and the social/political determinants of health.
Announcing details of Experience 2024, Dr Tara Byrne, Arts Programme Manager with Age & Opportunity, said “We are proud to be presenting the ‘Experience’ learning programme again, in partnership with Réalta/Waterford Healing Arts, and for this informative day to be taking place in the beautiful Limerick City Gallery of Art. Each year we work hard to consider the key needs of the sector as told to us by artists and older people, and this year again we are pleased to present a programme that provides the support, inspiration and direction needed to work in the very challenging field of arts, health and the older person.”
Claire Meaney, Director of Réalta/Waterford Healing Arts, added “Sharing practice and supporting each other to reflect and find ways to improve is central to our arts and health work, so we’re delighted to have secured so many vastly experienced people from healthcare and artistic backgrounds to share their experience, knowledge and insight in relation to working with older people. This is an incredibly rewarding area of work, so Experience 2024 promises to be an inspiring and energising day. Our sincere thanks to our funders, the Arts Council and the HSE, for their ongoing support, to Limerick City and County Council for their support in planning this year’s event, and to Limerick City Gallery of Art for the use of their beautiful space.”
APPLICATION INFORMATION:
Places for Experience 2024: An Introduction to Arts, Health & Older People, which takes place on Thursday 5 December, cost €30 (including refreshments and a hot lunch), and are open to professional artists and arts practitioners of all disciplines with experience/ interest in participatory arts work in a health context. Places are limited in order to make this a valuable experience for all participants. Those interested in participating should email arts@ageandopportunity.ie by Thursday 31 October at 5pm with the following details:
– Expression of interest: Why you would like to participate in this programme and how it will benefit your practice. (50-100 words)
– Summary of participatory work to date. Please include any experience you may have had working with older people. (50-100 words)
– Your CV/resume showing your arts practice and arts participation experience
Selected participants will be notified by 15 November and sent the link to complete their booking.
Additional info:
PROGRAMME PARTNERS:
– Age & Opportunity’s vision is for an Ireland where all older people can be more active, more visible, more creative, more connected, more confident more often. The organisation’s Arts Programme provides opportunities for older people to be more creative more often, to create meaningful participation and representation for all older people in cultural and creative life and to demonstrate and celebrate how creative potential can improve with age. The programme is based on the annual Bealtaine Festival in May and year round resource and development initiatives designed to support artists, arts participants and arts organisations. www.ageandopportunity.ie/arts/
Réalta is the national resource organisation dedicated to developing arts + health in Ireland. Through its national programme, Réalta delivers training; provides information, mentoring and advice; supports networking; engages with the HSE and other policy makers to increase understanding and support for arts + health; and provides the encyclopaedic national resource website artsandhealth.ie. At local level, Réalta delivers its extensive Waterford Healing Arts programme, which brings arts experiences – music, visual art, creative writing, storytelling – to the bedside of patients at University Hospital Waterford and other healthcare settings to promote creativity, connection and discovery, and reduce isolation, anxiety and stress for patients, family members and staff. The Waterford Healing Arts programme also provides rich examples of good practice, and researches, pilots and evaluates new ideas, all of which informs Réalta’s national work. Réalta is core funded by the Arts Council and the HSE.
Image Credit:
Participant Kitty McGarry and artist Eilis O’Toole at a Réalta/Waterford Healing Arts ‘Art at the Kitchen Table Studio’ in Dungarvan, County Waterford, during the Well Festival of Arts and Wellbeing 2024. Photo by DGM Photographic.
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