Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board

Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board established one of three, national Local Creative Youth Partnerships (LCYPs) in 2019, under the auspices of Creative Ireland’s Creative Youth initiative. Guided by the voice of the child and young person, the LCYP works in partnership with state and voluntary agencies to deliver creative programmes for young people, in communities across Limerick and Clare, over the life of the Creative Ireland plan up to 2022. Limerick and Clare LCYP identifies ‘the meeting point between formal and informal education’ as the site for nurturing its work and in this context works mainly in youth and community settings.

The partnership includes representatives from local authorities, youth work, early years, arts and education as well as from several areas within Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board. Key partners include Limerick Youth Service, Clare Youth Service and Foróige; with whom the LCYP has already delivered creative programmes in dance, photography, drama, craft, makeup, film and in a range of visual art genres. The choice of activity is based on data collected through consultation with over 300 young people across 26 youth work settings in both counties.

Future Film Makers, a training programme run in collaboration with the commercial film sector in Limerick, provides opportunities for young people, aged between 18 and 25, seeking to get a foothold at entry level in the film industry and was launched in October 2019.

In tandem with its focus on the youth sector, the LCYP is developing creative programmes for Early Learning and Care (ELC) settings and works closely with Clare and Limerick County Childcare Committees in this regard. Dance and movement for babies and toddlers and oral storytelling for young children have been explored through two conferences for ELC practitioners in 2019. These areas of interest are central to the LCYP programme going forward.

For further information on the work of the Local Creative Youth Partnership in Limerick and Clare go to www.lcetb.ie