Opportunity for Schools and Creative Practitioners: Creative Connections

The Department of Education Ireland and Northern Ireland
Deadline: 27 February 2025

The Departments of Education in Ireland and Northern Ireland, invite schools and creative practitioners to participate in a new Shared Island pilot initiative funded by the Department of An Taoiseach. In Ireland, expressions of interest are welcomed for this pilot programme from creative practitioners and from schools in counties, Cavan, Monaghan, Donegal, Louth, and Leitrim.

Creative Connections is an exciting new pilot that gives children and young people the unique opportunity to work with professional creative practitioners in schools, bringing creativity and the arts directly into their learning.  It offers an opportunity to integrate creativity into education, supporting wellbeing, personal development, and learning. Rooted in the curriculum, this Shared Island project aims to strengthen connections between Northern Ireland and Ireland, in counties Donegal, Louth, Leitrim, Monaghan and Cavan through collaborative creative efforts.

The programme will run in two phases:

Phase 1: February to June 2025 – Professional learning events for teachers and Creatives, followed by in-school residencies and creative partnerships.

Phase 2: September 2025 to June 2026 – schools will form clusters with partner schools across the border to create cross-border creative learning communities.

Schools will be supported in Creative Connections through substitution cover for teachers to attend professional learning events and funded travel and materials budget for residencies with creative practitioners. There will be additional funding
for creativity in Phase 2.

Creative practitioners will receive funding and travel costs to attend professional learning events with teachers, in addition to two funded in-school residencies with young people and teachers during Creative Connections.

Ireland: 
In Ireland, expressions of Interest are welcomed for this pilot programme from creative practitioners and from schools in counties, Cavan, Monaghan, Donegal, Louth, and Leitrim.

For further information and to join this exciting initiative please click here:

Department of Education:
English version:  gov.ie/en/publication/131dd-creative-connections/  
Irish version: gov.ie/ga/foilsiuchan/ceangail-chruthaitheacha/  

Closing Date: 

The deadline for Expressions of Interest is the 27th of February.

Northern Ireland:
Expressions of Interest are welcomed for this pilot programme from creative practitioners of every discipline and all
Primary, Post-Primary, and Special Schools in Northern Ireland.

For further information and to join this exciting initiative please click here:
Department of Education NI: education-ni.gov.uk/publications/creative-connections