!!!! Opportunities for Schools: Creative Clusters 2026 – 2028
Department of Education and Youth
Closing date: 20 April 2026
The Department of Education and Youth is pleased to announce the opening of a new round of Creative Clusters for 2026 – 2028. The programme is open to primary and post-primary schools, including special education schools, as well as YouthReach organisations.
The Creative Clusters programme brings together small groups of three to five schools or YouthReach centres, lets them choose a creative theme or challenge, supports them to work together as a team on their project over two years and helps them connect with their local community. Each group gets funding of up to €15,000 to help run the project and is supported by a trained facilitator and their local Education Support Centre to bring it to fruition.
The Creative Clusters initiative aims to:
- Promote new ways in which schools and the arts and cultural sector can work together
- Improve teaching and learning
- Provide an opportunity for clusters of schools to interact with professionals from the cultural sector, and access resources to experiment and innovate through a bespoke creative learning project
- Develop learners’ and teachers’ creativity
- Understand whether clustering schools at different stages of their journey in using creativity in the classroom and in developing longer term partnerships is an effective model for developing and embedding practice in schools
- Provide schools with access to creative people, skills and resources, and support them to draw on their own skills and experiences and those within their wider communities
How Creative Clusters works
The programme is open to primary and post-primary schools, including special schools, as well as YouthReach centres. It facilitates release time for schools to meet and develop their project, as well as funding of up to €15,000 to help bring their creative plans and ideas to life. To date, Creative Clusters has brought together 591 schools in 168 clusters, supporting them in using arts and creativity as the common language to tell their unique story.
Find out more about Creative Clusters and how to apply
The application process will be open until Monday 20 April 2026.
!!!! Creative Youth Arts Initiatives 2026 Application Opening Dates Announced
Department of Education – Creative Youth 2026
The Department of Education has announced opening dates for Creative Youth Arts Initiatives 2026 Applications including Creative Clusters, Creative Schools, BLAST, TAP+ Summer Course and I am Creative.
The opening dates for applications are as follows:
Creative Clusters
Opens: 26 January | Closes: 20 April
Find out more and apply here
Creative Schools
Opens: 24 February | Closes: 30 April
BLAST
Opens: 18 March | Closes: 20 April
TAP+ Summer Course
Opens: 13 April (TBC) | Closes: 19 June (TBC)
I Am Creative
Opens: 13 April (TBC) | Closes: 19 June (TBC)
Read more about the Creative Youth Arts Initiatives on gov.ie
Application forms will be available once the initiatives open.
Useful Resource – Creative Youth Data Viewer:
The Department of Education’s Creative Youth Creative Youth Data Viewer is a useful resource and maps the schools and youthreach centres which have taken part in a Creative Youth school-based initiative.
!!!! Announcement: Schools Selected for 2025 BLAST Arts in Education Residencies and Creative Clusters
Department of Education and Youth
4 July
Minister for Education and Youth Helen McEntee has announced details of initiatives which will support pupils and students to have more opportunities to be creative, including announcing schools who will take part in two Creative Youth Programmes and launching a new data mapping tool to empower greater engagement with creativity.
Minister McEntee announced the names of the 429 schools who will take part in the 2025 BLAST Arts in Education Residencies, as well as details of 43 Creative Clusters which will involve 151 schools nationwide. Both programmes are part of the Creative Youth Plan 2023 – 2027.
See BLAST and Creative Cluster Schools 2025 here: gov.ie/en/department-of-education
In addition, Minister McEntee launched a new interactive data mapping tool which will chart the engagement of schools and Youthreach centres across the country with Creative Youth initiatives and highlight areas where additional support may be beneficial.
Minister McEntee said:
“It is so important that students and young people have an opportunity to be creative, to have fun, all while working and learning together. By creating an environment which encourages creative learning, teachers can help their students to express themselves, develop teamwork skills and further their sense of social responsibility, resilience and empathy”
To read full press release, see gov.ie/en/department-of-education