Arts and Health Co-ordinators Ireland

Dialogue Arts + Health was a regionally based professional development project for artists and practitioners working in Arts and Health settings. The project included three main strands – Regional Dialogue Sessions, a National | Dialogue Arts + Health and an Online | Dialogue as web-based discussion forum for communication and documentation on the project. Dialogue Arts + Health aimed to bring together artists who were experienced or interested in developing contemporary art projects in healthcare settings. The overall project aimed to address a range of needs and issues for and with artists working in healthcare contexts.
Arts and Health Coordinators Ireland (AHCI) worked collaboratively to bring together artists who were experienced or interested in working in healthcare contexts through Dialogue Arts + Health. The project was delivered in three main strands : (1) Regional Dialogue Sessions; (2) National | Dialogue Arts + Health; (3) Online | Dialogue – a web-based discussion forum for communication and documentation on the project.
The Regional Dialogue Sessions took the form of twelve professional development sessions for artists across art-forms (Visual Art, Theatre including Puppetry & Storytelling, Dance and Traditional Music), which took place in Cavan, Offaly, Galway and Limerick between September and November 2011. These sessions culminated in the National | Dialogue Arts + Health, a one-day event which explored shared outlooks for arts and health practice in Ireland with a range of stakeholders including artists, arts organisations, healthcare professionals, health service users, and others interested in the area of arts and health practice.
Dialogue Arts + Health was developed by the Arts + Health Coordinators Ireland (AHCI) in partnership with the Association of Local Authority Arts Officers (ALA:AO). It was funded by the Arts Council of Ireland through a one-off Projects Award.