Heritage and Conservation

What is Creative Ireland?

Creative Ireland is the Government’s Legacy Programme for Ireland 2016 – a five-year initiative, from 2017 to 2022, which places creativity at the centre of public policy.

It is a high-level, high-ambition, all-of-government initiative to mainstream creativity in the life of the nation so that individually and collectively, in our personal lives and in our institutions, we can realise our full creative potential.

Creative Ireland is a culture-based programme designed to promote individual, community, and national wellbeing. The core proposition is that participation in cultural activity drives personal and collective creativity, with significant implications for individual and societal wellbeing and achievement.

Creative Ireland is the main implementation vehicle for the priorities identified in Culture 2025/Éire Ildánach, the draft cultural policy published by the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs in July 2016, which sees a vibrant cultural ecosystem as essential to society. 

Culture 2025/Éire Ildánach states that arts and culture are intrinsic to Ireland, acknowledges the need to increase access to, and participation in, the arts, boost our creative industries, and preserve our heritage with a particular focus on language, landscape, and the environment. 

At the heart of Creative Ireland is the principle of collaboration – between central and local government, between culture and industry, between artists and policy makers – to facilitate an ecosystem of creativity.  As part of this process all Local Authorities have produced local 5 Year Culture and Creativity Strategies (2018-2022) - full details below.

The National Creative Ireland website www.creative.ireland.ie is a great source of information on the Programme. Click here to see the section that relates to County Cork containing details of a range of different events, projects and initiatives.

Please click the following link to view or download the County Cork Culture and Creativity Strategy 2018-2022 (pdf).

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