Creative Ireland is a five-year Programme which connects people, creativity and wellbeing.

We are an all-of-government culture and wellbeing programme that inspires and transforms people, places and communities through creativity.

We are committed to the vision that every person in Ireland should have the opportunity to realise their full creative potential.

Established in 2017, Creative Ireland was born out of Ireland 2016, the hugely successful state initiative to mark the hundredth anniversary of the Easter Rising. The Programme drew inspiration from the extraordinary public response to the Centenary and the thousands of largely culture-based events exploring issues of identity, community, culture, heritage and citizenship.

Through partnerships with local and national government, cultural and enterprise agencies and local enterprise, we create pathways and opportunities for people and communities to unlock their creative potential.

We believe in the power and creative potential of people, organisations and government departments working together, sharing expertise, to catalyse ideas and action. Through our focus and co-ordination, we will forge an eco-system of creativity.

The Programme is built around key themes: Creative Youth, Creative Communities, Creative Places, Creative Nation.

The Five Pillars of the Programme:

  1. Children and Youth: Enabling the Creative Potential of Every Child
  2. Creative Communities: Enabling Creativity in Every Community
  3. Cultural Investment: Investing in our Creative and Cultural Infrastructure
  4. Creative Industries: Ireland as a Centre of Creative Excellence
  5. Global Reputation: A Creative and Cultural Nation

Local Authorities have a crucial role in the local delivery of the Creative Ireland Programme and are exclusively mandated, through their Culture Teams, to deliver Pillar 2 of the programme. This devolution of responsibility for the Creative Ireland Programme to local authorities is inspired by the extraordinary impact of local authority co-ordinated collaborative projects for the 1916 Centenary Programme.

CULTURE AND CREATIVITY STRATEGY 2018-2022

Cosmopolitan yet singular, ancient yet forward-thinking, Sligo enjoys its much-deserved status as the cultural capital of the northwest of Ireland. The county’s rich literary and cultural heritage, which stretches back to ancient times, is an energising force for the citizens of Sligo, as well as a wonderful showcase for visitors from around the globe.

The famous medieval manuscripts the Book of Ballymote, the Great Book of Lecan, and the Yellow Book of Lecan were written in Sligo, and so central to the identity of the county is its literary legacy that the county crest even features an open book with Celtic cross and red rose. Folk heroine Queen Maeve is reputed to be entombed here, and among Sligo’s famous creatives past and present are poet and Nobel laureate William Butler Yeats, musical luminaries James Morrison, Westlife and The Conway Sisters, and artist Jack Butler Yeats.

Since obtaining the title of European Capital of Volunteering in 2017, Sligo’s contributions to the Creative Ireland programme, centred around the themes of identity, culture and citizenship, continue to highlight an exemplary approach to creative access for all its citizens, and help to secure this rich heritage for generations to come. For more goto https://www.creativeireland.gov.ie/en/creative-communities/sligo