Awarded Fund

Arts to Impact Fund 2019-2023

Using arts and culture to strengthen and bridge communities and create positive social impact.

Awardees of the Arts to Impact & Sports to Impact Fund.

The Arts to Impact Fund is made up of 50% private philanthropic funding, self-raised by 7 Awardees. The other half comes from Government, through the Department of Rural and Community Development from the Dormant Accounts Fund.

Arts and culture have always been important aspects of human civilisation, both promoting individual expression and strengthening and bridging communities. We recognise the power of arts and culture to improve lives. Through the Arts to Impact Fund, we are aiming to support the most innovative projects across the country that are using arts and culture as a means to create positive social impact in Ireland

Awardees

ACTIVE CONSENT

The Active Consent programme is a joint initiative of academics and researchers at NUI Galway. The goal is to create world-class programmes that support young women and men to fulfil their potential for positive and confident sexual health and wellbeing as part of the preparation for their future adult lives. The arts branch to Active Consent is based on work indicating that campus consent campaigns which adopt a multimedia approach can have a significant positive impact on student attitudes and behaviours.

CREATIVE HEALTH HUBS

Helium Arts’ Creative Health Hub model offers child-led and child-centred creative activities to build a sense of community among children and teenagers living with long-term conditions, supporting their resilience and social connections. The programme connects their healthcare experience using an “arts on referral” process, with activities taking place in both hospital settings and in the community.  

Fighting Words Scaling

Fighting Words Scaling provides free opportunity to engage with creative writing for children, young people and adults who did not have the opportunity to write when they were younger. Fighting Words Scaling aims to make its free creative writing programmes available and accessible throughout the country.

I WISH

The I Wish initiative inspires female transition year students to consider STEM subjects for the Leaving Certificate, higher education courses and, therefore in time, careers in STEM which will provide the broadest pool of talent to the Irish economy. I Wish is a unique event of scale, combining talks and engagement with female role models with interactive exhibition spaces where the industry engages students directly through live experiments and demonstrations. 

MUSIC IN CHILDREN’S HOSPITALS

Music in Children’s Hospitals, as part of the National Concert Hall, brings music education and interaction on to the wards of children’s hospitals, giving children a creative outlet. It is also stress-relieving for children and their families.

THE BOOKSEED PROJECT

The Bookseed Project, run by Children’s Books Ireland, aims to raise awareness of the benefits of early reading and to ensure families in Limerick have access to high quality children’s books. The project will gift three books to babies in six areas of Limerick City and County before their first birthdays and will promote local library services to parents.

The Poetry Ireland Neighbourhood Project

The Poetry Ireland Neighbourhood Project, created by Poetry Ireland, will provide arts engagement for diverse communities in Dublin’s North East Inner City. The project will engage a poet to work with the Poetry Ireland education team to deliver educational programmes in a community setting.