Creative Spark's Áit Eile: New creative arts hub for young people in Louth and East-Meath

Creative Spark, Centre for Creativity and Innovation in Dundalk, has teamed up with Louth and East-Meath Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and young people living with mental health difficulties, alongside Art Therapist Jenny Slater and Dr. Áine McHugh, Department of Nursing Midwifery and Early Years, Dundalk Institute of Technology, to co-produce and develop a new creative arts hub for 13- to 18-year-olds in Louth and East-Meath.

The Áit Eile steering group at Creative Spark was awarded grant funding under the Creative Ireland Nurture Fund, a new initiative from the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.

Last week Minister Catherine Martin announced that Áit Eile was one of nine successful projects nationally. This pilot Creative Youth Nurture Fund was established to allow children from often seldom heard cohorts to develop creative projects that can nurture their creative passions and ignite their creative potential. 

The Áit Eile team says it is delighted with this support for the project and is looking forward to starting work with the young people to establish and develop this exciting project over the next two years.

It told the Dundalk Democrat that: "Our successful bid means that young people with mental health difficulties attending our local CAMHS services will be given the opportunity to work with professional artists from a wide variety of sectors to learn new skills and help their overall wellbeing, happiness and sense of belonging in their own communities.  

"Throughout the project the team will provide an innovative welcoming and creative space for participants to voice and express themselves through art. Through engagement with professional artists in regular art projects, young people will explore creative activities such as logo and brand design, mural painting, printmaking, sculpture and many other artistic media, to be decided upon by the young people themselves. 

"The initial steps will see the establishment of a young people’s Ambassador Group at the hub’s HQ in Creative Spark Dundalk. This Ambassador Group of young people will work alongside the staff team in designing how Áit Eile will be developed, produced and delivered over the two-year duration of the project."

"A new monthly artist-in-residence drop-in programme will also be delivered across Louth and East Meath CAMHS teams to help build relationships that will assist and support more young people attending CAMHS services to get involved in the artistic projects happening at Áit Eile, Creative Spark.

"Our proposal was significantly informed by work carried out with young CAMHS service users during a previous Spark Innovation funded project in 2022. ‘What Matters to You CAMHS’ enabled young people using creative arts media to give feedback on their experience of the CAMHS.

"The Áit Eile project will offer current and past attendees of Louth and East-Meath CAMHS teams the opportunity to learn new skills, build friendships and express themselves though creative means, which the Áit Eile team believes will reduce overall feelings of isolation and marginalistion that can so often be a part of young peoples’ lives.

"This is a truly collaborative project between the arts community and Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services. The Áit Eile team looks forward to sharing its progress as the project develops."

If you or someone you know is attending Louth or East-Meath CAMHS and would like further information on Áit Eile, please contact Gráinne Murphy at [email protected]  or on 042 938 5745.