Young creatives with health conditions set to showcase their works at one Limerick venue
Creativity Unlimited exhibition to take place in Limerick city
A NATIONWIDE art exhibition series, which will showcase artworks by young people aged between six and 16 with a range of lifelong health conditions, is set to open in one Limerick venue.
The exhibition, called Creativity Unlimited, is led by Helium Arts’ Distance Creates online art programme. The opening of the display will take place in Limerick City Gallery of Art on October 16.
Helium Arts is a national charity supporting children in Ireland with lifelong physical health conditions such as diabetes, epilepsy and heart conditions, among others.
The charity runs a range of art programmes dedicated to improving the wellbeing of children and young people, including through its Creative Health Hub in the Mid-West, serving people in Limerick city and county.
The theme ‘About Me’ celebrates the creative stories of the online participants presented through zines exploring identity, and the children and young people's journey through the online programme.
In 2023, 114 children and young people from across 22 counties in Ireland, including Limerick, living with lifelong physical health conditions such as spina bifida, cerebral palsy and cystic fibrosis participated in Distance Creates online.
Distance Creates is the online component of Helium Arts’ wider creative health programme, which also delivers in-person, artist-led, medically supported creative workshops in hospital paediatric outpatient clinics and community settings, including in locations in Limerick.
CEO of Helium Arts, Helene Hugel, said she is “very grateful to Limerick City Gallery of Art” ahead of the opening day of the Creativity Unlimited exhibition.
“Our online programme has allowed us to widen our reach and bring the benefits of art and creativity to more children and young people living with the effects of illness or disability every day, including in Limerick.
“Distance Creates facilitates them to take part from anywhere in Ireland, whether that is in the comfort of their own home, during a stay in hospital, or within a community context.
“I’m very grateful to Limerick City Gallery of Art for providing space for the exhibition series as a way of recognising the talent and accomplishment of our young artists in the heart of their own communities, while connecting with a new, wider circle of social support online.”
The Distance Creates programme offers a blend of online and offline creative activities.
Distance Creates offers a blend of online and offline creative activities and is open to young people aged between six and sixteen, and like all Helium Arts programmes, it’s free of charge.
All ages are welcome to Helium Arts’ Creativity Unlimited art showcase, running until October 25, with a family day involving special events and activities taking place on Saturday, October 19.