Welcome to the Creative Life Hub at Mercer’s Institute for Successful Ageing at St James’s Hospital, Dublin 8.
Good health is not just about the absence of disease, but increasingly about improved quality of life. Creativity has an important role to play in enhancing quality of life and enabling successful ageing. Creativity enhances the psychological and emotional well-being of the individual, permeating and enriching everyday life, leading to greater personal fulfillment. By exercising our minds and bodies, creativity can increase skills and heighten self-confidence as well as motivation.
Background:
Creative Life is one of four pillars within Mercer’s Institute for Successful Ageing (MISA) in St James’s Hospital, Dublin. Established in 2017 by the late Professor Davis Coakley and Regius Professor Rose Anne Kenny (TCD, SJH), its core mission is to promote creativity through access to various arts programmes enhancing mental and physical wellbeing as we age. The Creative Life Hub is located within the heart of St James’s Hospital, at the intersection between our hospital and community. Creative Life Coordinator, Roisin Nevin has played a major role in developing the pillar and programme since its inception with many partnerships and collaborations, and is supported by the Director of Creative Life and the Creative Life Steering group. The current Director of Creative Life is Dr Kevin Mc Carroll.
The Creative Life Programme
Creative Life (CL), MISA, St James’s Hospital continues to co- design, develop and manage an integrated framework, which includes an Arts and Health programme and music therapy integration. At Creative Life, we have designed and co-developed educational programmes and projects to further integrate shared learnings at the intersections of Arts and Health. Our Creative Life pillar, promote the benefits of creativity in older adults and for people across the life course. This is at the intersection of our hospital and the community and based on best international practice.
Creative Life success is as a result of many partnerships such as, SMART D8, Creative Ireland, Arts Council of Ireland, Trinity College Dublin, NCAD, IMMA, Bealtaine festival, Dublin International Film Festival (Picture House), Dublin Castle, Reálta, Dublin City Council, HSE-Healthy Ireland and EU Networks. The Creative Life programme encompasses several diverse initiatives over many years, including hospital staff choir series, older persons choir (The MISA Choir), arts participatory workshops series, lectures, showcases, performances.
Creative Life collaborates with IMMA “Horizons programme” led by Bairbre-Ann Harkin co-development of “slow looking art” experiences with selected art pieces in MISA, this is accessible through Creative Life for hospital staff, MISA patients and their families at selected dates in the year.
The Creative Life Coordinator (Arts and Health manager) MISA, SJH.
The Creative Life programme in MISA is coordinated by Roisin Nevin who designs, develops, manages, promotes and delivers these projects in MISA , St James’s Hospital . Since 2017, Roisin has developed an “Arts and Health” programme collaborating with several partners and building upon these experiences through best practices in the Arts and Health sector. Creative Life has introduced creative therapies to the hospital, and from 2021 has developed an integrated music therapy programme. Co- creating, shared goals and an interdisciplinary approach are at the corner stone to these projects.
Art on Walls
Permanent Art Exhibition.
- Arts Council of Ireland – National Loan Collection
- Curated and selected visual art work pieces
- Community Art Collaborations
Artists in Residence series – Arts and Health
- Opportunities to gain insights from contextual learnings for arts and health artists.
- Support and mentoring with the Creative Life Coordinator
- Support and access to clinical spaces and hospital departments
- Studio -space
- Co – design projects from proposals
- Facilitate art making workshops series for patients, hospital staff or older adults living in the community.
- Inform art practices
- Experiential learnings
- Developing shared goals
- Gain understandings arts and health at this intersection
Education
Creative Life, MISA collaborates with Fine Arts Departments NCAD on a new professional diploma in arts and health with Creative Future Academy.
Creative Life, MISA delivers short modules with TCD, School of Medicine (Medicine and Humanities) for arts and health programme, and creative therapies.
We aim to promote access, participation, education and curiosity in arts and culture to enhance wellness, inclusivity in socially innovative ways in the context of healthcare, to support wellbeing and more human-centric spaces.
These initiatives have resulted in shared learnings and establishing new collective goals that highlight the positive role of creativity in healthy ageing.
For information on future Creative Life events, workshops, creative lectures or classes, work collaborations please contact our Creative Life office at (01) 410 3055 or by emailing rnevin@stjames.ie.
