Cork ‘ahead of the game’ on arts in health practice

CORK’S tenure as European Capital of Culture may be over but the good news stories from the year were in abundance at a conference yesterday on the Culture and Health strand of the Cork 2005 programme of events.

The one-day conference, hosted by Cork 2005 at the city’s Clarion Hotel and attended by over 200 delegates, presented an overview of the projects which brought music, dance, drama, video, photography, storytelling, ceramics and visual and sound art to more than 2,500 health service clients in 43 healthcare centres.

Tony Sheehan, arts advisor to Minister John O’Donoghue and former director of community-based projects at Cork 2005, said: “There were two simple principles to the Culture and Health strand: the first was to bring the year to those who could not access it and the second was to devise a series of projects that would engage deeply with the health service.”

Both the artists and the Health Service Executive employees working on the projects said anecdotal and observational evidence was highly encouraging as they repeatedly emphasised yesterday the positive developments among participants. Many felt relief from conditions like depression and chronic pain along with enhanced self-esteem and general well-being.

Mike White, director of the Centre for Arts and Health in Humanities and Medicine at the University of Durham said: “Cork is now as ahead of the game on arts in health practice as anywhere else I can think of.”

Arts Council director Mary Cloake later launched a DVD and book profiling the projects and participants in the Culture and Health strand during the past year.