Arts + Health: Check Up Check In 2025 programme announced by Réalta, the national resource organisation for Arts + Health in Ireland Keynote Speaker: Dr Tony Bates Réalta has published details for Arts + Health: Check Up Check In 2025 and is thrilled to reveal that Dr Tony Bates will be this year’s Keynote Speaker.  Dr Bates is a clinical psychologist and Adjunct Professor of Psychology at University College Dublin.  He is well known throughout Ireland for his warm and engaging writing and interviews on psychology-related topics.  For Check Up Check In, his Keynote title will be ‘The Art of Making our Lives Work’.  Arts + Health: Check Up Check In will take place on Wednesday 30 April in Esker Arts, Tullamore.  Organised by Réalta, this ‘go to’ event for the arts and health sector features presentations by some of the most exciting and inspiring practitioners working in this field today.  The fee for the full day, including lunch, is €30.  Click here to book your place or visit www.realta.ie for more details (or read below). Arts + Health: Check Up Check In is open to arts practitioners, healthcare professionals, and anyone interested in learning more about this exciting area.  Check Up Check In provides an opportunity for participants to come together to share their experiences, exchange ideas, and support and inspire each other in their practice through a range of themed presentations and workshops. Keynote Speaker Dr Tony Bates was Head of the Dept of Psychology for 30 years at St James’ Hospital Dublin.  Following psychotherapy training at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Oxford, he...

This April, two workplace choirs will come together for a special public performance in Waterford, promising a real musical treat. We invite you to join us for an evening of song featuring the SETU Staff Choir and Cór Chroí Waterford HSE Staff Choir, set in the beautiful St. Patrick’s Gateway Centre on Saturday, 5th April, at 6pm. Special guest Adam Mernin will also perform on trumpet. Admission is free (no booking required), with a collection in aid of the Healing Sounds programme run by Waterford Healing Arts. SETU Staff Choir Founded in September 2023, the SETU Staff Choir was established as an integration initiative between staff at the Carlow and Waterford campuses. While members rehearse separately on their respective campuses, they come together twice a year for Saturday workshops. After a successful debut concert in March 2024, they have since performed at events across SETU Carlow, SETU Waterford, and the wider community. Beyond its musical achievements, the choir has been a fantastic way for staff to connect across departments. Sinéad Crowley and Regina Hanley direct the choir, with Oonagh Drohan as accompanist. Cór Chroí Waterford HSE Staff Choir Cór Chroí grew out of a Drop-in & Sing initiative run by Waterford Healing Arts in 2023. Meeting weekly under the musical direction of Damien Kehoe, the choir has performed at events including Winterval Festival, a 7am Dawn Chorus, and Remembrance Services for the Oak Ward at University Hospital Waterford (UHW). Members include both current and former HSE staff. Adam Mernin – Trumpet A 6th Year student at Waterpark College, Adam has been playing brass since the age of 7 under...

We are pleased to launch a lovely new collection of artworks by Marley Irish on the Staff Art Wall at University Hospital Waterford. Her work is on show until 20 May 2025. The collection is called, Mothers’ Love. In it, Marley’s exuberant use of colour, applied with a palette knife, evokes the family atmosphere of summertime at the beach in Dunmore East. Marley Irish has been a nurse for 42 years and currently works in the Dermatology Department at UHW.  Marley is also a prolific artist. Her work is inspired by the Impressionist Movement, especially the art of Edgar Degas. Marley paints in her St. Ives Gallery in Slieverue, South Kilkenny.  For further information see marleyirish.com The Staff Art Wall is an initiative of Waterford Healing Arts which aims to celebrate the creativity of staff working at UHW by providing an opportunity to display their work at the hospital. If you work at UHW and would like to exhibit your art on the Staff Art Wall, please contact: (051) 842664 or...

YUTORI: leeway; room; allowance; latitude; time to spare; ease Yutori is a unique ambient sound art installation by Patrick McGlynn/Dr Mindflip. It has been unveiled at University Hospital Waterford (UHW) to coincide with the launch of the Well Festival of Arts & Wellbeing. You can experience Yutori along the corridor leading to the Outpatients Department at UHW, the exhibition runs until 11 April 2025. Be sure to listen out for it! The exhibition programme at UHW is part of the Waterford Healing Arts programme, which is managed by Réalta, the national resource organisation for arts + health in Ireland. Yutori presents a unique, ever-evolving soundscape that changes depending on the day, hour and minute the listener happens upon it – a personal performance that will never repeat. The device itself is encased in a simple wooden box. While layers of intricate textures converge and diverge, melodic fragments and rippling drones combine, infusing the environment with an engaging yet subtle mood.  Yutori has been created as an invitation to the listener to take a moment, allow themselves to be carried by the stream of sound, and create space for their own thoughts and emotions. Dr Patrick McGlynn is a producer, composer and sound artist working in the arts and academic sectors in Ireland.  He is a passionate creator, facilitator and supporter of collaborative arts projects in Ireland and abroad. Réalta is the national resource organisation dedicated to developing arts + health in Ireland. Through its national programme, Réalta delivers training; provides information, mentoring and advice; supports networking; engages with the HSE and other policy makers to increase understanding and support for...

Réalta/Waterford Healing Arts has been shortlisted to be a PTSB Ireland Community Partner for 2025, which would mean significant support and a huge injection of funds for our programmes, but we need your vote to get us over the line. Réalta/Waterford Healing Arts is widely recognised among the community for its positive impact on patients and their families, bringing comfort and joy through the arts, and reminding people that beauty still exists, even in the midst of some of the most difficult times in their lives. “The music built my heart up again – I feel ready for anything now.” (Patient, Oncology Ward, UHW) At local level, Réalta manages our extensive Waterford Healing Arts programme, bringing music, art, creative writing and storytelling to patients in hospital and other healthcare settings to lift spirits and to improve the quality of life of patients and their families who are going through the incredibly difficult experience of illness.  At national level, we provide training, mentoring and advice in this specialised area of arts + health, in addition to boundless information and resources via our website www.artsandhealth.ie  We are an independent, registered charity and have been in operation for over 30 years. The PTSB Community Fund provides funding to community organisations that are working hard to make a difference in Ireland.  Réalta is delighted to have been shortlisted for the South and East region in Ireland.  The two charities that receive the most votes in each region will become PTSB’s Community Fund Partners for the year. Please cast your vote by following this link: https://bit.ly/3CYRDl0 (Go to ‘Region South and East’ and select ‘Réalta...