Celebrating how the arts make us feel
The Well Festival of Arts & Wellbeing celebrates the health benefits of participation in the arts by all. Presented by Réalta (Waterford Healing Arts) in partnership with Waterford City and County Libraries and Garter Lane Arts Centre, the Well Festival champions the links between arts and wellbeing and increases public engagement through a wide-ranging programme of innovative free events for all ages across many art forms, including music, art, dance, film, poetry, theatre and literature.
Each year the festival partners research and present evocative, joyful and celebratory daily arts experiences throughout Waterford City and County, while seeking opportunities to increase artist involvement and meaningful public engagement in this gem in the festival calendar in Waterford.
The Réalta (Waterford Healing Arts) programme for the festival includes animating the hospital space with visual art, music and poetry, an artist talk, a CPD session for artists, and the festival keynote event Why Arts? For this event, we invite a well-known medical professional to speak about the importance of the arts in their life in a public interview/ conversation with a high profile journalist. The festival concludes with the flagship event Sunshine: sharing writings to brighten our souls where passionate readers share their favourite uplifting poetry and prose, at The Book Centre, Waterford.
The festival is funded by the Arts Council, the HSE and Waterford City & County Council.