Creative Clusters

Between three and five schools collaborate for a two-year period on any kind of creative project that addresses a common issue or challenge. Clusters receive the support of a specialist facilitator and funding of €1,500 per school per year of the initiative to invest in their creative collaboration.

The Creative Clusters initiative aims to:

• Promote new ways in which schools and the arts and cultural sector can work together
• Improve teaching and learning
• Provide an opportunity for clusters of schools to interact with professionals from the cultural sector, and access resources to experiment and innovate through a bespoke creative learning project
• Develop learners’ and teachers’ creativity
• Understand whether clustering schools at different stages of their journey in using creativity in the classroom and in developing longer term partnerships is an effective model for developing and embedding practice in schools
• Provide schools with access to creative people, skills and resources, and support them to draw on their own skills and experiences and those within their wider communities

How Creative Clusters works

The programme is open to primary and post-primary schools, including special schools, as well as YouthReach centres. It facilitates release time for schools to meet and develop their project, as well as funding of up to €15,000 to help bring their creative plans and ideas to life. To date, Creative Clusters has brought together 591 schools in 168 clusters, supporting them in using arts and creativity as the common language to tell their unique story.

Some examples of past themes include Unity in Diversity, Artificial Intelligence, Back to Nature in the Garden of Ireland, Biodiversity – Delving into the World of Wonder, Celebrating Cultural Diversity and Biodiversity, and Collaborative Teaching and Learning.

Creative Clusters is a key initiative of the Department of Education and Youth, and part of the Creative Youth Plan 2023-2027, run in partnership with the Education Support Centres Ireland (ESCI) network through all its 21 full-time education centres.

Applications

Apply here

The application process will be open from 26 January 2026 until Monday 20 April 2026.