Call Out for Artists and Creative Practitioners

Teacher Artist Partnership+ 2024/25

Announcing a wonderful opportunity for artists and creative practitioners of all disciplines to broaden their practice through Teacher Artist Partnership+ (TAP+) professional development and in-school residency programme. Closing date for expression of interest Friday 7th June 2024.

Develop creative partnerships with teachers and children. Receive funded training and residencies that bring the arts and creativity to children all over Ireland through TAP+, an initiative of Creative Youth 2023-27 under Creative Ireland and led by the Department of Education.

TAP+ Overview

• TAP+ Summer Course running 1st to 5th July 2024 in your local Education Support Centre
  • Fully paid training to support artists and creative practitioners to work in primary and special schools
• TAP+ In-school Residencies
  • Bringing learning into practice through creative partnership with teachers and children
  • Funded 20-hour residencies in the school year 2024/25
  • Access to the BLAST register of creative practitioners to deliver in-school residencies

TAP+ Details

• Open to artists and creative practitioners, working in any art form, discipline or creative practice, who are committed to sharing their practice with children and teachers in primary and special schools
• Training 1st - 5th July 2024 through your local nearest full-time Education Support Centre (esci.ie) to facilitate creative practitioners and collaborating teachers to work in creative partnerships with children.
• Training allowance of €150 per day over the 5-day summer course training (€750 in total), plus travel and lunch provided.
• Professional development through partnerships and creative, collaborative relationships with teachers, in schools committed to the arts and creativity in learning, practice and community.
• Guarantee of paid, follow up in-school residency within a local primary or special school (€1,100 Fee total inclusive of €200 Travel) to carry out a 20-hour residency (14 contact hours plus 6 hours planning, preparation and evaluation) in partnership with your teacher partner in the school year 2024/2025.
• Creative Practitioners must complete TAP+ in-school residencies following participation on the TAP+ Summer Course.
• TAP+ trained creative practitioners are also eligible to participate in BLAST in-school residencies. We invite successful TAP+ creative practitioners to join the BLAST register and where possible to deliver BLAST residencies. See here for further details: BLAST information
• Information, learning and networking opportunities for further freelance work within the education system.

Artists / Creative Practitioners must

• have a track record of a minimum of three years’ professional practice in any art form / creative practice
• demonstrate an interest in / commitment to: the principles of Arts and Creativity in Education and to enhancing the lives of children through arts/creative practice
• be willing to learn about classroom culture and to work in equal partnership with teachers and children
• Combine a sense of fun, joy and collaboration with professional dedication and high artistic/creative vision
• Be willing to undertake child protection training as part of the induction week, and undergo standard Garda vetting before taking up project placements.

Artists / Creative Practitioners apply for TAP+  via expressions of interest sent to the Director of your local Education Support Centre no later than 5pm on Friday 7th  June 2024. Expressions of interest should be in the form of a letter of max 600 words, accompanied by a CV or short bio with links to images or samples of relevant work.

The letter should outline:

1.           Training institute/ organisation

2.           Brief description of practice

3.           Why you aim to work in education and in partnership teachers and children

4.           What qualifies you to undertake the TAP+ summer course training and residency programme

Places on this Creative Youth initiative are limited to four Artists / Creative Practitioners per full-time Education Support Centre area. Please ensure that it will be possible for you to meet all requirements of the programme before applying.

Final decision on offers of places will be taken by the Director of the local Education Support Centre. Any queries in relation to TAP+ should be directed to your local full-time Education Support Centre.

Please find below a list of the artists who will be participating in the BLAST Residency initiative in the 2024/2025 school year.

Please note that this list is not complete and will be updated regularly.

• Julie O'Hea - Visual Arts -  https://www.facebook.com/CreativEndeavoursByJulie 
• Helga Deasy - Dance - www.helgadeasydance.com
• Julie Forrester - Visual Arts - https://julforrester.com/with-young-people/ 
• Niamh Towey - Visual Arts
• Helen Hallissey - Drama and Playwriting 
• Aine Farrell - Ceramics/Plaster Casting/Creative crafts using recycled materials
• Belinda Walsh - Visual Arts and stop motion animation - http://scribblemore123.simplesite.com
• Isabella Dogliani - Visual Arts / Drama / Film - https://www.isabelladogliani.com 
• Marian Ward - Visual Art/Conceptual Sculptural -
• Nathalia Marques - Drama and Movement - https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1TRsQZH6OWrTsc3PhA_wErT4rKoQcjtCxPol-tbZo0GE/edit?usp=drivesdk 

The Department of Education is pleased to announce BLAST Arts & Creativity in Education Residency 2024/2025 applications are now open. (Press Release )

Please see the following link for BLAST Application Guidelines and further details: (Department of Education BLAST Guidelines )

BLAST Arts & Creativity in Education Residency 2024/2025 apply online here: LINK

The closing date for receipt of applications is 10^th May 2024.

Please contact your local Education Support Centre for queries or support, or email National Arts in Education, Tralee Education Support Centre at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Eligibility :

All schools in receipt of capitation grants from the Department of Education or Education and Training Boards (ETBs) can apply for BLAST.

Fee Paying Schools are not eligible to apply for BLAST Residencies. Schools that are not in the free-education scheme cannot apply for BLAST. 

Schools participating in either Creative Clusters or Creative Schools can apply for BLAST.

BLAST is an initiative of the Department of Education, under the Creative Youth Plan 2023-2027. It is led by and in partnership with the 21 full-time Education Centres (Education Support Centres Ireland - ESCI).

BLAST Application Form (English Version)

BLAST Application Form   (Irish Version) 

Announcing a wonderful opportunity for Artists (all art forms/creative practises) / Creative Practitioners to broaden their practice, receive training and project fees, develop creative partnerships with teachers, and transform the lives of children in every County in Ireland

CALL OUT FOR ARTISTS / CREATIVE PRACTITIONERS for 3^rd to 7^th July 2023

The TEACHER-ARTIST PARTNERSHIP+ CPD programme (TAP+)

is a Creative Ireland, Department of Education led and approved Summer Course offering:

FULLY PAID TRAINING AND IN-SCHOOL RESIDENCY OPPORTUNITIES FOR ARTISTS / CREATIVE PRACTITIONERS

TO WORK WITHIN PRIMARY SCHOOL SETTINGS & AND DEVELOP PARTNERSHIPS WITH CREATIVE TEACHERS

-       Open to artists / creative practitioners, working in any art form / creative practise, who are committed to sharing their practice with children and teachers in a modern primary school environment

-       Specialist, week-long training (3^rd – 7^th July 2023 based in Gaelscoil Uí Ríordáin to prepare the artist / creative practitioner for the unique requirements of working harmoniously in partnership with a teacher within the modern Irish classroom

-       A training allowance of €150 per day over the initial 5-day training/induction week (€750 in total), plus travel with daily lunch provided.

-       Brokerage and development of partnerships with creative teachers, in schools committed to contemporary arts learning, practice and creativity.

-       Guarantee of a paid, follow up in-school-residency within a local primary school (€1,100 Fee total inclusive of €200 Travel) to carry out a 20-hour project (14 contact hours plus 6 hours planning, preparation and evaluation) in partnership with your teacher partner throughout the 2023/2024 academic year

-       Artists / Creative Practitioners are required to complete at least one or two TAP+ in-school Residencies following participation on the TAP+ Summer Course.

-       As you will be a TAP+ trained artist/creative practitioner, you will also be eligible to participate in the forthcoming 2023/2024 BLAST in-school residencies. If you are available, we would be obliged if you could complete at least one or two BLAST in-school Residencies. Please use the following link for more information on the BLAST initiative: BLAST Information

-       Information, learning and networking opportunities for further freelance work within the education system.

Artists / Creative Practitioners must

·       have a track record of a minimum of three years’ professional practice in any art form / creative practise

·       demonstrate an interest in / commitment to: the principles of Arts and Creativity in Education and to enhancing the lives of children through arts/creative practice

·       be willing to learn about modern classroom culture and to work in equal partnership with teachers

·       Combine a sense of fun, joy and collaboration with professional dedication and high artistic/creative vision

·       Be willing to undertake child protection training as part of the induction week, and undergo standard Garda vetting before taking up project placements.

Artists / Creative Practitioners can apply to be part of the scheme via expressions of interest along with an application. These should be sent to the Director of your local Education Support Centre: https://www.esci.ie/ no later than 5pm on Friday 23^rd June 2023.

Expressions of interest should be in the form of a letter of max 600 words, accompanied by a CV or short Bio with links to images or samples of relevant work.

The letter should set out:

1.           Where you trained

2.           A very brief description of your practice

3.           Why you might wish to work in partnership with a teacher and with children in a school setting

4.           What you think qualifies you to take up this opportunity

Places on this national Creative Ireland CPD initiative are limited to four Artists / Creative Practitioners per full-time Education Support Centre area. Final decision on offers of places will be taken by the Director of the local Education Support Centre in collaboration with the Local Authority Arts Office. Any queries in relation to the Teacher Artist Partnership+ CPD Summer Course should be directed to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.