Minister for Education Helen McEntee TD has today invited schools and YouthReach centres across Ireland to apply to take part in Creative Clusters for the two years commencing September 2025.
Up to €575,000 has been made available this year for Creative Clusters, enabling up to 210 schools to come together across 42 clusters.
Creative Clusters supports clusters of three to five schools to work together on building capacity in creativity with the support of a specialist facilitator.
The programme is open to primary and post-primary schools, including special schools, as well as YouthReach centres.
Creative Clusters support includes 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 fruition over the course of two years, from 2025 to 2027.
The resources provided will help the schools and YouthReach centres to build a project of learning and activities tailor-made for their community with their students.
Minister McEntee said:
“This is a wonderful opportunity for schools and YouthReach centres to work together on a creative project of their choice. Schools are given complete freedom to design and develop their own project, with support from a local facilitator and their local education support centre.
“Creative Clusters will help schools to further enhance creativity in their classrooms. It will support students of all ages to develop creative and critical thinking skills, learning to adapt and collaborate as well as to enjoy and explore artistic and creative expression – whether through traditional arts, STEM or other creative avenues.”
To date, Creative Clusters has given 588 schools in 210 clusters the opportunity to work together to develop creative projects and collaborate on new ideas based on their local experience and unique perspective.
Each Creative Cluster will receive funding of €3,000 per school over a two-year period to implement their project in the 2025–2027 school years. For example, a cluster of three schools would get €9,000 over two years while a cluster of five schools would receive €15,000 over two years.
The application process will be open until 10th April 2025. Please find link to application form here .
Guidelines for applications will be available from the Department’s website here .
Creative Clusters
Creative Clusters is an initiative of the Department of Education, led by and in partnership with the Education Support Centres Ireland (ESCI) and part of Creative Youth 2023-2027 launched on 28 March 2023. Itis one of five pillars of the Creative Ireland Programme. Creative Youth aims to enable the creativity of every child and young person, and the Department of Education, the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and the Arts Council are key partners in delivering Creative Youth.
Some of the exciting projects that have taken place to date through Creative Clusters support include:
I am Not a Robot
Kilgarriffe N.S. were joined by Kinsale Community School, Bandon Grammar School, S.N. Droichead na Bandan and St. Multose N.S. in a project that was all about skills development, connection and learning. One student expressed their key learning in feedback: “During my time taking part in robotics, I have learned that teamwork is vital to the project. I enjoyed working with my team. We had tough situations but pulled through because we worked together and persevered.” During this innovative project teachers highlighted how robotics are used in everyday life and are part of preparing children for their future world. Children worked through in integrated curriculum covering maths and coding in a creative and collaborative way, where the children’s voice was uppermost.
Sustainable Development and Creative Digital Heritage
In 2024 Loughmore N.S. completed their Creative Cluster journey with Castleiney N.S., Scoil Naomh Cualán, Barnane N.S. and Lismackin N.S. with Kilkenny Education Support Centre. This Cluster began with establishing a baseline for learning through focus groups and questionnaires across the entire school community. From Chromebooks to costumes, creative practitioners to software and heritage experts, this innovative Creative Cluster invested funding to support creative learning for pupils from Junior Infants to 6th Class across the 5 schools and to engage staff with professional development in a range of digital tools. Their project fostered intergenerational collaboration and assisted in nurturing their Sustainable Development Goal of reducing social isolation by linking young people with an older generation through stories and customs. The project championed student participation in decision-making as evidenced by a quote submitted by a parent: “I have never seen my child more interested in any project. It is great for them to have so much say in the process”.
Revival “I feel like a rock star”
Music, circus and composition fit the bill for three Tipperary schools supported by Waterford Education Centre in 2024. Presentation Secondary School, Presentation Primary School and St. Mary’s C.B.S. in Clonmel completed their Cluster journey with live performances, new music productions and sustainable connections, leading to a collective sense of pride in the Cluster’s work and achievements. Plans are afoot for future musical productions… watch this space.
What is the application process?
Creative Clusters is a national programme of local projects and the 21 full-time education support centres across Ireland are lead partners in the initiative. They will have a key role in identifying and supporting a Creative Cluster for their local area. Individual schools, existing networks of schools and potential clusters of schools must apply using the online Creative Clusters 2025 – 2027 Application Form only by Thursday, 10th April 2025. Following the application process, the local Education Support Centre will assess and score applications using the criteria outlined below. The local education support centre will then inform the successful clusters in their area.
Unsuccessful applicants will also be notified [The list of full-time education centres and associated contact details are attached in Appendix 1 of the Guidelines]. The application deadline is Thursday, 10th April 2025.
Which schools are not eligible to apply to lead or participate in a Creative Cluster? The following schools may not apply to participate in Creative Clusters:
• Fee-charging schools i.e. Schools not in receipt of capitation grants from the Department of Education / education and training boards and are not in the free- education scheme
• Schools that are already participating in Creative Clusters 2024/26 (Year 1 commenced in September 2024).
• Schools that are already participating in Creative Schools 2024/26 (Year 1 commenced in September 2024).
• Schools cannot simultaneously participate in Creative Clusters and Creative Schools.
• Schools who have participated as a cluster previously, cannot reapply for Creative Clusters unless they lead a combination of schools new to the initiative.
The following schools may apply to lead or participate in a Creative Cluster:
• Schools that have not yet participated in Creative Clusters.
• Schools that have not yet participated in Creative Schools and those who will complete Creative Schools Year 2 in the 2024/25 school year.
• Schools that will complete Creative Clusters Year 2 in the 2024/25 school year. However, they must apply as part of a cluster who have not yet participated in the initiative. In this instance, it is required that this school applies to lead a cluster of schools that are new to the initiative.
