This report evaluates the ‘Creative Enquiry – Arts and Older People’, an investigative collaborative venture in Cork,Ireland that creatively explores fresh approaches to arts engagement with older people through artist in residence programmes and advances best practice models.

The focus of the Creative Enquiry is three artist-residency and older-people engagement projects, hosted by three distinct arts organisations: the city based multi-disciplinary Cork Midsummer Festival; MusicAlive, a county wide organisation, specialising in participatory arts and health practice; and Sirius Arts Centre, an arts venue located in the heritage town of Cobh.
The research set out to:
• Place the Creative Enquiry in a context, gathering perspectives from policy, literature review and case studies
• Investigate and review the programme from the perspective of the project stakeholders – artists, participants, arts organisations and leading project partners
• Identify and draw together the findings based on the set of 12 questions identified by The Creative Enquiry consortium of partners
• Develop a series of recommendations

The ‘Artist in Residence’ collaborative arts practice model employed in the Creative Enquiry was found to be a successful model of delivery. Participants spoke about feeling good, enjoying themselves, having a sense of worth, developing a sense of collaboration and camaraderie, working towards an end result, developing concentration and focusing skills, realising they have skills they never thought they had, and feeling respected and heard.

Creative Enquiry was an initiative of the two Cork based local authorities – Cork City Council and Cork County Council Arts Offices in strategic partnership with Age & Opportunity, the national organisation working to improve the quality of life of people aged 50, the HSE Cork Kerry Community Healthcare – Cork South Community Work Department, which facilitates community health and wellbeing initiatives, and the three host arts organisations listed above. Creative Enquiry was primarily funded by the Arts Council and financial support from Cork City Council, Cork County Council and the HSE.

Creative Enquiry (2020). Artist Residency and Older People Engagement Project. Cork: Creative Enquiry.