Waterford Healing Arts

29/10/2026

Make a plan to be in the beautiful Christ Church Cathedral on Sunday 8 November at 6pm for this musical treat in aid of Réalta’s Waterford Healing Arts Programmes.

Special guest & MC Glenn Murphy
Cór Chroí: Waterford HSE Staff Choir
SETU Staff Choir
SETU Junior Youth Choir
Eirin Seika, piano

🕰️ Sunday 8 November at 6pm
📍Christ Church Cathedral, Waterford
🎟️Free entry, donations on the door

22/10/2026

Reminder: Fri 23 Oct Deadline to apply for Experience 2026: An Introduction to Arts, Health & the Older Person
Keynote Speaker Regius Professor Rose Anne Kenny

Event date: Thurs 03 Dec, 10am-5pm
Venue: The LAB, Foley St, Dublin 1.
Places limited to 20.
Appl deadline: Thurs 23 Oct

This full day of inspiration and learning is designed for professional artists and arts practitioners of all disciplines interested in this area. Experience 2026 will outline the essential elements involved in working with older people in an arts and health context, and will feature presentations by some of the most experienced and inspiring practitioners working in this specialised field of practice, including Keynote Speaker Regius Professor Rose Anne Kenny.

Experience 2026 is presented by Age & Opportunity, the national organisation working to enhance wellbeing for older people, and Réalta, Developing Arts + Health in Ireland. Further details and application information from www.ageandopportunity.ie from www.realta.ie or by email from [email protected]
Fee for the day €30.00, including lunch.

Experience 2026 is funded by the The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon and the HSE Ireland, with support from Dublin City Council.

APPLICATION INFORMATION:
Places for Experience 2026: An Introduction to Arts, Health & Older People, which takes place on Thursday 3 December, cost €30, and are open to professional artists and arts practitioners of all disciplines with experience/ interest in participatory arts work in a health context.

Places are limited in order to make this a valuable experience for all participants, and they will be allocated to suitably qualified/experienced artists/individuals, as determined through the submission process.

Those interested in participating should email [email protected] with the following details:
- Expression of interest: Why you would like to participate in this programme and how it will benefit your practice. (50-100 words)
- Summary of participatory work to date. Please include any experience you may have had working with older people. (50-100 words)
- Your CV/resume showing your arts practice and arts participation experience

Application deadline Fri 23 October.

Image Credit:
Participants Helena Sinnott and Roger Green at a Réalta/Waterford Healing Arts Art at the Kitchen Table Studio session in Waterford. Photo by DGM Photographic
ENDS

Dublin City Arts Office
artsandhealth.ie

12/10/2026

Save the Date 🔔
We have a fabulous concert for you to put in your diary. What a line-up!
Make a plan to be in the beautiful Christ Church Cathedral on Sunday 8 November at 6pm for this musical treat in aid of Réalta’s Waterford Healing Arts Programmes.

🕰️ Sunday 8 November at 6pm
📍Christ Church Cathedral, Waterford
🎟️Free entry, donations on the door

07/10/2026

Beautiful performance taking place in the Waterford Gallery of Art this coming Saturday, 10 October 2026.

Artist Siobhán Clancy will perform, 'Capturing a Mermaid - A Breast Cancer Folktale'. The event is in support of her annual creative fundraiser for Breast Cancer Awareness month 2026 and the Irish Cancer Society (ICS).

Some of the foundation for this work was crafted during Siobhán's time as artist in residence with Réalta, Developing Arts + Health in Ireland at University Hospital Waterford in 2025.

The event is free. Donations are welcome all month and go directly to ICS via this link: https://fundraise.cancer.ie/fundraisers/siobhanclancy

Capturing a Mermaid - A Breast Cancer Folktale
6pm 10th October 2026
Waterford Gallery of Art

Capturing a Mermaid by Siobhán Clancy is about taking selfie portraits to extremes as a remedy to distract from the anxiety of breast cancer treatment. Delve with her words into the mirror and join in medicinal laughter as her performative photo lecture documents the depths of a mind desperately resisting an instinct of Flight or Flight to find Flow.

This story mixes medieval art history, merrow legend and local lore, guerilla photography, and cancer testimonial. It will be performed at Waterford Gallery of Art for the first time as part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month 2026 to coincide with the closing night of the 2025-2026 AIB Portrait Prize Exhibition Tour.

The audience is invited to linger over a cuppa after the story to swap health stories and phone albums that tell of the absurd, tragi-comic and everyday wonders that make up the roulette of life.

This event is free. Donations to the Irish Cancer Society are welcome here.

Booking is optional with [email protected]

🌸

18/09/2026

Culture Night came to Oak Ward in UHW this evening with the sound of Alan Browne and Eoin O Meachair, two of the Healing Sounds musicians.

Healing Sounds is a Waterford Healing Arts programme, managed by Réalta, Developing Arts + Health in Ireland, and is kindly supported by the Arts Council, the HSE, Waterford Hospice Movement and the Hospital Saturday Fund.

17/08/2026

Thirty years on, the music continues…

For 30 years Réalta (previously Waterford Healing Arts Trust) has been bringing live music to University Hospital Waterford. What began with live music in the hospital foyer in 1996, has grown into a long-standing and valued programme at the patient bedside that continues to bring moments of connection and comfort to people at some of the most challenging times in their lives.

Today, our Healing Sounds team of seven professional musicians brings live music each week to patients, staff and visitors throughout the hospital, to oncology, cardiology, renal dialysis, paediatrics, elder care and the stroke ward. The musicians also bring live music weekly to the South East Palliative Care Centre, supported by Waterford Hospice Movement.
Our musicians are specially trained to work in healthcare settings and, as they move through the hospital wards, they bring moments of beauty and calm, a favourite song, a familiar tune, a moment of connection. Their music can be a welcome respite from the world of diagnosis and treatment, providing comfort and reassurance to patients, while uplifting staff, family members and friends. Live music has become part of the fabric of life at University Hospital Waterford. It reminds us that, alongside medical care, there is also a place for creativity and the simple joy of music.

Our Healing Sounds programme is made possible by the continued support of CEO Ben O’Sullivan and all of the staff at University Hospital Waterford, whose commitment to arts and wellbeing makes a real difference to patients, family members and staff.

Healing Sounds is a Waterford Healing Arts programme, managed by Réalta, Developing Arts + Health in Ireland, and is kindly supported by the Arts Council, the HSE, Waterford Hospice Movement and the Hospital Saturday Fund.

Support our work here:
https://www.idonate.ie/cause/WaterfordHealingArts

Waterford Hospice Movement
The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon
Réalta, Developing Arts + Health in Ireland
artsandhealth.ie
The Hospital Saturday Fund
HSE Ireland

06/08/2026

Open Call for Artists: Réalta Arts + Health Research + Development Residency 2026

Réalta, Ireland’s national resource organisation dedicated to developing arts + health, is inviting artists of all arts disciplines to apply for its Arts + Health Research + Development Residency 2026.

This one-month residency, based at the Réalta Centre for Arts + Health at University Hospital Waterford, offers the successful artist dedicated time and space to research and develop their arts + health practice.

The residency provides an opportunity to test ideas, explore new approaches and begin shaping the early stages of a project within an acute hospital setting, working creatively in collaboration with the hospital community.

Applications are open to artists working across all arts disciplines.
Deadline: Thursday 27 August 2026

Find out more about the residency and how to apply here:https://realta.ie/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Artist-in-Residence-2026-Open-Call-final.pdf

Funded by The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon

Photo: Réalta Artist in Residence 2025-26 Siobhan Clancy. Photo by DGM Photographic

29/07/2026

It was wonderful to share the story of the beautiful art collection at University Hospital Waterford (UHW) with The Munster Express, as well as some of the other Waterford Healing Arts programmes managed by Réalta, Developing Arts + Health in Ireland that work alongside the collection, including the Staff Art Wall and the Open Gallery programme. We also spoke about the Per Cent for Art scheme at UHW and artist Corina Duyn’s archive, currently displayed in our Arts + Health Library at the Réalta Centre for Arts + Health on the hospital campus.

As our Project Coordinator/Curator, Aisling Kennedy, says: "It is a fundamental human right to have access to the arts, and that should be true even if someone is sick in hospital." This belief underpins everything we do as we strive to bring the arts, in all their glorious forms, to the patients, staff, and visitors at UHW.

Our work is made possible through the incredible support of CEO Ben O'Sullivan, the hospital management team, and healthcare staff, whose commitment to arts in healthcare continues to make a real difference in patients’ lives.

A sincere thank you to Aaron Kent and The Munster Express for featuring our work and helping to share the impact of arts in healthcare with a wider audience.

Link to the article: https://www.munster-express.ie/the-art-of-uhw/

Support our work here: https://www.idonate.ie/donation/8265

13/07/2026

Our Sounds Good programme of live music in the foyer of University Hospital Waterford takes place on the third Tuesday of every month.
In June, we featured local musician Shane Murphy on guitar. Our thanks to AIB Ardkeen for their continued support for this popular programme.

07/07/2026

Grace is back! Consultant Microbiologist and watercolour artist Grace Chan returns for a third time to exhibit on the Staff Art Wall at University Hospital Waterford.

Her latest exhibition, In the Neighbourhood, tells stories of Grace's encounters with people, animals and places around the southeast, captured in her distinctive watercolours.

The exhibition runs until 26 August 2026. Staff, patients and visitors are invited to stop by and enjoy the exhibition.

For more info go to: waterfordhealingarts.com



Image: Grace Chan at the Staff Art Wall alongside her watercolour painting ‘In Full Stride’, a painting of the De La Salle Scout Pipe Band.