Creative Clusters - Closing date May 10th
Schools Excellence Fund - Creative Clusters
Guidelines 2019
Creative Clusters is a pilot initiative of the Department of Education and Skills, led by and in partnership with the 21 full-time Teacher Education Centres (ATECI) and funded through the Schools Excellence Fund – Creative Clusters Initiative.
Creative Clusters is an important initiative of Creative Youth – A Plan to Enable the Creative Potential of Every Child and Young Person, which was published in December 2017 as part of the Creative Ireland Programme. The Creative Youth Plan aims to give every child practical access to tuition, experience and participation in art, music, drama and coding by 2022.
A Creative Cluster will typically consist of between three and five schools collaborating on the design, implementation, evaluation and dissemination of an innovative arts and creative learning project which supports them to address a common issue or challenge.
Each Creative Cluster will receive funding of €1,500 per school in a cluster for one year to implement their project in the 2019–2020 school year. It is anticipated that all schools in the cluster will have a say in how the budget is allocated and spent to support the implement of the project
In addition, paid substitution will be provided for the Regional Cluster Training event and two/three local cluster meetings.
How to Apply
Schools can apply as part of a cluster which may be an existing network of schools or a potential cluster. Each cluster must nominate a lead school and a Creative Cluster Coordinator. Substitution costs to the equivalent of 1 day per term for the duration of the pilot project will be provided for the Lead School Creative Cluster Coordinator
The local Teacher Education Centre will have a key role in identifying and supporting a Creative Cluster for their local area.
Applications should be sent to the local full-time Teacher Education Centre (list at Appendix 1 of Guidelines document)
The closing date for receipt of applications is 10 May 2019.
The local Teacher Education Centre will then inform the identified cluster in their area. Unsuccessful applicants will also be notified.
Criteria for selection of applicants:
Creative Cluster applications will be assessed by the Local Teacher Education Centre. Applications will be assessed and scored against the following criteria:
- The rationale for the application
- Benefits to teaching and learning
- Capacity and commitment of all the schools in the cluster to participate
- Children and Young Peoples Voice
Further details on the criteria are available in the Guidelines document.
