Local Creative Youth Partnerships (LCYPs) - Creative Ireland Programme

Building networks – joining the dots – supporting creative collaborations

Key to the vision of the Creative Youth Plan is enabling collaboration to provide greater opportunities for young people to experience and enjoy creative activities.

To enable and encourage this collaboration at a community level, the Creative Ireland Programme supported the establishment of Local Creative Youth Partnerships (LCYPs). Centred in local Education and Training Boards (ETBs).

LCYP – Mountrath Foroige

At their core these Partnerships are networks – they enable information sharing and collaboration between the host ETB, local authorities, the non-formal education sector, family support services and youth services – and an opportunity to forge new partnerships and relationships with the local creative sector. But most of all they ensure that young people themselves are at the heart of developing and implementing opportunities to engage with creative activities.

The remit of the partnerships goes beyond that of the “arts” and includes cultural and creative activity in all spheres – including areas such as heritage and the environment, STEM and digital creativity. The range of activities is limitless – everything from traditional and visual arts to coding and tech; music and opera to circus arts, comedy, street arts & spectacle; architecture & design to heritage; film, drama, theatre or dance to literature and creative writing.

Initially piloted in 3 Education and Training Boards (Kerry, Laois/Offaly and Limerick/Clare), three new LCYPs have now joined the Creative Youth family – based in Cork ETB, Mayo/Sligo/Leitrim ETB and Galway/Roscommon ETB, the Local Creative Youth Partnership initiative has gone from strength to strength and will continue to support collaboration, build new relationships and provide greater opportunities for young people (especially those often less heard) to experience the joy of creativity.

Mountrath Foroige completed piece

With funding and training supports from the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport & Media, the Department of Education and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, the creation and development of the LCYPs is key to realising the vision of the Creative Youth Plan – to enable the creative potential of every child and young person.

Each LCYP engages with young people in their communities to develop, implement and evaluate annual programmes of engagement and activity – further information can be found here.