Live Music and Storytelling in Residential Healthcare Settings led by Dublin City Council will see a storyteller from Storytellers of Ireland visit nursing homes where residents will share their thoughts, preferences, and hopes for the programme while also enjoying the art of storytelling. Following this consultation, Mobile Music Machine will design a bespoke programme for each nursing home, tailored to the residents’ musical tastes, preferences, and abilities. This will be informed by insights from both the storyteller and nursing home staff. Musicians will use their experience in these settings to create a participatory experience using sing-a-longs, movements like clapping with the music, and call and response formats, to allow the residents to become active participants in the experience.

Live Music at Birr Community and Nursing Unit presented by Offaly County Council in collaboration with Anam Beo & Birr Community and Nursing Unit, with support from Offaly Healthy Ireland, aims at enhancing engagement, creativity, and well-being among residents. This collaborative approach involves musicians, activity staff, and participants working together to foster high-quality music engagement. The project will also document its impact through both qualitative and quantitative feedback, culminating in a self-published booklet for all involved.

Building on the positive impact of their 2024 Music in the Moment, Dún Laoghaire Rathdown is bringing this programme to new settings in 2025 delivering high quality and highly responsive music experiences that will have a positive impact on the lives of older people, their families and healthcare professionals. Each musician/ensemble will be carefully matched with the proposed care settings, including considering the number and needs of residents. Methods will involve active and passive engagement, including listening and singing. It will encourage group participation and social interaction.

Music in the Afternoons involves musicians visiting healthcare settings across Galway City and County. While delivering this project across four nursing homes in the city, there is also a need to provide native Irish speaking artists for areas within the Gaeltacht, therefore this initiative will add local musicians to the schedule. Ensuring that a population which is often forgotten about receives the same access to the programme as their city based and east Galway counterparts, this will allow the project to address issues around social isolation and loneliness which can often be a large factor for older people living in Connemara.

Carlow Rambling Sessions will deliver 18 visits featuring six local musicians across Carlow. Presented by Maksym Lozovyi, Alison Behan, and Mad for Carlow Trad, in collaboration with Creative Ireland Carlow, they will work together to deliver the highest quality music provision over a long-term relationship-building programme that is deeply embedded in older persons healthcare settings around County Carlow. The musician partners and Creative Ireland Carlow will develop and deliver a programme of the highest musical standard engaging the best quality musicians to engage with older people in care settings

The Sessions led by Creative Ireland Wexford will connect with the Fleadh again this year, as this is the final year it is scheduled to be hosted in the county. Choreographer Vivian Brodie-Hayes has created an interactive performance workshop specifically for older age people. She will adapt the performance workshop for the nursing home setting, offering residents the opportunity to watch, engage and enjoy music through gentle movement, storytelling, and rhythm. Accompanying the dancers, musicians will perform a combination of well-known traditional tunes and music from the local collection. This provides a unique opportunity for residents to connect to local music as well as the old favourites, while exploring themes of culture, memory, and connection.

Music at Work is an expanded programme of live music performances for older people in residential healthcare facilities in Cork City. The aim of this project is to support positive ageing, mitigate the negative impact of social isolation, and provide high quality creative engagement opportunities for vulnerable older adults in long term residential care with limited cultural access. Music At Work seeks to address the unique needs of the elderly population by harnessing the therapeutic power of music. This programme will consist of music sessions, live performances, and collaborative activities tailored to stimulate memory, foster social interactions, and enhance overall quality of life.

Tea, Chats & Tunes is an innovative live music engagement programme that enriches the lives of residents in care communities across Meath and Louth. Through interactive and person-centered music sessions, the programme creates meaningful connections between residents, musicians, and healthcare staff, transforming residential healthcare settings into spaces of cultural exchange, joy, and shared creativity.

Care Concerts South Dublin will follow on from a successful programme of concerts in South Dublin between 2020-2024. Featuring three separate well known soloists on each visit, the concerts will also feature a well-known local poet Colm Keegan, who will create and perform new works based around this project. The concerts will take place in five different care home settings, and will include four visits in total per setting over the duration of the project.

Mid-West Musicians-on-Call is an innovative initiative that brings high-quality live music to residents and healthcare staff in residential care settings for older people across Limerick, Tipperary and Clare. This project is designed to create a vibrant, engaging, and person-centered musical experience that enhances the well-being of residents and fosters stronger relationships between residents, healthcare staff, and musicians. It will prioritise cultural interactions rather than clinical outcomes, focusing on the transformative power of live music to promote social connections, memory stimulation, and emotional well-being. The programme empowers residents, ensuring they are not just passive listeners, but active participants in a musical journey tailored to their preferences and interests.

Musical Memories in Laois will bring inclusive sessions of music and song to members of the community in care homes led by a professional team of musicians and choral directors. This initiative will enhance capacity, foster growth, and bring the proven benefits of music and song to even more locations across Laois.

Healthcare Hoolies is an ambitious live music initiative planning to deliver over 68 live music performances across 34 locations aimed at enhancing the quality of life for older adults living in healthcare facilities across County Cork. Performances will feature a variety of musical genres, engaging residents, staff, and family members through uplifting, high-quality cultural experiences. Each performance will be informed by a community consultation phase, giving residents and families a voice in shaping the programming to reflect their musical preferences.

Care Concerts presented by Creative Waterford will feature well known soloists on each visit to four different settings. Local poet Lani O’Hanlon will be present at two of the concerts, interacting with all stakeholders before and after the experience. She will then create and perform new works in response to the concerts.