First Fortnight at Creative Spark
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CREATIVE Spark is hosting an event on Thursday as part of First Fortnight, the European mental health arts and cultural festival which sees a host of events taking place around Ireland in early January.
First Fortnight is a mental health arts charity that began as a kitchen conversation 10 years ago and has grown from one event to more than 150 events nationwide. In 2018 over 8,000 people attended First Fortnight festival events nationwide.
The Festival aims to start 2019 by challenging mental health stigma and using arts events to create open discussion and understanding of mental health problems.
Here in Dundalk, Creative Spark is inviting all those engaged in making art to join facilitators from Inspire Wellbeing and members of the Art as Exchange (AAEX) Artists’ Group.
This year’s event takes the theme of ‘ bringing the artist inside out, and invites people to bring their art and creativity out of the home or studio and into the community.
There will be an interactive community exhibition space to provide inspiration so that people can share their self-ex- pression and creative in the community.
This event will give them the opportunity to share art with like minded people, experience the creativity and self-expression of others, and connect with others.
A wide variety of art forms and creative endeavour will be represented including painting, poetry, photography, stitching, and printmaking.
There will an opportunity for participants to try their hands at different activities including flower painting, sewing and monoprint.
Central to the day’s events will be the creation of joint artistic pieces symbolising self-expression, with everyone getting the chance to contribute a small piece.
This event takes place from 12pm to 5pm and a healthy light lunch will be served. Nutritionist Rachel Graham from Eno will give a talk on the benefits of healthy eating at lunchtime.
It looks like being the perfect excuse to get out of the house on a gloomy miserable day and to
The event is free but booking is essential. Contact (042) 938 5720 or email hello@creativespark.ie