Project Summary:

Waterford Healing Arts Trust (WHAT) commissioned Connect the Dots to conduct consultation focus groups with stakeholders to feed into WHAT’s ongoing exploration of the ‘next steps’ in providing a central, national arts and health resource in Ireland.

CTD conducted a brief period of context analysis research to familiarise itself with WHAT’s work, the arts and health sector broadly, and WHAT’s ambitions to take the next step in the provision of a central, national arts and health resource in Ireland. The team worked with WHAT senior staff to develop a focus group plan with agendas and questions, identify and contact various stakeholders, facilitate the six focus groups, and capture the insights gathered in the sessions in a concise report.

Process

CONTEXT ANALYSIS: CTD first conducted a brief period of context analysis research to familiarise itself with WHAT’s work,and to understand understanding WHAT’s existing work practice and context.

COMMUNICATION DEVELOPMENT: Creation of focus group programme plan, communications to stakeholders, and focus group registration and feedback surveys.

FOCUS GROUP: The focus groups were each 1 hour long and held over Zoom with no more than 10 participants in each group. Each participant was sent a confidential brief document to familiarise themselves with the topic area about developing a central, national arts and health resource in Ireland.

REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS: A final report was prepared summarising the process and findings and was sent to the WHAT to form the next steps for creating a central, national arts and health resource in Ireland.

Outcomes of the Project

From start to finish we ensured a sustainable community engagement plan, allowing all views and outcomes to be discussed and disseminated with respect. The outcomes include:

• Providing a place for those is arts and health sector to have a safe space to voice opinions and concerns
• The findings then fed into a report that became part of the ongoing research
• Recommendations for ongoing strategy for a central nationwide Arts and Health resource