Twelve schools and education centres in Limerick are joining the Arts Council’s Creative Schools programme for 2026–27, part of a national cohort of 156 schools and Youthreach centres. The new group will spend two years working with a Creative Associate to develop a plan that brings arts and creative activity into each participating setting. Limerick’s Live95 reported that twelve schools and youth centres across the city and county received a combined €52,000 in programme funding.
The names span the county and city: Bulgaden National School, Castletroy College, Coláiste Nano Nagle, Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board, Murroe National School, Our Lady’s Abbey Girls’ School, Scoil Naomh Iósaf, Shanagolden National School, Shountrade National School, St. John The Baptist Boys National School, St. Nicholas’ National School and Children’s Ark School at University Hospital Limerick. The Arts Council’s official 2026–27 participant list includes all twelve.
Creative Schools is structured around a plan, rather than a single arts event. The Arts Council says participating schools work with a professional Creative Associate over two years to shape activities around their own setting. Awardees normally receive €4,000, while the council says this year’s hospital-based schools will receive a larger allocation and more time with their Creative Associates. It does not publish a school-by-school allocation in the material reviewed, so the local €52,000 total should not be divided into assumed individual awards.
Children’s Ark School is the Limerick participant identified with University Hospital Limerick. Nationally, ten schools in hospital settings are joining the programme this year. The Arts Council says those settings will receive extra funding and support so children can access the programme while in hospital. The public announcement does not describe what activities Children’s Ark will choose, or how its plan will be delivered, so those details remain for the school and its Creative Associate to develop.
The national cohort also includes 16 special schools, 45 DEIS schools, nine Irish-language-medium schools and six Youthreach centres, according to the Arts Council. Those figures describe categories within the full national group and should not be added together as if they were separate, non-overlapping totals. The council says it prioritizes applications from DEIS schools, rural settings and special schools as part of its effort to include children and young people whose voices are less often heard.
The programme leaves room for each setting to choose a direction. The Arts Council describes possible work ranging from exploring new creative forms to workshops, festivals and performances, while putting children and young people in a central role in planning activities. These are examples of what the wider programme can support, not a list of confirmed projects for the Limerick schools. Their individual plans have not yet been announced. The roster is a selection list, not a calendar: it confirms participants but does not say which creative disciplines each will explore or when activities will begin.
That distinction matters because the award marks the start of a process, not a report of completed results. The initiative is meant to let schools build an approach that fits their students, staff and local community. The Arts Council says the new participants will work with Creative Associates as they develop those plans; the public sources available so far do not specify when each Limerick school’s activities will begin or what form they will take.
The Arts Council announced the 156 new participants on Oct. 13. Its 2026–27 roster provides primary confirmation of the Limerick names. Live95’s same-day report supplies local context, including the combined funding total. These sources describe a new cohort entering a two-year programme, not twelve finished projects or a measured change in student outcomes.
Creative Schools has been running since 2018. The Arts Council says more than 1,400 schools have participated since it began. For Limerick’s new group, the next step is the planning period: twelve distinct settings will work with creative partners to decide what arts activity belongs in their own classrooms, centres and hospital school. What those plans become will be specific to the people who make them.
Image note: These illustrative paintbrushes are used for painting on glass; they do not depict a Limerick school, its students, or a Creative Schools activity.
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