The Creative Clusters programme brings together small groups of three to five schools or YouthReach centres, lets them choose a creative theme or challenge, supports them to work together as a team on their project over two years and helps them connect with their local community. Each group gets funding of up to €15,000 to help run the project and is supported by a trained facilitator and their local Education Support Centre to bring it to fruition.

Up to €575,000 has been made available for the Creative Clusters beginning in September 2026, enabling up to 210 schools or YouthReach centres to come together across 42 clusters.

Minister Naughton said:

“Creative Clusters represent a wonderful model of partnership and connection that celebrates youth voice as central to the initiative. By working together, school communities can explore their own creativity while also connecting with the wider community to enhance their learning.

“The active participation of each group, along with their collaboration with teachers and school leaders, will support innovation, problem-solving, and creative approaches to learning, teaching, and assessment. Clusters enhance engagement with the arts, STEM and other creative disciplines while enabling learners to develop their critical thinking skills through creative expression. I would encourage all interested schools to apply to take part.”

The application process will be open until Monday 20th April 2026.

Application forms can be accessed at Creative Clusters / Cnuasaigh Chruthaitheacha 2026-2028, with guidelines for applications accessible here.

Creative Clusters

Creative Clusters is an initiative of the Department of Education and Youth, led by and in partnership with full-time Education Support Centres Ireland (ESCI). One of five pillars of the Creative Ireland Programme, Creative Youth aims to enable the creativity of every child and young person.

Creative Clusters is a programme designed to foster creativity and strengthen collaboration across schools. Over a sustained two-year period, these communities work collaboratively, supported by local facilitators and full-time Education Support Centres, to address a shared learning challenge or explore a common theme through creative projects that reflect their own unique contexts and priorities. To date, Creative Clusters has given 875 schools in 253 clusters the opportunity to work together to develop creative projects and collaborate on new ideas based on their local experience and unique perspective.

Each Creative Cluster will receive funding of €3,000 per school over a two-year period to implement their project in the 2026–2028 school years. For example, a cluster of three schools would get €9,000 over two years while a cluster of five schools would receive €15,000 over two years.

The Creativity, Arts, and Culture in Education Hub/webpage provides details of all programmes and creativity, arts and cultural organisations supported by the Department of Education and Youth under Creative Youth 2023 – 2027 along with application information, access to research, examples of practice and insight on the national reach of Creative Youth in schools through the Department of Education and Youth’s Data Mapping Tool.