After 20 years as a learning disability nurse manager, Martina Bell established Artspace to help support her local community. She had identified gaps in the provision of day care provision for clients with behavioral challenges in communication and enduring mental ill health issues.
Project: Artspace CIC
Location: Derry, Co. Derry
Sector: Health and Social Care
This unique social enterprise offers art and wellbeing programs for people with physical, sensory and learning disabilities in order to enable them to develop holistically and provide them with essential job skills.
Each week over 200 people benefit from day opportunities and multi-sensory programs at Artspace and the organization provides employment for 13 staff.
Community Finance Ireland were delighted to collaborate with Artspace last year on the development of new premises, providing the organisation with a loan from our ‘Building Better Futures Fund’.
“The role of Artspace day opportunities is to meet the training needs of people with additional needs. Our priority is to meet these needs in a creative, supportive, and nurturing environment via a stimulating, person-centric, inclusive program. In addition, our new catering school at Artspace2 will offer 10 training places daily. Participants learn to engage with other people and build job skills that could help them secure future employment.”
Martina Bell Director Artspace
