Western Care empowers people with a wide range of learning and associated disabilities in County Mayo to live full and satisfied lives as equal citizens. It is a voluntary organisation, made up of parents/family members, service users, staff, supporters, and volunteers.  

Mayo Arts & Disability Work

Art is often a successful means to engage members of Western Care. With this in mind, for several years, Western Care has partnered with Arus Inis Gluaire in Belmullet, a community-led arts centre, to work with Western Care members. Through that partnership, they have found that music is a successful and engaging art form for Western Care members. It is accessible by all of the service users, perhaps most noticeably with non-verbal service users.

Music can in itself be a form of communication, and in working toward the goal of enhancing communication among its members, Western Care is raising funds to launch a drumming circle with Peter Crann, a founder of We Drum Ireland, one of the finest music facilitator companies in the country. He has deep experience working with people with disabilities. The aim of the project is for Western Care members to gain confidence in public performance and interaction. The project will culminate in a public concert, open to the public, taking place on Disability Awareness Day.

In addition to the music component of this project, Western Care is working with the Luisne Art Project to deliver various classes and workshops focused on painting, ceramics, and multimedia work. They are looking to build on this work and deliver a ceramics workshop over 4 months with ceramics artist Amanda Hickey. 

The Luisne Art Project is a nationally recognized arts program for people with disabilities, based in Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo. The aim of the program has been to establish a long-term art project of quality, which responds to the talents and needs of the participants of the Crann Mór centre. It recognizes the importance of art and creativity as a positive and powerful force in the lives of the individuals.

This project will allow the artists to work with other community groups and to present their work to the public as a permanent piece of ceramic art in a popular space in the locality. The Luisne artists will build on what they have learned and continue to work on a ceramic art installation based on shadow and light as their end of year piece of art.

You can help support the Mayo Arts and Disability Project by donating to Western Care.