Welcome to the February edition of our newsletter

It’s been a busy start to the year here at the Arts Council, with many of our teams hosting information clinics around funding in recent weeks. It’s been heartening to hear from some first-time applicants at these clinics and we look forward to supporting them through the application process.

Last month, we hosted the first Night-Time Economy Annual Forum at the National Gallery of Ireland. We found it valuable to hear from a wide range of perspectives; no doubt there are many exciting opportunities for the arts and culture sectors in this field and we look forward to future discussions. 

You’ll see below that we’re currently seeking speaker submissions for the Festival Makers conference, which takes place on May 11^th and 12^th in the University of Galway and at the Town Hall Theatre.  We are presenting this in partnership with the Drama and Theatre Studies department at the university and with Creative Europe Desk Ireland, and we’re really looking forward to bringing together leading players from the Irish festival landscape to explore opportunities for development and collaboration.  We hope to see many of you there.

Finally, it’s been wonderful to observe the swell of support for the Irish and Northern Irish nominees at the 2023 Academy Awards. While not directly supported by the Arts Council, the success of these films on the world stage really shows what significant public investment in the arts in Ireland over a sustained period of time can deliver. A recent article by Colin Murphy, and an editorial in the Guardian, both make this point very well.

Congratulations to all the shortlisted actors and filmmakers, and to everyone involved in the making of these films. 
 
Maureen Kennelly
Director

Irish Tour of Ireland’s presentation at the 59th Biennale di Venezia  

2023 Visual Artists Workspace Scheme 

The Arts Council is delighted to announce the recipients of the 2023 Visual Artists Workspace scheme.  

This scheme offers grants up to €50,000 towards the running costs of visual artists’ workspaces. It aims to support artists’ workspaces throughout Ireland to provide the best possible working environment for visual artists and, where feasible, to enable a level of subsidy for the artists working in these spaces.  

This year, 30 studios/workspaces will be awarded funding supporting vital facilities for 950 practicing Visual artists across Ireland, in 13 counties; Cork, Clare, Dublin, Galway, Kilkenny, Leitrim, Limerick, Louth, Mayo, Monaghan, Tipperary, Waterford and Wicklow. 

Aosdána Welcomes New Member, Artist Jesse Jones  

Aosdána, elected one new member at its annual General Assembly in O’Reilly Hall, UCD Belfield, before Christmas. The newly elected member is Jesse Jones and brings the membership to 250 members.   

Jesse Jones is a Dublin-based artist. Her practice crosses the media of film, performance and installation. Often working through collaborative structures, she explores how historical instances of communal culture may hold resonance in our current social and political experiences. Jones’ practice is multi-platform, working in film installation, performance and sculpture. Her recent work proposes a re-imagining of the relationship between the Law and the body through speculative feminism.

Call for submissions – Festival Makers Conference   

The Arts Council seeks speaker submissions from festival organisations, festival stakeholders and artists making work in a festival context.  

The Arts Council in partnership with Drama and Theatre Studies at the University of Galway will present the Festival Makers conference on Thursday 11th and Friday 12th May 2023. As part of the programme, we are seeking short five minute in-person presentations which share developments with the festival sector. 

Artform Adviser and Assessment Services sought for Theatre 

From this month, the Theatre Team of the Arts Council will be running competitions for Adviser, Assessment, Critical Evaluation and Research Services for Theatre through our Artform Support Services Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS).  

We are looking for advisor, assessment, sub-assessment and research services. To be eligible to enter competitions for these services you will need to apply through and be accepted as a candidate of the Arts Council’s DPS.

Traditional Artist in Residence at University College Cork 

The Arts Council, in association with, The College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences (UCC) and the School of Film, Music, and Theatre (UCC), are delighted to announce the appointment of the renowned musician, composer and visual artist, Barry Kerr, as the Traditional Artist in Residence at University College Cork for 2023. Barry will deliver a series of concerts, workshops, and classes over the course of his 1-year residency, beginning in January 2023.   

Kerr will be hosted by The Department of Music at UCC where the study of Irish traditional music and dance has been pioneered for a century. 

Writer-in-Residence/Fellowship appointments for 2023 

The Arts Council has a long-standing partnership with a number of Irish universities offering Writer-in-Residence/Fellowship positions to provide university students with an opportunity to work with and learn from writers of distinction, and to enable writers to develop their work while in a position of relative financial stability. 

We are pleased to share the Writer-in-Residence/Fellowships appointments for 2023: 

Aifric Mac Aodha (DCU, Gaeilge); Sophie White (DCU); Paul Lynch (Maynooth University); Jessica Traynor (University of Galway); James Harpur (TCD); Lisa Harding (UCC); Victoria Kennefick (UCD). 

Supporting Writing in Irish: Arts Council policy and strategy for Irish language literature 

We are pleased to publish Supporting Writing in Irish. This publication sets out the current policy and strategy for literature in the Irish language as it aligns with the key objectives and desired outcomes of Making Great Art Work.

Together with its implementation plan, Supporting Writing in Irish outlines how – over the next three years – we will work to increase the visibility of Irish language literature, and affirm its place as a central part of our literary and cultural lives.    

Public Art - Promoting Per Cent for Art commissions  

We are interested to hear from artists and organisations who are embarking on or have just completed a commission funded under the Per Cent for Art Scheme, the government-funded scheme attached to public infrastructure projects. PublicArt.ie and its social channels are a resource for you to seek advice and share your opportunities and work.

We are also interested in documenting the outcomes of public art commissions and you can look back at some of our short films here. Keep in touch with us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter or email editor@publicart.ie 

Event and initiatives schedule for Festivals

We're delighted to announce events and initiatives for festivals in 2023:

Clinics: Information and application clinics are offered to festival organisations that wish to apply for funding; reporting clinics are offered to festival award recipients. Details can be found here.

Funding Opportunities: Festival funding opportunities are here and funding schemes available to festival applicants for 2023 is here    

Initiatives: The Arts Council in partnership with Drama and Theatre Studies at the University of Galway present the Festival Makers conference on Thursday 11th and Friday 12th May 2023. Ticket information will be advertised in late February.

Theatre Project Award funding clinic

The Theatre Team will be hosting a Project Award funding information clinic on February 22nd at 11:00am via Zoom. We will go through the guidelines the awards, changes from the last round, and how to apply. There will be a Q&A session at the end for any questions about the awards 

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. You can now view the recording of our 2023 General Funding Clinic here on our website. This recording also includes how to fill in the Theatre Project Budget Template.  

Festival funding clinics in February

The Arts Council will be hosting two online clinics for festival organisations on the 9th February  

The Festival Information Clinic takes place at 2pm, providing an overview of both the standard and new funding schemes which are available to festivals. To book a place please click here.  
   
The Commission Award Application Clinic takes place at 3.15pm, providing an overview of the Commissions Award for festival organisations. The purpose of the Commissions Award is to enable the commissioning of new work from freelance artists. To book a place please click here  

Please note: Separate registration is required for each event.

Funding opportunities – Young People, Children and Education   

The Arts Council is delighted to share details of funding opportunities in the area of Young People, Children and Education (YPCE). These include Commissions, the Young Ensembles Scheme, a new Arts in Early Learning and Care/School-Age Childcare Pilot and YPCE Residencies.   

As always, please get in touch with the YPCE team as early as possible if you have any questions. We can be reached at ypce@artscouncil.ie. 

Next Generation Artists’ Award 2023

The purpose of the Next Generation Artists’ Award is to support a group of promising artists across all disciplines at an early but pivotal stage in their career. Each Next Generation Artists’ Award recipient will receive €25,000 

Successful recipients will also be invited to take part, and contribute to ART: 2023, a partnership programme between the Arts Council and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media to mark the final phase of the Decade of Centenaries programme 2012–23.   

Applications open on Tuesday, 14 March and the deadline for this award is 5:30 p.m. on Thursday 13 April. 

Project Awards, Round 2 

The Arts Council's Project awards support specific project activities in Artchitecture, Circus, Dance, Film Street Arts & Spectacle, Theatre, Traditional Arts, and Visual Arts. The award is open to both individuals and organisations, but some restrictions apply.  

The window for making an application opens on Tuesday, 21 February 2023 and the deadline for the next round of the Arts Council's Project Awards is 5.30pm Thursday, 23 March 2023. 

The guidelines for each award are available on the available funding section of the Arts Council's website. 

Updates to Architecture Awards 

The Architecture team wishes to advise that from 2023 the Engaging with Architecture Scheme has been incorporated into the Architecture Project Award. Applicants wishing to create Public Engagement projects in architecture can apply to the dedicated Engagement strand within the Architecture Project Award while those wishing to develop work in this area can apply to the Research and Development Strand.  

The Architecture Project Award will now have three strands: Research and Development (up to €7,000), Production (up to €80,000) and Engagement (up to €25,000). Applicants will be asked to select from one of three strands when submitting an application. 

Culture Night Late  

Culture Night Late is designed to support innovative flagship late night events on Culture Night 22 September 2023. This award is in partnership with the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Night Time Economy Taskforce to offer audiences a greater diversity in their Culture Night experience. Max award €16,500 for flagship events or €750 to support late openings. Application Window opens Tuesday, 14th March 2023. Deadline: 5.30pm Thursday, 13th April 2023. 

Find out more at our online information clinic on Wed 1 March at 2pm. To register email eimear.kelleher@artscouncil.ie  

Creative Schools Week 2023  

The Creative Schools Team at The Arts Council is delighted to invite your school to join Creative Schools Week 2023, which will run from the 8 - 12 May. Creative Schools Week is a celebration of creativity in schools within curricular subjects or in separate projects and activities.

The theme for Creative Schools Week 2023 is ‘Creativity Lives Here! / Tá Beocht na Cruthaitheachta Anseo!’. The theme encourages school communities to pause and reflect on where creativity is evident in our lives, in every class, in every school and in the experience of every student.   

Creative Schools Week is open to every school and we warmly invite all schools to join in. 

Creative Associate Opportunities  

Opportunities for Creative Associates to work with the Creative Schools initiative from September 2023 will be announced on Arts Councils social media accounts in the coming weeks 

Creative Associates are artists or creative practitioners with a deep understanding of creativity and its potential to transform the lives of children and young people.  They are key to the success of the Creative Schools initiative.  

Each participating Creative School is assigned a Creative Associate who works in partnership with them to develop and implement a Creative School Plan. Creative Associates work in collaboration with the school to plan and implement a range of arts and creative opportunities which will provide ways to engage the whole school community.  

Creative Schools 2023  

Scoileanna Ildánacha/Creative Schools is delighted to announce the application date for the Creative Schools programme 2023.  

Schools and Youthreach centres interested in joining Creative Schools will be able to apply any time from 11 April until the application deadline, which is 17:30 Thursday 15 June 2023.     

Full details and application guidelines will be available later in the spring. In the meantime, if you are thinking about applying, please register your school or Youthreach centre as an organisation on the Arts Council’s ‘Online Services’ system here, so you will be able to access the application form as soon as it becomes available.  

Minding Creative Minds Counselling

In the first of a number of planned initiatives, Minding Creative Minds are very pleased to announce that they can now offer a twelve-session counselling model to the entire Irish Creative & Arts sectors.  Founder Dave Reid says; "Minding Creative Minds in association with Spectrum Life is delighted to now be able to offer twelve-session counselling model for anyone who works or is Involved within the Irish Creative or Arts sectors. A twelve-session counselling model means we can now accommodate even more people who require a medium-term intervention or counselling and care over a longer period." 

2023 Arts Act Funding for Wicklow

Wicklow County Council’s Arts Office invites applications for 2023 Arts Act Funding, designed to support artists, arts festivals, arts participation and art form development across Wicklow.  

This year, Wicklow Arts Office will be accepting applications for the Artist Award Scheme, Artist & Community Collaboration Award Scheme and Arts Festival Award Scheme. Applications are welcome from all art forms including film, music, visual arts, theatre, dance, literature, architecture, animation, performance, circus, traditional arts, music and drama. The deadline to apply is Monday 27th February 2023 at 4pm. 

Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Musician-in-Residence Scheme

Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council Arts Office and Music Network invite applications for the 2023 dlr Musicians-in-Residence Scheme.  
  
Now in its 9th year, the scheme provides musicians with space and time to create new work, develop their skills, collaborate with other artists and showcase their music.  
  
Successful artists will receive funding up to a maximum award of €5000, a space to work in and advice and mentoring to support their career development.