Funding opportunities

Agility Award

The Agility Award supports individual professional artists and arts practitioners who have not been previously funded as an individual by the Arts Council. It focuses on enabling artists to develop their practice, develop their work and develop their skills.

Arts and Disability Connect Scheme Round 1

The Arts and Disability Connect Scheme supports artists with disabilities and disabled artists to develop their practice and connect with other professional artists and arts organisations in Ireland. 

Creative Schools

The Creative Schools initiative supports schools to put arts and creativity at the heart of children’s and young people’s lives, enhancing their learning experience. It focuses on enabling schools to develop a Creative Schools plan over two years, working with a Creative Associate.

Touring of Work Scheme 2026 – Round 1

The Touring of Work Scheme supports the touring of work across Ireland by individual artists and organisations. It focuses on making great art from different artforms available to more people throughout the country.

Festivals Investment Scheme – Round 1

The Festivals Investment Scheme supports small-to-mid-scale festivals to deliver high-quality arts experiences for audiences. It focuses on programmes engaged with, and relevant to, local communities or communities of interest.

Authored Works

The Authored Works scheme provides film artists with the creative and editorial freedom to make a feature-length authored cultural film work from a strong artistic point of view. It focuses on the creation of artist-led films.

Reel Art

Reel Art supports individual film artists to make highly creative, imaginative and experimental documentaries on an artistic theme for cinema exhibition. It focuses on the creations of artistic film works on arts subjects.

Bursary Award – Round 2

The Bursary Award supports individual artists to develop their artistic practice. It focuses on providing artists with the time and resources they need to think, research, reflect, and deeply engage with their artistic practice.

Project Award 2026

The Project Award supports specific projects across various artforms. It focuses on enabling individual artists and organisations to bring their ideas to fruition and create excellent artistic work.

Irish-language Theatre Production and Touring Award

The Irish-language Theatre Production and Touring Award supports the production and touring of large-scale Irish-language theatre. It focuses on ensuring more people can enjoy high-quality theatre experiences in the Irish language throughout the country.

Strategic Funding 2026

Strategic Funding supports key arts organisations, ensuring their sustainability and capacity to deliver high-quality arts experiences. It focuses on the delivery of excellent artwork, services, events and activities that provide more people with the opportunity to enjoy high quality arts experiences.

Arts Centre Funding

Arts Centre Funding invests in and supports the infrastructure of arts centres required to sustain and develop the arts in Ireland. It focuses on year-round production and dissemination of arts activities, events and services of the highest quality throughout the country.

Visual Arts Workspace Scheme

The Visual Artists Workspace Scheme supports artists’ workspaces throughout Ireland to provide the best possible working environment for visual artists. It focuses on developing workspaces that accommodate at least four professional visual artists working on site.

Artist in the Community Scheme Round 2

The Artist in the Community Scheme supports artists and communities of place and/or interest to work together on arts projects across a diverse range of social and community contexts.

Partnership Funding

Partnership Funding invests in and supports the essential infrastructure required to sustain and develop the arts across Ireland.  It focuses on the development of arts programmes by local authorities and Ealaín na Gaeltachta.

Arts and Disability Connect Scheme Round 2

The Arts and Disability Connect Scheme supports artists with disabilities and disabled artists to develop their practice and connect with other professional artists and arts organisations in Ireland. 

Theatre Project Award 2026 – Round 2

The Project Award supports specific projects across various artforms. It focuses on enabling individual artists and organisations to bring their ideas to fruition and create excellent artistic work.

Festivals Investment Scheme 2026 – Round 2

The Festivals Investment Scheme supports small-to-mid-scale festivals to deliver high-quality arts experiences for audiences. It focuses on programmes engaged with, and relevant to, local communities or communities of interest.

Co-funding Award 2026

The Co-funding Award is designed to support Irish arts organisations towards their artistic activities under the European Cooperation Projects and European Platforms strands of the Creative Europe Programme 2021– 27.

Writers in Schools Scheme

The Writers in Schools Scheme part-funds visits by writers and storytellers to primary and post-primary schools throughout the island of Ireland.

Touring of Work Scheme – Advance Planning

The Touring of Work Scheme supports the touring of work across Ireland by individual artists and organisations. It focuses on making great art from different artforms available to more people throughout the country.

Touring of Work Scheme 2026 – Round 2

The Touring of Work Scheme supports the touring of work across Ireland by individual artists and organisations. It focuses on making great art from different artforms available to more people throughout the country.

International Residency Initiatives Scheme

This scheme supports art organisations, across all artforms, in the delivery of residency initiatives and to create opportunities for transnational exchange and cooperation. It focuses on enabling art organisations to initiate or consolidate collaborative frameworks with partners based abroad.

Children and Young People’s Arts Residency

Children and Young People’s Arts Residencies support artists or arts organisations to spend an academic year in residence in a higher education institution that provides qualifications in initial teacher education or early childhood education and care. The residencies are open to all artform and arts practice areas.

Arts in Early Learning and Childcare Scheme

The Arts in Early Learning and Childcare Scheme supports individual artists and organisations to partner with eligible services to develop opportunities for babies and young children to explore and enjoy the arts.  It focuses on collaboration between artists, early-years educators, school-age practitioners, families and carers to develop their capacity in this area.

Artist in the Community Scheme Round 1

The Artist in the Community Scheme supports artists and communities of place and/or interest to work together on arts projects across a diverse range of social and community contexts. 

Artist and Youth Work Residency Scheme

The Artist and Youth Work Residency scheme is designed to promote innovative partnerships between youth groups, artists and (where relevant) arts organisations, and support young people’s access to quality youth arts experiences in youth work settings.

Opera Projects and Production Award

The Opera Projects and Production Award supports individuals and organisations to develop and present opera at three distinct stages. It focuses on the development of work of high artistic quality, as well as supporting developmental presentations and fully staged professional presentations.

Creative Places Award

Creative Places supports local authorities, arts organisations and community development organisations to promote local engagement and participation in the arts in their communities. It has three strands that focus on participants at different stages of the Creative Places programme.

Arts Grant Funding 2026

Arts Grant Funding supports individual artists and organisations across multiple artforms to carry out multiple activities over a fixed period. It focuses on ensuring there is a breadth of high-quality arts activity and programmes throughout the country.

Joan Denise Moriarty Award

The Joan Denise Moriarty Award is offered in memory of former Irish ballet dancer, choreographer, teacher and director Joan Denise Moriarty. It focuses on supporting dancers to achieve their potential through professional training, either nationally or internationally.

Culture Night Late

Culture Night Late provides funding for late-night Culture Night events and activities that encourage public engagement with the arts in unique and accessible ways. It focuses on the key role of the arts in cultivating a vibrant and inclusive night-time economy in Ireland.

Dance Artist Residency Scheme

The Dance Artist Residency Scheme aims to support and sustain a network of dance artists in residencies across the country. It focuses on supports for individual dance artists to work in collaboration with arts organisations or local authorities. 

Deis Recording and Publication Award

The Deis Recording & Publication Award supports traditional arts projects or projects involving collaboration between the traditional arts and other artforms. It focuses on the recording or publication of work.

Commissions Award – Music, Opera, Festivals

The Commissions Award supports individual music and traditional arts artists and organisations, and festival organisers, to develop new work.  It focuses on work that can be presented in completed or work-in-progress form.

Young Ensembles Scheme

The Young Ensembles Scheme supports groups of young people between the ages of ten and twenty-four. It focuses on providing them with resources to create or critically engage with ambitious and original work together in any artform.

ilDÁNA

ilDÁNA supports the making of ambitious and cinematic long-form documentaries on the arts in Irish.

Bursary Award – Round 1

The Bursary Award supports individual artists to develop their artistic practice. It focuses on providing artists with the time and resources they need to think, research, reflect, and deeply engage with their artistic practice.