Following on from the Talking Festival Series 2020, the Festivals Team will host a programme of panel discussions for festival makers, artists making work in a festival context and festival stakeholders to discuss and share learning from 2020 and the forthcoming challenges presented in 2021.

The Arts Council will be holding an open online Funding Information Clinic to provide an overview of the funding opportunities available to circus, spectacle and street artists in 2021. The clinic will be led by Head of Circus, Street Arts & Spectacle Davide Terlingo, Circus, Street Arts & Spectacle Adviser, Adam O’Keeffe and a member of the team.

This clinic will take place on Wednesday 10 March at 11am via Zoom.

In its ten year strategy Making Great Art Work, the Arts Council is committed to leading the development of the Arts in Ireland. Informed by key goals of Arts Council theatre policy, and following a process of consultation and development, the Council is delighted to announce the launch of a two year pilot scheme which aims to support independent theatre makers at all stages of their careers.

Over the past year, the Arts Council has introduced a number of funding schemes and initiatives which aim to support artists and arts organisations during the Covid-19 pandemic. A number of these are available to festivals to support their capacity building, professional development and work with artists.

The Arts Council and Waterford Healing Arts Trust (WHAT) have announced details of a new online series designed to support the wellbeing of arts professionals in Ireland, with particular reference to the Covid-19 pandemic. Entitled Surviving or Thriving? the series of panel discussions, workshops and podcasts, which is open to all those working in the arts in Ireland, aims to strengthen resilience, restore confidence and promote connectedness across the arts sector.

From Access to Inclusion is an Arts and Culture Summit that gathers the most thought-provoking leaders and advocates from across the globe. This dynamic international Summit is a unique opportunity to exchange ideas and discover new and innovative ways to create accessible and inclusive experiences.

The Arts Council has published a ‘request for tender’ document to contract regional co-ordination services for the Creative Schools initiative.

All relevant information is available to download from http://www.etenders.gov.ie/

The deadline to submit tenders via www.etenders.gov.ie  is 12.00hrs on 2nd April 2021

The upcoming deadline of the 15 April 2021, for the Theatre Project Award will be a development round only with Strand 1 (Play Development) and Strand 2 (Theatre Creation).  

The usual larger round offering all four strands will be take place as normal in the Autumn.  The award is open to artists with a demonstrable track record in professional theatre practice and the upcoming round is designed to support the creation and development of theatre pieces.

The deadline for the next round of the Arts Council's Commissions Awards is Thursday, 29 April 2021 at 5.30pm

The window for making an application opens on Tuesday, 30 March, 2021.

The deadline for the Young Ensembles Scheme is Thursday 15 April 2021 at 5:30pm. The primary purpose of the Young Ensembles Scheme is to support groups of young people between the ages of ten and twenty-four to create or actively engage with ambitious and original work together in any artform. The scheme has two strands. To support young ensembles to apply for the Young Ensemble Scheme we will host a webinar on Monday, March 15^th.

Scoileanna Ildánacha/Creative Schools are delighted to announce an exciting opportunity for schools/centres to apply to participate in the initiative. Schools/centres may apply from 6 April and the deadline is 17:30, Thursday 6 May 2021.  

Speak Up & Call It Out began as a theatre sector initiative led by Irish Theatre Institute (ITI), supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, following the events and revelations in 2017/18 in relation to the abuses of power, and in line with global calls to action.

Minding Creative Minds Ireland's (32 county and Irish overseas) first 24/7 mental health and wellbeing support programme is now open to the entire Irish Creative Sector and is holding its third Meet and Greet Session on 15 March.