Bursary Awards
Applications for Arts Grants and Bursary Awards closed on 6 Nov 2024.
The next round will open Sept/Oct 2025.
All applicants must live within the Dublin City Council Administrative Area. Click here for Map
This award is not for the creation and presentation of new work to the public. It is for an individual artist to pursue a work plan that may include training, mentoring, research and capacity building in 2024.
Bursary 2024 applications are welcome from applicants of all artistic backgrounds.
Maximum Bursary Award €5,000.00.
Bursaries may be in the following arts disciplines: Architecture and Visual Art, Circus, Street Art & Spectacle, Dance, Film, Literature, Multi-Disciplinary, Music and Opera, Theatre, Traditional Art, Young People and Children Artist Bursary .
- Quality of existing work and Bursary proposal idea (40%)
- An introduction to your practice and description of your Bursary proposal
- C.V.
- Up to 6 examples of previous work
- Relevance and Timeliness of proposal to the development of your practice (30%)
- Recent achievements
- Key points of development so far and future facing plans and vision
- The reason you wish to pursue this line of action at this time and the impact you hope it will have
- Feasibility (30%)
- Details of the quality of study/training course proposed with a letter of offer where appropriate
- If you have an alternative approach to developing your practice outside of formal study, e.g. skills, action research, mentorship, you are encouraged to apply. You must however clearly outline the intended developmental impact on your practice
- If you have proposed using a mentor please include C.V. and rationale for this person
- Research method outline
- Work plan and clear budget in any artist fees in accordance with professional practice
Our team of Arts Officers offer information sessions ahead of the revenue arts grant deadline each year. These information sessions will be announced along with the release of the grant guidelines later this year.
The aim of our information sessions is to provide help and guidance with all aspects of the online application process. The information session will be led by the Arts Officer Team. The session consists of a 25-minute walk-through of the application form, followed by 20 minutes of questions and answers.
No applications will be accepted later than the official deadline.
Your application will be processed by members of the Arts Office Administrative team. Any applications that clearly fall outside the eligibility guidelines and criteria may be eliminated at this point. Dublin City Council reserves the right to redirect applications for consideration to appropriate categories other than those applied for, should it be deemed beneficial to the applicant to so do.
All applications will be considered by the Arts Officer Team reporting to the City Arts Officer. Independent Assessors (with relevant experience and expertise) support the Art Officer Team who will make recommendations on all eligible applications.
All applications will then assessed by a sub-committee of Elected Members of Dublin City Council from the Strategic Policy Committee.
An external assessor reviews the application process before the applications are submitted to the Elected Members. When approved by the sub-committee of Elected Members, final approval is sought from full meetings of the Elected Members of Dublin City Council.
The public presentation, or parts thereof, of your application must take place in the Dublin City Council Administrative Area. Click here for Map.
The company, artist or team shall ensure that there is compliance with all statutory requirements and local authority bye laws including adherence to Child Protection Policy.
Recipients of grants of €5,000 or more will have to comply with the 5 key principles of the Governance Code for Community, Voluntary and Charitable organisations. For an outline of the 5 key principles see governancecode.ie
Recipients of grants of €10,000 or more will have to supply a current tax clearance certificate or tax clearance access number prior to first instalment and for subsequent payments of the Arts Grant.
Dublin City Council is subject to provisions of the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) 1997, 2003. If you consider that any information supplied by you is either commercially sensitive or confidential in nature, this should be highlighted and the reasons for sensitivity specified. In such cases, the relevant material will, in response to an FOI request, be examined in the light of the exemptions provided for in the Acts.
For feedback, please email artsoffice@dublincity.ie Requests must be made no later than 20 days subsequent to the City Council meeting approving Arts Grants.
What makes an application ineligible?
Applicants must be residents in the Dublin City Council administrative area.
Applications for the purchase of equipment, marketing, administration costs and utilities are not eligible.
Named professional artists, mentors, supporting organisations must be evidenced in the proposal and joint artistic objectives must be clearly articulated.
Appropriate budgets and relevant supporting documentation must be included.
Do I live in the DCC Administrative Area?
If in doubt, please email us on artsoffice@dublincity.ie
Can I apply for both project and bursary awards?
Yes, but to be clear on what you are applying for. Bursary awards are for the development of your artistic practice whereas project awards have a very clear expectation of the creation of new work and its presentation to an audience and the public in Dublin.
Is there any estimate on how many artists in all categories are likely to apply?
We don't ask people to pre-register so we don't know how many applicants to expect.
Can I apply if I am in college?
You can apply if you are in or intending to go on a post graduate level course.
If you are applying for a course, we need to know you have a provisional offer to attend. A letter of acceptance for a course or residency or a provisional offer is best as it is a competitive process.
Will the bursary cover the cost of a course being undertaken at the time of the application, but which the artist may not be in a position to complete because of shortage of funds?
In terms of competitiveness, it can be harder to make a compelling argument of how this bursary will change your development if you are already doing the course it, but it's not impossible.
Is a mentorship allowable for a bursary?
Yes
Can I build a period of mentorship with various mentors (so the costs would be mainly made of their individual fees) as opposed to attending a specific course with a single course fee?
Yes, you can build your own mentorship programme with various mentors.
Would we need to have a mentor identified, do they need to submit documentation as well?
Yes, the assessor will need to know that the mentor has the experience appropriate to support you. A CV or biog or letter of support from your proposed mentor helps show you've asked them, and also helps show your plan is feasible.
Would the bursary include purchase of equipment eg camera, production costs?
Purchase of equipment costs are not eligible.
What do you mean by the term action research?
Action research can be setting out a plan of action in which you will learn something new about your practice. But this is not set within formal education. Explaining why this is important to the development of your practice right now is helpful for making a good case for this approach.
Can you give some examples of what capacity building might be for an individual artist?
Capacity building is the process by which individuals improve skills, knowledge, and other resources needed to do your practice competently. Explaining why this is important to the development of your practice right now is helpful for making a good case for this approach.
Would renting a studio space be an example of capacity building?
Yes you can rent a studio if that is the most useful thing to support your work at this time.
Would writing a screenplay at a residency for 3 weeks be covered by the bursary?
Yes a residency with a plan for making work over that time is describing your learning journey.
Can the proposed residency be outside dcc area (say Germany)?
Yes the residency or course can take place elsewhere. Considering how you may bring that learning back to Dublin is valuable to express to assessors as it is a Dublin City Council award.
Can you give more detail on what the budget should include in relation to 'buying time' living costs?
The budget for living costs should be allocated in proportion the intended costs of the bursary overall. This bursary is not fully for your living costs. Your time and/or a portion of your time, to make your proposal happen, should be costed out.
Could you explain a bit about what sort of details u are looking for under estimated income?
Income could be a scholarship, support from another funder, earned income, in-kind support from a venue or organisation.
Are there recommended guidelines re calculating artist fees as part of the budget?
Often resource organisations like VAI or Theatre Forum or Dance Ireland can suggest industry standards for payment related to experience.
How many supporting samples of work should I include?
Put in maximum five examples of your work, however, think about it from the assessment perspective, do not put in a lot of documentation expecting the assessor to find the best one. Put in examples of practice and clearly label what they are for the assessor.
Can we attach a timeline as an additional document if it exceeds the 500 words under "Feasibility"?
Yes, you can attach a timeline and budget breakdown in supporting documents.
Should you have a question not covered, please get in touch by emailing artsoffice@dublincity.ie or call us on 01 2225455
Should you have a question not covered, please get in touch by emailing artsoffice@dublincity.ie or call us on 01 2225455
