Revenue Grants

All applicants must be within the Dublin City Council Administrative Area. Click here for Map 

Revenue Grants are for Arts organisations that contribute to the realisation of the priorities and goals of Dublin City Council in a strategic way, and can act as effective advocates and promoters of the arts to the public, to partners in other agencies and public bodies. A grant of €10k is guaranteed to each successful applicant.  

Any increase on €10K will only apply to an application that has excellent content, with an emphasis on diversity, social inclusion and equality of opportunity. Applicants in this section may apply to other categories but if successful in revenue will only be offered a revenue grant. Previous revenue grant recipients should not presume repeated levels of grant aid.  

A note on diversity: 
Dublin City Council through all of its programmes wants to engage with all of the residents and visitors to Dublin. We know that some may feel excluded for physical, cultural, economic, racial, gender or other reasons and as a Local Authority we want to address this exclusion and celebrate the diversity of Dublin.  

As an applicant for an Arts Grant please let us know how you address diversity whether by including and encouraging diverse practitioners or participants in your programme or through engaging with diverse audiences. The main evidence for your understanding of diversity, accessibility and inclusion will be evidenced by:  

• Policy documents and implementation. 
• Specific marketing to diverse audiences. 
• Collaboration and inclusion of diverse practitioners and Artists. Partnership with organisations that increase your knowledge and skills in the area of diversity. As diversity is a developing area for the Arts and for Arts Grants it is not expected that you would be equally proficient in all areas but that you are aware of the importance of diversity, accessibility and inclusion and are taking concrete steps to continually learn and increase your ability.

1. Artistic Ambition (30%)

   1. Artistic quality and innovation in work programme.   
   2. Significant contribution to artistic and professional development and employment of Artists.   
   3. Demonstrated approach to increasing equality of opportunity for diverse artists and arts workers. 
       

2. Public Engagement (30%)   

   1. Providing opportunities for the City’s diverse communities to participate in the arts in ways that are meaningful to them.   
   2. Clear and ongoing audience development and communication strategy.   
   3. Increasing public understanding of and relationship to art forms and art works.   
   4. Working in collaboration with others to enhance systems of support for areas of the City that currently have low levels of arts provision. 
   5. Diversity and Inclusion Policy and policy documents. 

   6. Evidence of collaboration or inclusion of diverse artists and / or marketing to diverse audiences.  

       

3. Strategic Leadership (20%) 

   1. Demonstrating awareness of diverse audiences, practitioners and participants with existing and developing programmes that cater for an increasingly diverse City.   
   2. Demonstrating expertise and ability to collaborate with non-arts sector organisations and bodies.   
   3. Working in collaboration with others to enhance systems of support for the arts sector at a local, City and international level.   
   4. Sharing information and ideas to create greater depth of engagement and sharing of good practice, success stories, learning experiences or all of the above.   

   5. Evaluation, communication and advocacy.    

       

4. Governance and Management (20%) 

   1. In continuous operation for minimum 3 years. 
   2. Evidence of strong governance, fair and transparent processes (including accountability and equality of opportunity). 
   3. Demonstrate sound financial management (most recent audited accounts must be supplied) and revenues generated from other sources of funding (minimum 50% matching).  Failure to demonstrate this will result in application being ineligible.  
   4. Provide details of fair and equitable fees for all artists involved.  
   5. Professional administrative infrastructure. 
   6. Demonstrated adaption and resilience in response to changing contexts.

Download our guidance document below which explains the application questions in greater detail. We recommend printing this and keeping it beside you through the process.     

PDF Version 

Word Version

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.  

Assessment of Neighbourhood, Voluntary & Community Mentoring Applications will be supported by the Area Offices of Dublin City Council through their Community Development section. All applications will then be 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.