Cultural Funding

The Arts Council of Ireland is the Irish government agency for developing the arts. Funding is awarded annually in a variety of schemes across all artforms, encompassing funding for festivals, major organisations, individual artists, projects, series etc.

The Travel & Training Award supports Irish artists to travel abroad for courses, masterclasses, training, professional development etc. It can also support Irish artists or organizations to bring international specialists to Ireland to create high-level training in Ireland.

Culture Ireland is Ireland’s cultural export bureau, promoting Irish arts worldwide. They create and support opportunities for Irish artists and companies to present and promote their work at strategic international festivals and venues. They develop platforms to present outstanding Irish work to international audiences, through showcases at key global arts events, including the Edinburgh Festivals and the Venice Biennales.

Regular Culture Ireland funding can support Irish artists to travel to performances abroad, covering travel and accommodation costs.

The See Here programme can assist towards costs of bringing international programmers to Ireland to see Irish work (particularly a range of Irish work) with a view towards booking for a festival/venue/series

The Arts Council of Northern Ireland is the development and funding agency for the Arts in Northern Ireland.

They distribute public money and National Lottery funds to develop and deliver a wide variety of arts projects, events and initiatives across Northern Ireland.

Local authority arts offices provide funding for events, festivals, bursaries, etc. which occur within their area. Local authorities exist by county in Ireland. Some local authorities cover more than one county, dependent on size. Some larger counties have more than one local authority, e.g. Cork City Council & Cork County Council. Each local authority can have different funding structures.

Contact details for local authority arts officers