Arts Grants and Bursaries

Arts Grant

The Arts Grant supports diverse artistic activities based in County Sligo, particularly those that bring together professional artists and the broader community.  Artists and community collaboration is an arts process that actively involves the work of professional artists and community groups in creative and collaborative relationships.

Projects that involve collaboration between artists and groups (all artforms) will receive favorable review. Artists and groups (i.e. a community group or those working in the community, health and/or education sector) may apply for financial support from Sligo County Council Arts Service by submitting an application which demonstrates members of a group and an artist have collaborated and plan to work together in order to realise an artistic project. The project may for example culminate in an arts event or be a series of creative workshops.

Applications for individual artists’ projects or from a group of artists are also eligible. Artists or groups with an operational focus in the county of Sligo are eligible. Grant assistance is made primarily to cover the cost of artists’ fees/delivery of an arts project. Applicants are expected to raise income or other funding for the project. Sligo Arts Service does not wish to be the sole funding body but to be a financial contributor alongside local or other contributors.

Budget: The total available budget for the Arts Grant Scheme is €25,000 and it is unlikely that any grant allocated will exceed €2,000.

Amateur & Voluntary Arts Development Award

In 2008, Sligo Arts Service introduced a new grant scheme targeting amateur / voluntary arts groups with an operational focus in the county of Sligo. The award is intended to support projects or programmes of work designed to develop the ‘expertise and skills’ of the group’s members through engagement with professional practitioners. This award could also enable members of a group to attend training outside the county if it is approved, facilitated training. Proposals which involve collaboration between one or more groups will be particularly welcome.

Budget: The total available budget for the Amateur & Voluntary Arts Training Award is €2,000 and it is unlikely that grant allocation to any one application will exceed €1,000.

New Communities Arts Grant 

This grant recognises the value and the desirability of ‘sharing and exchanging’ arts practices and traditions from different cultures. Sligo Arts Service has established a modest fund to support the provision of arts work by non Irish individuals or groups based in Sligo town and county.  Applications are welcome from individuals, groups and those engaging with this sector and involved in intercultural arts activity.

Budget: The total available budget for the New Communities Arts Grant is €1,000.

Individual Artist Bursary

The purpose of an Individual Artist Bursary is to support professional artists or a group of artists at all stages in their careers in the development of their arts practice. The aim of the bursary is to allow artists, working in any context or in any art form, to buy time, space and freedom to concentrate on a body of work and assist in accessing the equipment, facilities and third party expertise identified to develop practice. For professional development opportunities, such as masterclasses, workshops / short courses, the course (description, dates, times, location and cost) must be detailed.

Budget: The total available budget for the Individual Artist Bursary is €7,000 and it is unlikely that any grant allocated will exceed €2,000.

The Fred Conlon Residential Studio Bursary

This is a unique opportunity for an individual visual artist, particularly a sculptor, to reside for two months in the purpose built studio and independent accommodation in Easkey, Co. Sligo and a further month long residency at the Leitrim Sculpture Centre. Located in west Sligo the newly built, ground floor spacious studio, was designed to foster creativity and accommodate visual artists working in several different mediums, particularly sculptors.  The residency must be completed within the period from September 2010 to March 2011. Open to artists:- regional, national and international visual artists, at different stages of their career, applicants will be required to have a third level qualification in art or an equivalent record of application and achievement. The residency is for visual artists who desire to advance their work or create a new body of work.  Selection will be by competitive application, shortlisting and interview.

The John O’Leary Fine Art Graduate Award

For Final Year Fine Art Degree Students (Level 8) in Institute of Technology, Sligo only. This award valued at over €7,000, was introduced by Sligo County Council in Space for Art Sligo Arts Plan 2007-2012, in consultation with Sligo Art Gallery and the Fine Art Department, Institute of Technology Sligo (IT Sligo). The award will be accorded to an under-graduate student who has shown promise of artistic excellence in the visual art field and will support a graduate artist with studio time, materials, a solo exhibition, and a printed catalogue for the exhibition. The selected candidate must be able to demonstrate commitment to their art work and to advancing their own practice.

Further Information and Application Forms are available to download from www.sligoarts.ie.

It is important that each applicant reads the Conditions and Criteria document carefully. All applications are assessed by an Independent Panel, administered by Sligo Arts Service and approved by the Members of Sligo County Council. Please note that late and/or incomplete applications will not be accepted.

Telephone: 071 911 1826  
Email: sleavy@sligococo.ie   
Web: www.sligoarts.ie / www.sligococo.ie