Submit Applications for Literature Project Award – Ireland

Objectives and Priorities

• The Arts Council has introduced a Literature Project Award in recognition of the changing landscape for literary work in Ireland. They are conscious that there are numerous ways in which literature reaches readers and audiences, and that writers are often working in new and innovative ways, often in collaboration with other writers or artists from other disciplines.
• With this in mind, the Literature Project Award has been developed to support projects that connect literature with readers and audiences. The Literature Project Award will also support projects that allow writers and illustrators to research, develop and create work in new and innovative ways.
• The Literature Project Award will support a wide range of activities, including, but not limited to:
  • Traditional publications
  • Digital publications
  • Digital presentations
  • Live literary and storytelling events
  • Readings
  • Talks
  • Recordings
  • Podcasts
  • Reader-development projects
  • Workshops
  • Residencies
  • Collaborative-writing projects
  • Spoken word/live literature
  • Experimental-writing projects/practices
  • Collaborative research and development
  • Innovative presentations
• Projects could be developed and delivered online/digitally or by more traditional means.
• Projects could involve fiction, poetry, children’s literature, children’s illustration, creative non-fiction, critical writing or translation.
• Potential applicants could be individual writers and/or illustrators, a group of writers and/or illustrators, publishers, journals, festivals, arts centres, libraries or bookshops.
• The Literature Project Award supports discrete activities and outcomes rather than a series of events or activities. Literature projects should have a defined beginning and end; ongoing activities can be supported through a number of other Arts Council funding programmes, including Strategic Funding and Arts Grants Funding.

Funding Information

• You may apply for up to €30,000.
• In addition to the normal limits stated above, the Arts Council will also consider costs specifically relating to the making of work by artists with disabilities. If you wish to apply for additional funding on this basis, you should provide information with your application outlining what these additional costs are.

Ineligible Funding

• Activities and costs that you may not apply for include the following:
  • Major capital purchases
  • Ongoing core costs
  • Activities that are more suited to another award funded by the Arts Council or operated by other state agencies, including Culture Ireland
  • Activities that have already taken place or which will have commenced before 1 March 2024
  • Activities undertaken for charity-fundraising purposes, for participation in a competition, or for primarily profit-making purposes
  • Activities that have already been assessed by the Arts Council, unless you demonstrate that you have substantively developed the proposal since previously applying or if the Council has specifically advised you to redirect your application to this award.

Eligibility Criteria

• The award is open to professional artists, groups of artists and organisations working in literature. To be eligible to apply, applicants must:
  • Be resident in the Republic of Ireland. There are certain exceptions where the Arts Council may deem eligible applications made by those based outside the Republic of Ireland. However, before admitting as eligible any such application, the applicant would need to explicitly outline within the application how the outcomes of any such proposal would benefit the arts in the Republic of Ireland, and the Arts Council must be satisfied with same.

Who cannot apply?

• Applicants who are not eligible to apply include the following:
  • Organisations currently in receipt of funding under the following Arts Council programmes: Strategic Funding, Arts Centre Funding, Partnership Funding – though the involvement of such organisations as partners is welcome
  • Individuals who work on an ongoing basis with organisations funded through any of the above programmes
  • Organisations or individuals in receipt of 2024 Arts Grant Funding
  • National Cultural Institutions (CNCI) (or their Council members) directly funded by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
  • Individuals or organisations who do not have a demonstrable track record as professional artists or organisations
  • Individuals currently in undergraduate education (including those undertaking foundation courses) or who will be during the period for which this award is offered
  • Individuals seeking support towards fees for postgraduate (including unaccredited)/higher education or study
  • Note: you cannot apply for the award both as an individual and as part of an organisation – e.g. you cannot apply as artistic director of a company and also apply separately under your own name. Applications that do so will not be prioritised and may be deemed ineligible for reapplication.

For more information, visit The Arts Council.