The Arts Council Opera Projects and Production Award (Ireland)

The award is intended to support the making and presentation of opera and to provide opportunities for artists in line with the Arts Council’s published policy and strategy for opera.

In each of the three strands of the award, priority will be given to applications that demonstrate:

• A clear artistic vision and evidence that the proposed project is or is likely to be of high artistic quality.
• Significant development opportunities for professional opera practitioners.
• A clear alignment with the Council’s policy and strategy priorities for opera.

Award Strands

• Strand 1: Opera Projects: Project Development
  • The purpose of the Project Development strand is to support artists and creative teams to develop new work (or, on occasion, to develop significant new presentation approaches to existing work). In this strand, while the work should ultimately be intended for public presentation, there is not a requirement to present the work to an audience.
  • Priority in this strand will also be given to proposals that:
    • Focus on collaboratively developing new ideas through innovation and experimentation
    • Deliver significant development opportunities to practitioners
    • Provide evidence of a high quality artistic focus. The track record of the key artists will be taken into account.
• Strand 2: Opera Projects: developmental presentation & smaller-scale full production
  • The primary purposes of this strand are to:
    • Facilitate the public presentation of professional work as part of a developmental creative process
    • To provide evidence and impetus to support later opportunities for full production
    • To support full production and presentation of small-scale work.
  • Projects in this strand must engage an audience appropriate for the nature of the work. Proposals may be for a full production, workshop performance or a concert performance of all or part of a work. Proposals can include, as appropriate, an audio or video recording as part of the project. Applicants are encouraged to consider reaching audiences by a variety of means.
  • Individual applicants to this strand must be able to clearly demonstrate that the project (including its public-presentation aspect) is feasible, ideally on the basis of a partnership commitment from an experienced producer such as a producing company, a theatre/venue, an established festival and/or another arts organisation.
  • Priority in this strand will be given to proposals that:
    • Are high-quality artistic projects that demonstrate a strong and imaginative approach; relevant samples of work and the track record of the key artists involved will be taken into account.
    • Are presented to an appropriate public, with a clear plan for reaching that public.
    • Involve the development and presentation of new opera.
    • Involve the preparation and public presentation of new performing editions of historic Irish opera.
    • Demonstrate evidence of a capacity to realise the project successfully – e.g. by the contribution of value-adding partnerships and evidence of sound production planning and budgeting.
• Strand 3: Opera Production
  • The purpose of the Opera Production strand is to support full professional productions of complete operas of either new or existing work of medium or larger scale of any genre, reaching and engaging with substantial live and other audiences, and providing opportunities for professional operatic artists in the process. Applications that include well designed elements to reach and develop new audiences for opera are encouraged.
  • In reaching audiences, the emphasis of the award is on encouraging a collaborative approach to high quality opera production based on value-adding partnerships between artists, producers and presenters.
  • Priority in this strand will be given to proposals that:
    • Are high-quality production proposals that demonstrate a strong and imaginative approach (relevant samples of work and the track record of the key artists involved will be taken into account)
    • Evidence a clear commitment and well-grounded, detailed plans to maximise public reach and engagement, both in terms of live audiences and audiences reached through other means
    • Provide opera repertoire that meets particular audience need as part of a balanced national opera provision
    • Proposals that reach particular audiences as part of a balanced national spatial and demographic provision
    • Demonstrate appropriate experience, sound planning and budgeting of opera production
    • Show strong and credible plans for maximising production income from sources other than Council funding
    • Use feasible, efficient models of production with appropriate value-adding partners.

Funding Information

• There are three bands of funding available corresponding to the three strands of the Opera Projects and Production Award:
  • Strand 1: Opera Development: up to a maximum of €25,000
  • Strand 2: Opera Developmental Presentation: up to a maximum of €120,000
  • Strand 3: Opera Production: up to a maximum of €450,000 (Note: full production funding requests for less than €50,000 should instead apply to Strand 2).

Who can apply?

• To be eligible to apply, applicants must be resident/based 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 Arts Council would need to be satisfied that the outcomes of any such proposal would benefit the arts in the Republic of Ireland.
• Organisations (such as producing venues) in receipt of Strategic Funding or Arts Grant Funding may apply, provided that any activity and related funding is demonstrated to be additional to, and separate from, the activities for which that organisation has received Strategic Funding or Arts Grant Funding.
• Strategic Funding opera companies may, on occasion, play a positive role in supporting or partnering with OPP applicants. In such instances, the applicant and the supporting company must verify that the support offered and the proposed role of the funded organisation is additional to, and separate from, the activities for which that organisation has received Strategic Funding, and that the supporting opera producer will not publicly or otherwise present the work as its own production or co-production.

Who cannot apply?

• Applicants who are not eligible to apply include the following:
  • Opera companies in receipt of Strategic Funding.
  • Individuals or organisations who do not have a demonstrable track record as professional artists/producers/organisations.
  • Individuals who are currently in undergraduate or postgraduate education or who will be during the period for which this award is offered.
  • Members of the Council of National Cultural Institutions (CNCI) directly funded by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.

For more information, visit The Arts Council.