Apply for Young Ensembles Scheme (Ireland)

The Young Ensembles Scheme has two strands. You should choose the strand that is most suitable for your ensemble and for your proposal. You may only apply to one strand.

Strand 1: This strand is for ensembles that wish to undertake a process or project that will develop the practice and experience of the young people involved. Applicants may be new or established ensembles and must demonstrate their capacity to develop and deliver a high-quality artistic process.

Strand 2: This strand is for ensembles that wish to undertake a larger-scale process or project that develops the work of the ensemble Applicants must be established ensembles with a track record of delivering high-quality artistic processes or projects.

Priorities

• For both strands, priority will be given to applications that demonstrate the following:
  • Young people have played a role in developing the proposal, and will play a central role in shaping, delivering, documenting and evaluating the project.
  • The proposal will ensure a high-quality artistic process that is ambitious and original, provides a challenging and rewarding experience for the participants, and enables them to develop their artistic skills.
  • The proposal will ensure young people have ownership of the work they undertake. This may mean they actively engage in the process of devising, creating, composing or designing an original piece of work or artistic initiative, or that they engage in a process of exploring, interpreting or reimagining a given script/composition/artistic work or series of works in a way that enables them to make it their own.
  • The proposal is youth-led, or will actively support and develop youth leadership in the arts.
  • The ensemble will benefit from the expertise, support or mentorship of professional artists or arts organisations.
  • The proposal includes a presentation or sharing of work or work in progress. This may be small in scale (e.g. for participants and families) or for a wider audience.
  • The proposal includes evidence of the ensemble’s artistic activities or work produced to date, and how funding will enable the participants to develop their experience further. (In the case of a new ensemble, evidence of other relevant projects in which the young people or artistic mentors have been involved should be demonstrated.)

Funding Information

• The maximum award available under Strand 1 is €10,000.
• Applicants to Strand 2 may apply for an amount that is greater than €10,000 but no more than €25,000.

Eligible Costs

• You can include disability access costs within your application and there are two types that you can apply for:
  • Participant or personal disability costs
  • These supports should remove barriers for artists or participants with disabilities who are delivering your proposal. For example:
    • You
    • The main artists, individuals, groups, or organisations involved in your proposal
    • Partners or collaborators
    • Production staff
    • Core staff or key administrative personnel.
    • Examples of support may include:
    • An ISL interpreter for a participant or participants
    • Services of an access support worker
    • Additional rehearsal or studio time.
  • Audience disability access costs
  • These are costs for making your work accessible to persons with disabilities and should be considered a normal part of your work. They want to ensure that more people enjoy high quality arts experiences and that everyone can access and enjoy the work they fund.
  • Example of access costs to make your work accessible to your audience may be:
    • Having an ISL interpreter for your event or performance
    • Using an audio-description service
    • Making your website compatible with screen readers
    • Producing exhibition materials in other formats such as in Braille or audio.
  • Note: You should include audience disability access costs in the total amount that you request. They must be within the maximum amount available for the award.

Ineligible Costs

• You may not apply for activities and costs that:
  • Are major capital or equipment purchases
  • Are ongoing core costs
  • Are course fees or expenses to support full-time training programmes for individuals
  • Are artistic fees for the young-ensemble members (you may, however, apply to cover expenses that will enable young people to participate and for stipends for youth leaders)
  • Do not fit the purpose of the award
  • That have already taken place or which will have commenced before a decision on your application will be made
  • Are for fundraising for other organisations by registered charities
  • Are for participating in a competition
  • Are for profit-making
  • Take place in a formal education context (i.e. school or college)
  • Have already been assessed by the Arts Council, unless you demonstrate that you have developed the proposal since previously applying or if the Council has specifically advised you to redirect your application to this award. Please bear in mind that such advice is not an indication of a successful outcome.

Eligibility Criteria

• The Young Ensembles Scheme is open to ensembles whose members are young people between the ages of ten and twenty-four. Examples include:
  • Youth theatres
  • Youth film, animation or digital-media groups
  • Youth dance groups
  • Youth circus, spectacle or street-theatre groups
  • Youth orchestras
  • Youth choirs
  • Young bands
  • Young traditional-music groups
• Young critics/curators The award is open to groups that do not define themselves as ensembles but take a similar, collective, approach to creating or engaging with art. This includes:
  • Groups of young visual artists who collaborate to create work or exhibitions of their work
  • Groups of young poets or writers who publish or perform work together
  • Groups of young people who combine a number of artforms to create shared performances/events
  • Groups of young people who critically engage as audiences or readers with one or more artforms, and who share their responses and insights with others
• The award is open to individuals and organisations resident in the Republic of Ireland. However, they may accept applications from outside the Republic of Ireland. In this case, you must detail in your application form how your proposal would benefit the arts in the Republic of Ireland. They would need to be satisfied with your explanation.

Ineligibility Criteria

• Applicants seeking to create work for children and young people but in which children and young people are primarily consumers rather than active participants in developing the artistic initiative.
• Professional artists. However, ensembles are encouraged to partner with professional artists as mentors and collaborators, and may apply for fees to pay these artists for their time and support.
• Applicants seeking to pay fees to ensemble members. Professional ensembles should instead consider applying for other Arts Council schemes and supports.
• Commercially driven schools, institutions or companies.
• Primary and post-primary schools and third-level institutions.
• Applicants in receipt of Arts Council Strategic or Arts Centre Funding in 2025. (However, applicants may avail of support from organisations in receipt of Strategic or Arts Centre Funding as partners, collaborators or mentors).

For more information, visit The Arts Council.