Call for Applications: Commissions Award (Ireland)

In general, the finished work may be in a form capable of being presented, exhibited, published, performed and/or disseminated in its entirety at the point of completion, or it may be capable of being presented as a work-in-progress, either live or online.

Categories

• Art form commissions:
  • Music
  • Opera
• Cross-arts-area commissions:
  • Festivals

Priorities

• Art form commissions:
  • Music: The award prioritises applications that:
    • Propose commissions of high artistic quality, in particular from Irish composers
    • Are planned to reach significant audiences through live performance, broadcast, recording and/or other audience channels, with a particular (though not necessarily exclusive) emphasis on audiences in Ireland
    • Provide for an extended life (further performances and/or extended public reach, digital dissemination, etc.) and impact for the work or project that has been created
    • Demonstrate a strong collaborative-engagement process between the commissioner, performers, audience and the commissioned artist(s) in the development and presentation of the new work
    • Demonstrate innovation and deepen the experience and understanding of the art form
    • Are from new types of commissioners, including non-professional performers of high standard.
  • Opera: The award prioritises applications that:
    • Propose commissions of high artistic quality, in particular from Irish composers and librettists
    • Are planned to reach significant audiences through live performance, broadcast, recording and/or other audience channels, with a particular (though not necessarily exclusive) emphasis on audiences in Ireland
    • Demonstrate a strong collaborative engagement process between the commissioner, performers, audience and the commissioned artist(s)in the development and dissemination of the new work
    • Demonstrate innovation, new or experimental ways of conceiving and presenting opera, and/or deepen the experience and understanding of the art form
    • Are from new types of commissioners, including non-professional performers of high standard
    • Provide for an extended life (further performances and/or extended public reach, digital dissemination, etc.) and impact for the work or project that has been created.
• Cross-arts-area commissions:
  • Festivals: The award prioritises applications that:
    • Enable artists from diverse backgrounds to be commissioned to create new and ambitious work for festival audiences
    • Enable commissions that foster the growth and development of Street Performance and Spectacle artists, and which support opportunities to test and present these works to audiences.

Funding Information

• Art form commissions:
  • Music: The maximum amount that may be awarded to each successful applicant is: €17,000.
  • Opera: The maximum amount that may be awarded to each successful applicant is: €45,000.
• Cross-arts-area commissions:
  • Festivals: The maximum amount that may be awarded to each successful applicant is: €10,000.

Eligibility Criteria

• The Commissions Award is open to organisations and individuals to apply to commission an artist or artists.
• Applicants may only submit one application for a single commission only. (In the case of Music and Opera, applicants may submit one application for a single commission or multiple commissions within the maximum funding award limit.)
• Applications can only be made by the commissioner, and not by the artist(s) to be commissioned.
• Organisations based outside the Republic of Ireland are eligible to apply if they are commissioning an Irish-born or Irish-resident artist. Similarly, Irish-based organisations may commission artists from outside Ireland – however, in such cases the commissioned work must be for the ultimate benefit of Irish audiences.

Ineligibility Criteria

• Those who cannot apply to this award include the following:
  • Organisations in receipt of Strategic Funding, Partnership Funding or Arts Centre Funding may not apply to:
    • Art form commissions in Music and Opera
    • Cross-arts-areas commissions in Festivals
  • Organisations applying to commission an artist who is an employee of that organisation
  • Individual artists applying to commission themselves.

For more information, visit The Arts Council.