CFAs: Creative Production Supports Scheme (Ireland)

Creative producers bring a range of practical, logistical and creative skills to the arts. A producer tends to be responsible for the overall technical, production, financial and contractual aspects of making artistic work. Additionally, a creative producer often supports the artist or company creating the work to reach their ambitions by keeping them on track, assembling the right collaborators, and aligning their vision with key partners. Creative producers tend to have creative input in the making of artistic work, beyond just fulfilling technical responsibilities.

Creative production supports are not widely available to artists across the sector. Applicants to the CPS scheme will devise ways to increase the number of producers working in the sector, develop those producers’ skillsets, and connect those producers to the artists who need them.

Objective

• The objective of the award is to provide high-quality, creative production supports for the independent arts sector for up to two years. The award will support creative producers to connect to artists, share their skills, and utilize existing resources and networks. Successful proposals will demonstrate responsive, high-quality and sustainable equity of opportunity in creative production: there will be more people with the skills to produce in the arts, and more artists gaining the support of producers. For example, a proposal could include (but is not limited to):
  • Delivering mentorship, training and development opportunities for independent artists and producers
  • Skill-sharing among creative producers
  • Supporting or engaging producers to help bring to life the work of multiple artists
  • Supporting artists to create and maximise opportunities for the production and presentation of new work in partnership with funded arts organisations, festivals and other platforms
  • Providing access to administrative and management resources to assist professional artists in the development of their practice and the production of their work
  • Assisting artists to understand and respond to public-engagement needs and opportunities.

Priorities

• While the Arts Council welcomes proposals to increase creative production capacity in any and all funded artforms/arts-practice areas, in 2025–26 they will prioritise proposals which increase capacity in:
  • Producing the arts for and with children and young people
  • Producing the visual arts
  • Cross-artform or multidisciplinary arts production.

Funding Information

• The total maximum amount of the award is: €480,000.
• The total amount will be broken down to maximum amounts available per year across two funding years, as follows:
  • 2025: €240,000
  • 2026: €240,000

Eligible Activities

• The kind of activities you can apply for include those that enable you to support independent artists (i.e. those not in receipt of Arts Council Strategic, Partnership of Arts Centre Funding) to reflect on their practice, develop their ideas, create productions and co-productions, and to present their work to as engaged and as wide a public as possible.
• Activities involving international exchange, collaboration or co-production are eligible provided they show clearly the benefit to people, artists or the arts in the Republic of Ireland and how the overseas partners will contribute to the relevant activity costs.

Ineligible Activities

• Creative Production Supports is not intended to fund the making, presentation and promotion of work, but rather the delivery of developmental programmes for producers and artists, including time spent collaborating in order to make a production happen.
• Creative Production Supports is not intended to provide ongoing funding, and applicants are required to create succession plans within their applications and budget.
• Additionally, you cannot apply for activities that:
  • Do not fit the purpose of the programme
  • Are focused solely on the work of a single artist (e.g. artistic director, curator)
  • Are more suited to another award funded by the Arts Council or operated by other state agencies or funding bodies, such as Culture Ireland
  • Have already taken place or will have started before a decision is made on your application
  • Are to raise funds for charity, to take part in a competition, or solely to make a profit
  • Activities that 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.

Eligible Costs

• The types of costs you can apply for might include:
  • Wages and fees for professional artists, creatives and other staff essential to the delivery of the activity
  • Overhead/administrative costs that are appropriate and in proportion to the activities proposed, including planning and preparation costs
  • Development costs (e.g. leadership development, change management and other professional development, dramaturgical support, play readings, workshops)
  • Peer support and review costs
  • Studio or space costs
  • Residencies
  • In certain cases, costs that augment and enhance already funded activities in the independent sector – e.g. mentorship, production or co-production activities already in receipt of Arts Council funding

Ineligible Costs

• You cannot apply for:
  • Costs directly related to the making of work, such as commissioning, rehearsal, technical or presentation costs. While participants in a CPS scheme may be involved in these activities, these activities should not be directly funded by the CPS award.
  • Costs that do not fit the purpose of the programme
  • Ongoing overhead or administrative costs where the relationship with the arts activities proposed is unclear
  • Major capital or building costs.

Eligibility Criteria

• Creative Production Supports is open to:
  • Individuals or collaborative entities (if two or more people want to make a joint application, one of them must act as the named applicant)
  • Organisations, including companies limited by guarantee (CLG), designated activity companies (DAC), partnerships, etc., not in receipt of Arts Council Strategic, Partnership or Arts Centre Funding.
• To be eligible to apply, you must be:
  • Resident in the Republic of Ireland. They may consider your application if you are based outside the Republic of Ireland. However, your application would have to convince them that your proposal would benefit the arts in the Republic of Ireland.
  • A professional practising artist or arts worker. Even though you might not earn income continuously or exclusively from the arts, you must identify yourself and be recognised by your peers as a professional practising artist or arts worker.

Ineligibility Criteria

• Those who are not eligible to apply include the following:
  • Organisations in receipt of Strategic, Partnership or Arts Centre Funding
  • Organisations or entities without a track record in the development, production and dissemination of the arts
  • Applications intended to benefit artists or other practitioners who are already employed on a full or part-time basis by organisations in receipt of Strategic Funding or Arts Centre Funding
  • Organisations seeking funding to support vocational/undergraduate or postgraduate training.

For more information, visit The Arts Council.