Ireland: The Arts Council Agility Award 2024

The Agility Award is an Arts Council funding scheme for individual professional artists, freelance artists and arts practitioners. You can apply for the Agility Award if you want to:

• Develop your practice
• Develop your work
• Develop your skills

What artforms or arts practices can you apply for?

• You can apply for Agility Award funding for the following artforms and art practices:
  • Architecture
  • Arts Participation (an arts practice focused on collaborations with communities to make or interpret art in a mutually beneficial way)
  • Circus
  • Dance
  • Festivals
  • Film
  • Literature
  • Music
  • Opera
  • Street Arts and Spectacle
  • Traditional Arts
  • Theatre
  • Visual Arts
  • Young People, Children and Education (YPCE)
• They are also open to applications from professionals who work in multiple creative or interpretative expressions. This includes multidisciplinary practices and digital practices. You may apply for funding under your primary artform or arts practice.

How much can you apply for?

• You can apply for any amount between €1,500 to €5,000.
• You can’t apply for any amounts below €1,500 or above €5,000.
• However, artists or arts practitioners with disabilities can include additional access costs in their application. This is separate from the amount that you request for your proposal.

What activities can you get funding for?

• You can apply for activities that support your development as an artist.
  • Developing your practice
  • Developing and/or acquiring technical skills
  • Learning new skills related to your practice
  • Researching or developing a new idea for future presentation
  • Working with mentors or collaborators to develop your skills or an idea
  • Developing an idea in collaboration with a potential production partner
• They also consider proposals that are a combination of activities.

Who can apply?

• The Agility Award is open to professional artists, professional freelance artists and professional arts practitioners who are 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.
  • You need a PPS number to be able to apply.
  • You can apply for the Agility Award if you are a professional artist, a professional freelance artist or an arts practitioner.
• A professional artist
  • You are a person who:
    • Is actively pursuing a career as an artist in any artform.
    • Considers their arts practice to be their main profession or career. This applies even if their work in the arts is not their main source of income or they have other employment.
• A professional freelance artist
  • You are a person who is not employed or contracted on a full-time basis by:
    • An arts organisation funded through Arts Council programmes
    • An arts organisation funded through direct state subsidies
    • A commercial arts entity
• A professional arts practitioner
  • You are a person whose work contributes to the development of the arts in Ireland.
• They encourage applications from all areas of the community, including people of any:
  • Age
  • Civil status
  • Disability
  • Gender
  • Family status
  • Membership of the Traveller community
  • Race
  • Religion
  • Sexual orientation
  • Socio-economic status

Ineligible

• An organisation
• A full-time undergraduate student (including foundation courses)
• Looking for support towards fees for postgraduate/higher education or study (including unaccredited courses)
• A person who wants support towards work they’re doing as part of a formal course of study, internship or volunteer work
• A non-professional artist or arts practitioner – e.g. someone who isn’t actively pursuing a career in the arts.

For more information, visit The Arts Council.