National Lottery Artists’ International Development Fund (United Kingdom)

The aim of the programme is to support individual international developmental opportunities for talent and artistic excellence from Northern Ireland and, thereby, enhance Northern Ireland’s international artistic development, reputation and standing.

What artforms will be considered?

• Your proposal can be in any of the following artforms:
• Combined arts
• Literature
• Music
• Drama/Theatre & Dance (including Circus)
• Visual arts
• Craft

What you can apply for?

• Artists and organisations are able to apply for small grants from £1,000 to £7,000.
• Art materials
• Costs of your own time in undertaking the proposed activity
• Residency costs, including travel costs and subsistence (NB: if you are applying for a residency you must provide evidence of an invitation or support from the host organization.)
• Artistic or technical fees including those towards production or post-production costs associated with presentation or exhibition of work
• Venue hire e.g. rehearsal space
• Project-related travel costs, including mileage costs (@25.7p per mile) and air travel
• Subsistence costs @£25 per day
• Technical equipment related to the project/proposal (equipment requests cannot comprise more than 50% of the value of your request)
• IT Equipment: A maximum contribution of £1,200 will be made towards laptops and pcs, and £500 towards tablet computers.

Who can apply?

• Eligible applicants to the Artists’ International Development Fund are as follows:
  • Although the Artists’ International Development Fund is aimed primarily at individual artists, arts organisations who wish to take small scale work abroad can apply as can small groups of artists who normally collaborate in their work.
  • Artists of all disciplines and in all types of working practice. In a limited number of cases, individual technical staff/administrators of professional artistic companies may also be eligible
  • Emerging artists: The Arts Council particularly welcomes applications from emerging artists – an emerging artist is someone who is in the early stage of their career as a professional artist. They are developing their artist ‘voice’ and are in the process of establishing a reputation and recognition among critics, galleries, producers etc, and will have practised as a professional artist for less than 5 years.
  • Practicing artists who are also undergraduates, postgraduates and academic employed at 3rd level educational institutions are eligible to apply but – where their project proposal lies within the same artform area as their study or work – they must prove that the fund which they are seeking are for costs which are not properly the concern of their employer and/or are not related to their work or academic study. They must submit evidence of this in the form of a letter on headed paper from their Head of Department.
  • In the case of post-graduate students, the letter must clearly state the title of the student’s PhD thesis and include a declaration by the Head of Department. This declaration must state “The project for which funds are being sought does not form part of any academic work undertaken in relation to the above-titled PhD nor will it be assessed as part of any academic course”.
  • Applicants undertaking a Masters or a PhD must also include a separate statement which provides information on how the project applied for differs from their Masters or PhD work.
• In addition, AIDF applicants must also:
  • have received recognition for their work in Northern Ireland;
  • not have had extensive international experience;
  • be applicants whose work will benefit from launching better international networks – either artistically or in terms of developing an audience for their work; and,
  • be able to demonstrate an interest in their work from an overseas partner/host.
• Eligible applicants must also:
  • Have made a contribution to artistic activities in Northern Ireland for a minimum period of 1 year within the last 5 years.
  • Live in Northern Ireland.
  • Be at least 18yrs old and not in secondary education.

Who cannot apply?

• Applicants who have broken the conditions of any previous ACNI award and applicants who remain in breach of any previous letters of offer (regardless of the letter of offer date).
• Students, for projects related to their course of study or their tuition fees (by student they mean a person following a course of study in a school, a college or a university).
• Small groups who cannot demonstrate that they have a history of working collaboratively Applicants who have received an Artists International Development Fund award in 2022/23 or 2023/24.

For more information, visit Arts Council of Northern Ireland.