Background

Wicklow County Arts Office established its Funding Schemes to support artists, festivals, communities, arts participation and art form development. These initiatives are integral to Wicklow County Council's broader efforts to encourage excellence in the arts and enhance community involvement in artistic endeavours across the county.

This year Wicklow County Council Arts Office will be accepting applications under 3 schemes:

·        Artist Award

·        Artist & Community Collaboration

·        Arts Festival Award

Guidelines for each Award are available to download below.

Scheme purpose

The purpose of the Funding Schemes is to support the programming and development of Artists and Communities in County Wicklow. It is the intention that these awards will fund, in full or in part, a particular aspect of an Artist, Festival and Community project, development plan or programme for 2024.

Application Support

For the first time, Wicklow County Arts Office is offering a new application support service from Wednesday, 10th January to Friday, 9th February 2024. This service offers artists, communities, and festivals the opportunity to engage in one 30-minute consultation which will enable participants to pose questions, seek guidance and access support from a member of the Arts Office team. Available on a first come first served basis, please email wao@wicklowcoco.ie to schedule a suitable date and time. 

Wicklow County Arts Office also provided two Funding Clinics in early 2024. Leading the first session on Monday, 15th January 2024 was well-known curator and writer on art and architecture Marianne O’Kane Boal.  For the past 11 years, Marianne has delivered professional development workshops for Visual Artists Ireland focusing on tendering, creative proposals, work presentations, and public art. This Clinic focused on the Artist Award scheme and the Artist & Community Collaboration Award scheme. The presentation slides are available to download at the bottom of this webpage.

The second clinic took place on Thursday, 18th January 2024 and was facilitated by arts consultant, coach and curator Helen Meany. Helen is an experienced assessor of funding applications for grants and awards for the Arts Council and local authority Arts Offices. This Clinic focused on the Arts Festival Award scheme. 

Application Window

The application window opens on Friday 1st December 2023 and closes on Friday 16th February 2024 at 4pm.

Online Submissions ONLY HERE

How do I apply?

Read carefully the guidelines relating to the category you are applying which will be available from Friday 1st December 2023 below. The resources can be downloaded and printed.

Download one of the budget templates below, complete and upload it as part of your supporting documentation within your online application.

All applications must be made through *Submittable. Here you will be able to upload all supporting material along with your application form.  

*The Submittable platform works best on Google Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. Internet Explorer is not supported.

Apply Online

Applications must be submitted online through Submittable HERE                    

Confirmation

You will receive an acknowledgement email from Submittable once you have made an application.

Applicants will be notified of outcomes as soon as is practicable, however, it is anticipated that the overall process from the submission of applications to notification will take 6-8 weeks.

Questions

Questions relating to the application process or access can be directed to wao@wicklowcoco.ie