Arts Bursary Awards

Longford County Council Arts Bursary Awards helps local artists in the development of their artistic practice. The award is to help with work planned for the coming year, which may include training, mentoring, research and building capacity. Applicants can come from a variety of artistic backgrounds and work in any art form. Applicants can apply for bursaries up to €3,000 and can apply up to 5pm on Friday, 1 March. Find more information below, including how to apply. 
 

Eligibility Criteria

A full list of eligibility criteria is available on the Arts Bursary 2024 application form, and includes the following:

  • The award is for individual artists and their work plans taking place in 2024 in the pursuit of training, mentoring, research and capacity building.
  • Applications must be submitted by 5pm on 1 March. No late applications will be considered.

Annual Priorities 

All individuals (at any stage in their career) are eligible to apply for a bursary grant. In 2024, We specifically encourage applications from new and emerging artists seeking mentorship and professional support. 

Terminology 

  • 'Emerging artists' are defined as those who are at an early stage in their career development (specifically, artists who are starting their careers and have been active for one to five years)
  • Age is not a factor in determining an emerging artist
  • An 'active' or 'practising' artist is creating work regularly (i.e. more than a few times a year)
  • The term 'emerging' refers to professional accomplishments and recognition, not to stylistic evolution
  • An emerging artist is expected to have a limited performing, publishing, or exhibition record
  • Emerging artists may demonstrate potential in their practice through risk-taking and pushing their work in dynamic ways

How to apply

  • You can apply online using the Arts Bursary Awards 2024 Form. 
  • The online application does not accept attachments. Please ensure you email your mandatory documents (artist CV and artist portrait photo) and any other documents you wish to be submitted as part of your application to artsoffice@longfordcoco.ie.
  • Before applying, please familiarise yourself with the eligibility and scoring criteria, the FAQs and the terms and conditions

Scoring criteria

Applicants are scored against three key criteria:

  1. Quality of existing work and Bursary proposal idea (40%) As evidenced by: (a) Description of your bursary proposal; (b) The artist's CV; and (c) Up to 5 examples of previous work.
  2. Relevance and Timeliness of proposal to the development of your practice (30%) As evidenced by: (a) Recent achievements; (b) General overview of your main interests and ambitions; (c) The reason you wish to pursue this line of research/training at this time and the impact you hope it will have. 
  3. Feasibility (30%) As evidenced by: (a) Details of the quality of study or training course proposed with a letter of offer where appropriate; (b) If you have an alternative approach to developing your practice outside of formal study, for example, skills, action research, mentorship, you are encouraged to apply. You must however clearly outline the intended developmental impact on your practice; (c) If you have proposed using a mentor please include CV and rationale for this person; (d) Research method outline; (e) Work plan and budget.

Assessment Process 

Application will be processed by Longford County Council Arts Office. Applications that fall outside of the eligibility criteria may be eliminated at this point. Longford County Council reserves the right to redirect applications for consideration to appropriate categories other than those applied for, should it be deemed beneficial to the applicant to so do. All eligible applications will be considered by an adjudicating panel that includes the Longford County Council Arts Officer and two independent assessors with relevant experience and expertise.

Arts Bursary Award 2024 outcomes will be issued to all applicants in mid-March 2024. For more feedback on your application, please email scrossan@longfordcoco.ie. Requests must be made no later than 20 days after the Arts Bursary Award 2024 outcome correspondence.

Apply got the Arts Bursary Awards 2024 today!

Frequently asked questions 

A list of Frequently Asked Questions is available to help you when applying for this Arts Bursary. 

Terms and conditions 

In addition to the above criteria, the company, artist or team must ensure there is compliance with all statutory requirements and local authority bye-laws, including adherence to Child Protection Policy.

Freedom of Information considerations

Longford County Council is subject to the Freedom of Information Act 1997, 2003. If you consider that any information supplied by you is either commercially sensitive or confidential, this should be highlighted and the reasons for sensitivity specified. In such cases, the relevant material will, in response to an FOI request, be examined in the light of the exemptions provided for in the Acts.