Micro Arts Fund 2024
Cumas Ceantar/Creative Places Uíbh Ráthach
The Uíbh Ráthach Gaeltacht and its environs has been awarded a Creative Places award from the Arts Council. The three year developmental programme for socially engaged arts began in January 2024 and will continue until January 2027. Over this period we will be working with local artists and local communities to create a supportive, enriching and self-sustaining arts culture for all the people of the Uíbh Ráthach area.
As 2023, while we were in our Cumas Ceantar R&D phase, we opened the Ciste Beag Ealaíona to create opportunities for local people to grow new ideas and to develop creative projects which could be of benefit to all the people of the peninsula. There was a fantastic community-wide response to this fund, with Cumas Ceantar ultimately supporting a wide range of events including poetry in schools, ceramic workshops, two art exhibitions, a new spoken word festival, boat building workshops, a beach art event, open mic nights, a community music event and the first steps in a peninsula wide rural music trail - amongst others!
Building on the success of the initial micro arts fund, we are now opening a call for the Ciste Beag Ealaíona 2024 which will help create further opportunities for artists, community groups and for individuals to grow their ideas, to develop arts projects and to imagine new opportunities for community integration and connection.
Cumas Ceantar/Creative Places Ciste Beag Ealaíona 2024
This micro fund for the socially engaged arts will support the development and growth of innovative, creative, artistic and cultural community-focused arts projects that support the connection and engagement of the people of Uíbh Ráthach with each other and with their area.
This fund is now open, with a total sum of €20,000 available. Applications can be submitted for the minimum amount of €250 to the maximum amount of €2,000 as dependent on your needs and ambitions for the work. We reserve the right to not make an award should applications not fit the brief.
This fund closes for applications on the 15th May 2024.
Who is it for?
The goal is to grow our Creative Place through increased arts activity, experiences, and engagement opportunities. This fund could help you to develop a project which has already started and which is now ready for the next stage of development, or it could support you to do something new, to put on a small new event or activity. It could facilitate you or your group to engage with an artist or a creative practitioner. It could help you to bring in external expertise as needed to grow an idea, to purchase or hire equipment essential to your practice or to your group staying connected and creative. It can be used for the materials, resources, mentorship and supports needed to get your concept going. Ideas do not have to be completely new to you or to your group, but you should offer clear indications of the ways in which this fund can develop, sustain and grow them. We welcome in particular ideas or projects in which the Irish language is foregrounded.
Who should apply?
This Ciste Beag Ealaíona is for artists, arts activists, social and community groups who live in or work in the Kells to Castlecove catchment area. It is for projects which will happen here, for the benefit of the people of this peninsula. This fund is ideal for emerging or established groups, or for creatives who want to try something new. Community is at the heart of Creative Places so ideas must respond to and involve local people’s input.
How to apply:
Read the application form which includes guidelines and the requirements for application.
Consider your idea and what you need to realise or develop it.
Contact the coordinator Marina Ní Dhubháin at ealain@comhchoiste.ie if you have any queries regarding this fund.
Complete the application form
Send completed applications to: ealain@comhchoiste.ie before 5pm 15th May 2024
The deadline for submission is 5pm, Wednesday 15th May 2024
Selection process
Applications will be considered and the selection will be made by a panel of representatives from Creative Places, an artist and a local representative.