The Arts Council's grant-in-aid has been reduced twice in recent months.  In this edition of the newsletter we include an important notice to all funded organisations on how the Arts Council plans to deal with its reduced budget allocation from Government.

Also this month, the Arts Council made available a new publication entitled The Framework for the Welfare of Animals Presented in the Arts. The document sets forth policy, creates obligations, and provides information and guidance to entities featuring animals in their arts activities, who seek funding from the Arts Council. We advise funded organisations on the recent decision by the Government to reduce all professional fees by 8% in respect of services rendered on or after 1 March 2009, which are paid for by exchequer funded organisations.

We also have details of the 8 new members of Aosdána.  The newly elected nominees will bring the Aosdána membership to 240.

Elsewhere in the newsletter, we announce the recipient of the Kevin Kiernan Award; this award aims to direct funding towards architectural excellence and innovation through supporting the artistic formation and career development of an architect. We publish the results of the Young Ensembles Scheme, and also invite you to view a reflection and evaluation video from the recipients of this Award in 2008. We announce the recipients of round 1 of the Bursary Awards for 2009, and also include the results of the latest rounds of Deis. We remind you of the upcoming deadlines for the Artist in the Community Scheme and the Performance and Touring Award.

Finally, closing the newsletter are our regular articles from the Cultural Contact Point and news from the arts community.

Mary Cloake
Director

A notice to all funded organisations on how the Arts Council plans to deal with its reduced budget allocation from Government.

The Arts Council presents a new document on animal welfare in the arts entitled Framework for the Welfare of Animals Presented in the Arts.

A notice on the recent decision by the Government to reduce all professional fees by 8% in respect of services rendered on or after 1 March 2009, which are paid for by exchequer funded organisations.

Aosdána, the affiliation of creative artists in Ireland elected 8 new members at its General Assembly in the National Gallery (Wednesday 8 May 2009).

The Arts Council and the Office of Public Works are pleased to announce architect Orla Murphy of Simon J Kelly and Partners Architects, County Mayo as the winner of the Kevin Kieran Award 2009-2011.

We are pleased to announce the recipients of the Young Ensemble Scheme 2009, and invite you to view a reflection and evaluation feedback video from the recipents of last year's awards.

The Arts Council are delighted to announce its decisions on the first round of Bursary Awards for 2009. A total of €669,539 has been offered to 69 individuals.

Deis is a proposal-based scheme which is aimed at encouraging and facilitating the traditional arts community to seek funding from the Arts Council for a range of projects.

The deadline for the next round of the Artist in the Community Scheme is 25 June 2009.

The deadline for the next round of the Performance and Touring Award is 8 June 2009.

Opportunities in the arts community in May include:  a call for seasonal staff for the 2009 Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival; the Arts and Disability Forum are seeking to recruit a Chief Executive Officer and Macnas are seeking an administrator; we include information on the deadline for submissions for the 2009 Darklight Festival, and finally Music Network are looking to recruit a Young Musicwide chamber music ensemble for the period September 2009 - September 2012.

News from the CCP in May includes: a reminder on the last Culture Programme Infoday in Brussels on 11 June; information on the Annual Culture Programme Conference and mid-term European Culture Forum in Brussels; we have details on a new EU policy on youth; there's a call for projects for emerging creators in the circus arts field in Europe and finally we have information on the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency website.