In this edition of the newsletter, read about the Arts Council's collection which is featuring at the Hunt Museum and the Glebe Gallery. The visual art exhibition called Collecting for Ireland featuring 46 works was formally opened by the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Mr Jimmy Deenihan TD in Limerick's Hunt Museum on 5 July and will run until the 4 September. We also have works featuring at the Glebe House and Gallery, Church Hill, County Donegal this summer in an exhibition called Burst the Heart Open - A Celebration of Irish Painting.

News arising from the joint annual plenary meeting of the Arts Council and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland is also provided.  At this meeting, the Councils reaffirmed their common strategic commitment to supporting individual artists.

The Arts Council is also calling for a Government commitment to support the development of the creative and cultural industries.

The Arts Council is pleased to announce allocations of over €1.2 million under the Touring and Dissemination of work Scheme. This scheme allows for artistic work to tour in Ireland and this year 38 grants have been awarded. We also have details about the future plans for this particular touring scheme that will be introduced later this year. In addition we announce the recipient of the Location One Fellowship 2011  and support for groups under the Young Ensembles Scheme. A total of €164,500 has been awarded to 19 young ensembles throughout the country.

We provide notification of the forthcoming grant application deadline.

We will be hosting information clinics on the application process for Project awards. We also include information about the Project awards deadlines; all artform Project deadlines are Thursday, 1 September 2011. We announce the deadline for Reel Art 2011, a scheme designed to provide film artists with a unique opportunity to make creative documentaries on an artistic theme. 

Elsewhere in the newsletter we announce closing dates for the Small Festivals Scheme 2012 and a reminder about the next Deis Awards closing date both of which are the 9 September.  We finish this edition with our regular international news from the Cultural Contact Point.

Mary Cloake, Director

An exhibition featuring 46 works from the Arts Council's visual art collection called Collecting for Ireland was formally opened by the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Mr Jimmy Deenihan TD in Limerick's Hunt Museum on 5 July. Curated by Ruairi Ó Cuív, the collection runs until 4 September 2011. Work from the Arts Council's collection is also featuring in an exhibition at the Glebe House and Gallery, Church Hill, County Donegal this summer called Burst the Heart Open - A Celebration of Irish Painting.

The Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland (ACNI) reaffirmed at their joint annual plenary meeting that they share a common strategic commitment to supporting individual artists. The Councils reviewed the findings of research on the Living and Working Conditions of Artists in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Arts Council Chairman Pat Moylan has said the potential of innovation and creativity for Ireland is enormous and Farmleigh 2 this autumn should concentrate fully on the opportunities.The Chairman was speaking at an Arts Council meeting in Limerick on 5 July. The Council also welcomed a report by the Western Development Commission highlighting the potential for a doubling of the workforce employed in the creative sector over the next 10 years.

The Arts Council offers an annual fellowship to one artist to facilitate his or her participation in the international residency programme at Location One in New York.  Location One is an independent not-for-profit organisation dedicated to fostering new forms of creative expression and cultural exchange. 

The Arts Council has announced grants of over €1.2 million in additional funding for touring of work in Ireland in theatre, music, traditional arts, literature, visual arts, young people's programming and dance. The funding will enable 38 individual artists and organisations to take their shows on the road from July 2011 to July 2012 to all corners of Ireland.The announcement has been welcomed by Jimmy Deenihan TD, Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.

A new Advanced Planning strand of the Arts Council's Touring and Dissemination of Work Scheme will be introduced later this year. It is intended that the purpose and criteria for this strand will complement the existing scheme.  

The Arts Council has announced details of successful recipients under the Young Ensembles Scheme for 2011. A total of €164,500 has been awarded to 19 young ensembles throughout the country.

The deadline for the next round of Arts Council grant programmes (Regularly Funded Organisations, Annual Funding and Annual Programming Grants) will be 5:30pm on Thursday, 24 November 2011. The ‘window’ for registering for the Council’s online application process will open on Monday, 24 October 2011. Additional information on the forthcoming grants process will be made available at a later date.

The Arts Council will host a series of clinics to give people information and advice on the Project award applications process. Artists and organisations from all artform and arts practice areas eligible to apply for the award are welcome to attend. 

The Arts Council has announced the deadline for the next Project awards. The awards support specific project activities under each artform/arts practice area. The Award Guidelines can be downloaded from the available funding section of the Arts Council's website.

The Arts Council has announced the deadline for the 2011 Reel Art scheme.  Reel Art is designed to provide film artists with a unique opportunity to make highly creative, imaginative and experimental documentaries on an artistic theme.  The scheme is operated in association with Filmbase and the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival.  The deadline for receipt of applications is Friday, 16 September at 5pm.

The Arts Council’s Small Festivals Scheme is designed, in the main, to support and provide opportunities for small arts festivals or events happening throughout the country next year. Under the scheme, organisations may apply for funding up to a maximum of €20,000. As in previous years, the scheme will be run in two rounds with closing dates to suit festivals taking place at different times of the year.

The next deadline for the Deis Award is 9 September 2011 for activity commencing between 21 October 2011 and December 31 2011.

News from the CCP includes: 2012: which is the EU Year for Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations; the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency(EACEA) Culture Programme e-forms have now been published;  there is also information about an international conference on Creative Entrepreneurship which is being held in Estonia in October and the EACEA has also put out a call for expert assistance.