In this month’s newsletter the Arts Council is pleased to announce that Jo Mangan is the recipient of the Jerome Hynes Fellowship 2011/2012. 

The Arts Council will shortly begin a dialogue with the opera sector and other stakeholders in relation to future provision of opera - see information below.

We have information on the Visual Artists’ Workspace Scheme 2012 which awards grants of up to €30,000 towards running costs e.g. light, heat, rent, artists’ development programmes, administration and/or appropriate salary costs. The funding will be offered on a once-off basis for 2012.

We also have some reminders, for example, notification of the forthcoming grant application deadline; our Small Festivals Scheme 2012 (Round one) and the Deis Awards deadline. The Arts Council is also pleased to announce that on-line applications will open in early September 2011 for a new advance planning strand of the Touring and Dissemination of Work Scheme.  

We also include decisions relating to the Local Authority Partnership Scheme. This Scheme is designed to encourage and support partnerships and new collaborations between local authorities, arts organisations and others.  Decisions in relation to our three Theatre Schemes are also provided with over €300,000 allocated. The Arts Council introduced this initiative in 2010 as part of our ongoing support for the production and presentation of theatre.

The Arts Council wishes theatre companies success at the 1^stIrish Festival in New York. Fishamble (Dublin), Tall Tales (Navan) and Cirque de Légume (Sligo) are all participating in the month-long festival which begins on 5 September.

We have some news in the arts in the community section. Finally I am pleased to say the Arts Council has been shortlisted in the eGovernment Award Category in the forthcoming Dot ie Net Visionary Awards organised by the Irish Internet Association.  This is in recognition of our Online Services website. See www.iia.ie/net-visionary/vote/ for category shortlist and public voting information. The category winner will be announced on 30 September.

Director, Mary Cloake

The Arts Council has announced that Ms Jo Mangan, Artistic Director of The Performance Corporation, County Kildare is the recipient of the 2011/2012 Jerome Hynes Fellowship. The Fellowship honours the memory of Jerome Hynes, former Deputy Chair of the Arts Council who died in September 2005.

The Arts Council will shortly begin a dialogue with the opera sector and other stakeholders in relation to future provision of opera.

Visual Artists Ireland, on behalf of the Arts Council, invites applications for grants of up to a maximum of €30,000 towards the running costs of visual artists’ workspaces. In keeping with the Council’s policy document `Visual Artists’ Workspaces in Ireland - A New Approach’, this scheme has the aim of assisting artists workspaces throughout the country to provide the best possible environment for working visual artists and, where feasible, to enable a level of subsidy for resident visual artists.

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.  Organisations may apply for funding up to a maximum of €20,000.  The Deis Award provides support for traditional arts projects, or projects involving collaboration between the traditional arts and other artforms, that are in line with the Arts Council’s policy on the traditional arts.

A new Advanced Planning strand of the Arts Council's Touring and Dissemination of Work Scheme is being introduced with an application date on Thursday, 6 October 2011. It is intended that the purpose and criteria for this strand will complement the existing scheme.

The Arts Council has recently awarded funding to two innovative projects led by South Dublin County Council. The funding is made available under the Arts Council's Local Partnership Scheme

The Arts Council has announced the recipients of this year’s Theatre Schemes which were introduced in 2010 as part of the Council's ongoing support for the production and presentation of theatre. €300,000 has been awarded.

Three theatre companies supported by the Arts Council are to participate in this year’s 1^st Irish Theatre Festival in New York in September.  Fishamble (Dublin), Tall Tales (Navan) and Cirque de Légume (Sligo) are all participating in the month-long festival which runs from 5 September to 3 October 2011.

Design & Commissioning of a Memorial for Survivors of Institutional Abuse: As part of the Government’s implementation of the recommendations of the Ryan Report, a Committee was appointed by the Minister for Education & Skills to oversee the design and commissioning of a memorial for survivors of Institutional Abuse. The closing date for receipt of expressions of interest is Thursday, 13 October 2011.