In this month's edition of the newsletter, the Arts Council is delighted to welcome Alvina Grosu to the position of Cultural Diversity Adviser. Alvina is founder and managing director of CultureWise Ireland, an organisation that provides intercultural training, research and consultancy services, and we are delighted to have her as part of the team.

We have details of the awards and schemes available as part of the special programme to mark Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

We announce a new festivals and events scheme that incorporates the previous Small Festivals Scheme. Funding through the new scheme will allow hundreds of small festivals bring great work to communities right across the country.

You can also read about the EU Local Partnership Scheme, a special round of the Local Partnership Scheme focusing on European cultural co-operation. We also report on our successful applicants to the second round of the Arts Council - Artist in the Community Scheme.

The Arts Council and Culture Ireland announce the artist and commissioner/curator for Ireland’s national representation at the Venice Art Biennale in 2013.

We also welcome a new Garda Vetting Bill published this year, which strengthens the laws protecting children and vulnerable adults.

There are deadlines for the touring scheme – Thursday, 15 November – for work being presented in the second half of 2013. The deadline for our Artist in the Community Scheme Bursary Award 2012: Arts and Disability is Thursday, 25 October and a reminder about our Project awards deadline which is Thursday, 6 September.

Arts Audiences announces that applications are open for the 2012 Google Mentoring scheme, and we finish with our usual round up of international news from the Cultural Contact Point.

Yours sincerely

Orlaith McBride,

Director, Arts Council

The Arts Council are delighted to welcome Alvina Grosu to the position of Cultural Diversity Adviser.

As announced in our July newsletter, the Arts Council will run a special programme to mark Ireland's Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

The Arts Council has introduced a new scheme to support festivals and events. The Festivals and Events Scheme (FES) subsumes the previous Small Festivals Scheme. This change follows from a review of aspects of Council's funding structures and systems and arises in the context of the current budgetary environment.

The Arts Council celebrates the 50^th Anniversary of its collection as well as 60 years of supporting the arts. To mark the occasion, the Arts Council and RTÉ will support the making of four short films which respond creatively to the collection.

A special issue of the Local Partnership Scheme focusing on European cultural co-operation. Applicants will be Local Authority Arts Services or Ealaín na Gaeltachta, who will work with artists and arts organisations in their local areas and at least one partner organisation based in another European country.

The successful applicants to the Second Round of the Arts Council - Artist in the Community Scheme have been announced.

The Arts Council and Culture Ireland have announced the artist and commissioner/curator for Ireland’s national representation at the Venice Art Biennale in 2013. Ireland's representation at Venice is regarded as a hugely significant event internationally, being considered as the foremost showcase for visual arts in the world.

The Arts Council welcomes the publication of this Bill, which will significantly strengthen the State’s protections for children and vulnerable adults. It will provide a robust legal basis for the National Vetting Bureau and a clearer legal framework for organisations working with children and vulnerable adults.  The Arts Council will continue to provide updates to the Arts Sector on this and other relevant matters in relation to child and vulnerable adult protection.

The deadline for touring in the second half of 2013 (July to December 2013) will be Thursday November 15, 2012.

The Arts Council will offer Project Awards for activities commencing in 2013.

The Artist in the Community Scheme Bursary Award 2012: Arts and Disability, aims to support individual professional artists in any artform working in the field of arts and disability.

Arts Audiences is delighted to announce that applications are open for 2012 for the Google Mentoring scheme.

News from the Cultural Contact Point includes:Call for Entries: European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage. Each year Europa Nostra and the European Union reward excellence in the field of cultural heritage. Awards are offered to architects, craftspeople, volunteers, schools, local communities, heritage owners and media; Registration is now open for European conference on Audience Development. Projects supported through the Culture programme are invited to share their experience and results with peers at the conference.. We tell you about the Conference on European Capitals of Culture where every year, cities selected as European Capitals of Culture provide living proof of the richness and diversity of European cultures as well as the selection results for Cooperation Projects with Third Countries, Strand 1.3.5.This strand is intended to support cooperation projects aimed at cultural exchanges between the countries taking part in the EU Culture Programme and Third Countries. And finally Financial Toolkit published by the Education, Audio-Visual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). The EACEA who administer the EU Commission's Culture and Education funds has published a document intended to help organisations avoid the potential financial pitfalls involved in managing a large scale European project.