Grants and Opportunities

Choreography Project #23, led by Mateusz Szczerek, is a creative and performance opportunity for dance enthusiasts aged 18+ with a minimum of 2-years dance-class experience, taking place from April–June 2026. In Szczerek’s own words, ‘For this project, we will create an introspective piece based on exploration of skin – particularly the memories it holds and how that memory impacts our lives. Through guided improvisation, creative tasks, and collaborative choreographic processes, we will explore themes of self-care, self-doubt, and self-awareness.’ The project will culminate with the informal performance in Dublin on the 7th of June 2026.

Patagonia supports environmental organisations with bold, direct-action agendas and a commitment to long-term change. We support innovative work that addresses the root causes of the environmental crisis and seeks to protect both the environment and affected communities. We focus on places where we’ve built connections through outdoor recreation and through our network of retail stores, nationally and internationally. We support multipronged campaigns that push for greater environmental protections and force the government to abide by its own laws.

Creative Schools supports schools and Youthreach centres to put the arts and creativity at the heart of children’s and young people’s lives. Its objectives are to support schools and Youthreach centres to empower children and young people to develop, implement, and evaluate arts and creative activity throughout their schools/centres. Another objective is to stimulate additional ways of working that reinforce the impact of creativity on children’s and young people’s learning, development, and wellbeing. Lastly, it seeks to support schools and Youthreach to provide opportunities for children and young people to build artistic and creative skills, such as curiosity, imagination, persistence, communication, and collaboration.

The Roadmap for Women’s Rights, adopted on 5 March 2025 and broadly endorsed by all Member States and various EU institutions and stakeholders in October 2025, sets out the Commission’s long-term vision for a gender-equal society. It contains a declaration of eight women’s rights principles, as well as the objectives that need to be pursued to uphold and advance these principles. The Roadmap serves as a guiding compass for policymakers, including for the new EU Gender Equality Strategy 2026–2030 that is expected to be adopted in March 2026.

The Agility Award supports individual professional artists and arts practitioners who have not been funded as an individual by the Arts Council since 1 January 2016. It focuses on enabling artists to develop their practice, develop their work, and develop their skills. You can still apply even if you were named as a central collaborator, artist, individual, in a group, or in an organisation in someone else’s proposal that received funding. Similarly, you can still apply if you received an award with a group of artists for the same project, where it is clear that you were the main contact for the group of artists making a joint application.

The Creative Innovation Lab shall support the design, development, and/or spread of innovative tools, models, or solutions applicable in the audiovisual (compulsory) and at least one the following sectors: music, books, or museums. Projects must focus on one (or several) of the below topics: Virtual Worlds as a new environment for the promotion of European content, audience renewal, and competitiveness of European content industries; Innovative Business Tools for production, financing, distribution, or promotion enabled or enhanced by new technology; greener practices in order to lower the impact of the audiovisual and other cultural sectors on the environment.

Dublin Fringe Festival is seeking a dynamic, strategic, and experienced General Manager to join our team. This is a senior leadership role at the heart of one of Ireland’s most ambitious and distinctive arts organisations. Working closely with the Festival Director, the General Manager will play a central role in the strategic, financial, and operational leadership of Dublin Fringe Festival, helping to shape and sustain the organisation as both a year-round artist support hub and a leading multidisciplinary festival

Do you have an innovative idea to tackle a social or environmental problem? Do you have personal insight into or experience of the issue? Are you ambitious, entrepreneurial, and passionate about social change? Social Entrepreneurs Ireland’s The Ideas Academy is a three-month programme that provides you with the knowledge and tools you need to deepen your understanding of the problem and kick-start your idea to get testing and piloting. Participants on the Ideas Academy are supported to clearly articulate, refine, and progress their solution; to build skills and accelerate learning in core areas of importance to social entrepreneurship; and to move from idea to piloting.

Earagail Arts Festival is seeking proposals for the provision of Volunteers Co-Ordinator Services for the period 25 May 2026 – 31 July 2026 (approximately 39 service days), including support during peak festival delivery periods. This is an independent contractor engagement for the delivery of Volunteers Co-Ordinator Services. The Services will be delivered primarily in Donegal and will require attendance at festival offices and venues, where reasonably necessary for coordination and delivery. Some remote work may be possible depending on service requirements.

The total funding available under Creative Climate Action Fund III is €6.5 million, with funding in the range of €400,000 to €750,000 available per project over a three-year period. We are seeking innovative projects of scale and ambition that lead with a strong artistic, cultural, or creative approach to enable climate action in a community of place or practice. At the core of this fund is a focus on transforming understanding into specific and tangible climate actions. €1 million of the total fund of €6.5 million is part of the Shared Island initiative.

The Hospital Saturday Fund was founded in 1873, at a time when little help was available for those needing costly hospital care. The Hospital Saturday Fund has two grant categories: 1. Standard grants of up to £2,000 or €3,000 OR 2. Large grants to up to £10,000 or €13,500 (please note that this is the maximum sum that HSF will grant). The Hospital Saturday Fund will consider giving grants to registered medical health charities within the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. The Hospital Saturday Fund will also consider giving grants to individuals within the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland.

This call supports innovative approaches to stimulating adults to engage in learning activities in their usual and trusted environments. European policy experimentations are transnational cooperation projects that involve developing, implementing, and testing the relevance, effectiveness, potential impact, and scalability of activities to address policy priorities in different countries. By combining strategic leadership, methodological soundness, and a strong European dimension, they enable mutual learning and support evidence-based policy at European level.

Tá CoisCéim BROADREACH ag lorg iarratas ó ealaíontóirí damhsa gairmiúla agus ó oideoirí gluaiseachta a bhfuil taithí acu, atá lonnaithe in Éirinn, agus atá líofa sa Ghaeilge. Tá an glao seo á eisiúint chun ealaíontóirí a earcú chun ceardlanna a bhaineann leis an léiriú dar teideal A CORPO LIBERO in 180° Virtual Reality a sheachadadh, i gcomhar leis an gcóiréagrafaí Iodálach Silvia Gribaudi. Glacfaidh na healaíontóirí a roghnófar páirt in oiliúint ghairmiúil dhá lá (íoctha) i mBaile Átha Cliath (10–11 Bealtaine) faoi stiúir Silvia Gribaudi (trí mheán an Bhéarla).

The Irish Association of Youth Orchestras is seeking applications for maternity cover for the role of Programmes Manager. The expected duration of the appointment is 18 months (to January 2028). Reporting to the CEO, this role is an excellent opportunity for someone who loves working with music and musicians to get involved in organising courses and concerts for groups such as the Irish Youth Wind Ensemble and the Irish Youth Baroque Orchestra, managing the annual Festival of Youth Orchestras, working with member orchestras and musicians on training courses, and providing members and young musicians with resources through our music library and instrument bank.

The Residency Award is offered as part of the Artist in the Community Scheme managed by Create, in partnership with Fire Station Artists’ Studios (FSAS). This residency will provide opportunities for development, exchange networking, and learning. The successful applicant will be supported by Create and its partners to explore areas of their practice in an environment of rigorous discussion and critical feedback. This award is ring-fenced for an artist from a minoritised ethnic background who has a track record of collaborative socially engaged practice. Click here to learn more.

A respected international short-story contest for original unpublished English-language stories up to 3,000 words, open to writers of any nationality living anywhere in the world. Prize includes €2,000, a festival reading slot, and publication in Southword. Entry Fee of €19 per story.

Prestigious international awards in poetry, short story, flash fiction, novel, and memoir; known for discovering new voices. Bridport are committed to discovering new writers in poetry, short story, flash fiction, the novel and memoir. Our alumni read like a Who’s Who of the literary world: Kate Atkinson MBE, Gail Honeyman, and Kit de Waal. Judges have included Roger McGough, Monica Ali and Zoe Heller. Our patron is Kit de Waal. We are a route to being published so send us your words and it could be your name up here next year. Entry fee applies.

The Bath Novel Awards are international writing competitions for unagented emerging writers. Founded in 2013 in the UNESCO World Heritage City of Bath, the awards are judged by leading literary agents and offer an annual prize fund of £10,000. A stellar list of Bath Novel Awards laureates and listees have gone on to find agent representation and publishing success, including six-figure book deals with Hachette, Harper Collins and Penguin Random House. Laureates include Abi Daré, for the manuscript of international bestseller The Girl with the Louding Voice, and official James Bond author Kim Sherwood.

Awarded for the best piece of writing on the theme of joy. The winner and runners-up will receive financial support in the following amounts: First place: £3,000. Second place: £1,000. Third place: £1,000. There is a fee of £10 per entry. You may submit only ONE piece of writing per entry. If you wish to submit more than one piece, then you should complete multiple entries. Any entry with more than one piece of writing attached will risk disqualification.

Awarded for the best visual arts response on the theme of joy. The winner and runners-up will receive financial support in the following amounts: First place: £3,000. Second place: £1,000. Third place: £1,000. There is a fee of £10 per entry. You may submit only ONE piece of work per entry. If you wish to submit more than one piece, then you should complete multiple entries. Any entry with more than one piece attached will risk disqualification.

Awarded for the best playwriting response on the theme of JOY. The winner and runners-up will receive financial support in the following amounts: First place: £3,000. Second place: £1,000. Third place: £1,000. There is a fee of £10 per entry. You may submit only ONE play per entry. If you wish to submit more than one play, then you should complete multiple entries. Any entry with more than one play attached will risk disqualification.

International Poetry prize awarded for the best poetic response on the theme of JOY. The winner and runners-up will receive financial support in the following amounts: First place: £3,000. Second place: £1,000 Third place: £1,000. Fees apply. There is a fee of £10 per entry. You may submit only ONE poem per entry. If you wish to submit more than one poem, then you should complete multiple entries. Any entry with more than one poem attached will risk disqualification.

TG4 and the Arts Council are delighted to announce a new season of ilDÁNA 2026. ilDÁNA continues to enhance the TG4 schedule and theatrical screenings by supporting the making of ambitious and cinematic long-form documentaries on the arts in Irish. This season we wish to fund the making of two feature-length landmark documentary films, each with a budget of up to €135,000. It is hoped that one of the two documentaries will give expression to inclusivity and diversity in the arts and actively involve new and under-represented voices. More information here:

The Rialto, working in association with the RSPB, BirdLife International, Cambridge Conservation Initiative, and The University of Leeds Poetry Centre, would like to invite poems that deal with any aspect of nature and place – these terms will be given a wide interpretation by the judge Mona Arshi. The prizes are as follows: 1st prize – £1000; 2nd prize – £500; 3rd prize – £250. You can submit up to six poems in one batch via Submittable. The entry fee for the first poem is £7 and includes an administration fee, while the fee for each subsequent poem in the batch is £4.

The Witty Wicklow Writers Contest invites writers of all sorts to submit a short original piece for consideration in Witty Wicklow Writers Magazine – Issue #1. Wit, originality, and sharp thinking are encouraged. The wittier, the better. You can submit flash fiction, a short essay, memoir, poetry, or hybrid forms. Length: 1 to 2 pages (maximum: 1,000 words). Language: English. Original work only (not previously published). Submission fees apply.

The Artist in the Community Scheme supports artists and communities of place and/or interest to work together on arts projects across a diverse range of social and community contexts. The Artist in the Community Scheme is managed by Create, the national development agency for collaborative arts, on behalf of the Arts Council. Application packs are available on the Create website in advance of the award deadline. Please make sure to download and read these documents in good time before making an application.

The Community Relations Cultural Diversity Scheme, implemented by the Community Relations Council in Northern Ireland, is intended to help community/voluntary groups throughout Northern Ireland to develop their capacity to engage in community-relations work and to enhance the community-relations potential of projects they undertake. Projects must have a clear good-relations purpose from the outset, with deliberate and planned activities which directly address sectarianism and/or racism. This can be achieved in a variety of ways, including facilitated workshops, discussions, Q&A, speeches at events, showcase of cultural diversity through music, art, dance, food from different cultures, storytelling, etc.

The Margaret Arnold Award is a limited term award and is offered in accordance with the wishes of Margaret Sutcliffe – a music teacher who taught privately in Dublin. Margaret Sutcliffe’s will stipulated that the bequest to the Arts Council be used for the establishment of a trust for Irish instrumentalists and singers, and that the trust be designated the ‘Margaret Arnold Scholarship’. The objective of the Margaret Arnold Award is to facilitate high-level development and training for instrumentalists and singers through postgraduate education. Priorities for support through this award will be given to proposals demonstrating strong artistic and developmental promise. More information here:

The objective of the Opera Projects and Production Award is to support initiatives by professional practitioners in developing and presenting opera at three distinct stages, encouraging the development of work of high artistic quality, and supporting developmental presentations and fully staged professional presentations of opera that engage with the public. The award is intended to support the making and presentation of opera and to provide opportunities for artists in line with the Arts Council's published policy and strategy for opera (available to download from the publications section of the Arts Council website. More information here:

The Artist and Youth Work Residency Grant Scheme 2026 is now open for applications. Do you have a good idea for a youth arts project but require the funding to work with an artist? Applications are now invited to support innovative partnerships involving artists in residence in youth work settings and/or youth work groups in residence in arts settings commencing in May 2026. There are two strands to the artist and youth work residency scheme: the Youth Arts Explorer Grant for €1,500 and the Artist and Youth Work Full Residency Grant for €5,000.

CESCA (Cork Equal and Sustainable Communities Alliance) is offering 2026 Grassroots Grants of €250–€1,000 for Cork City-based community projects focusing on social inclusion, equality, and climate action. Supported by the HSE, this one-off funding aims to foster community unity, with priority given to initiatives tackling socio-economic deprivation. More information here:

Arts Grant Funding supports individual artists and organisations across multiple artforms to carry out multiple activities over a fixed period. It focuses on ensuring there is a breadth of high-quality arts activity and programmes throughout the country. The award does this by offering flexible support that responds to the needs of the people who are making, presenting, and supporting work. The aim of Arts Grant Funding is to support more than one distinct arts activity taking place within a fixed period or to provide supports or facilities to artists over a fixed period.

Films on the Move encourages and supports the wider distribution of recent non-national European films by encouraging sales agents and theatrical distributors in particular to invest in promotion and adequate distribution of these films. The MEDIA strand will provide support to international sales and circulation of non-national European works on all platforms (e.g. cinema theatres, online), targeting both small and large productions. Furthermore, the Films on the Move action will encourage and support the wider distribution of recent non-national European films by encouraging sales agents and theatrical distributors in particular to invest in promotion and adequate distribution of non-national European films.

The New Solutions Pilot Grants is a two-year fund aimed at supporting social innovation initiatives in the Republic of Ireland to trial or test new products, services, practices, or models to deliver better outcomes on at least one of the following social inclusion themes: increasing access to employment for disadvantaged groups; increasing access to education for disadvantaged groups; personal and social development of young people most at risk of poverty and social exclusion; and harnessing the potential of sport for social development and social inclusion of disadvantaged groups.

The Joan Denise Moriarty Award is offered in memory of former Irish ballet dancer, choreographer, teacher, and director Joan Denise Moriarty. It focuses on supporting dancers to achieve their potential through professional training, either nationally or internationally. The Arts Council offered this award in 2025 and will offer it again in 2026. This will be the final year of the award. The Arts Council is the custodian of the Joan Denise Moriarty Trust.

In view of the rapidly evolving digital media landscape and the importance of equipping citizens with up-to-date skills and awareness, the Commission is launching a call for proposals to support innovative solutions to enhance media literacy skills. The projects shall foster effective cross-border cooperation and enhance societal resilience against disinformation and information manipulation among Europeans. The available budget is €3,000,000. Each project can apply for up to €500,000 for a maximum period of two years. The maximum co-financing rate is 70% of the total eligible costs. This means that applicants need to co-finance their projects.

The Crescent is delighted to announce that the submission window for the Mairtín Crawford Awards for Poetry and Short Story 2026 is now open. The awards are aimed at writers working towards their first full collection of poetry, short stories, or a novel. Both published and unpublished writers are invited to submit between 3–5 poems for the poetry award, and a short story of up to 2,500 words for the short story award. The winner of each award will receive a £500 cash prize.

Ireland-based international poetry contest with cash prizes and festival reading invitations. The Desmond O’Grady International Poetry Competition was inaugurated in 2012 by the late Barney Sheehan – poetry impresario of the White House Poetry Revival – in honour of Limerick poet Desmond O’Grady. The Limerick Writers’ Centre revived the competition as part of April is Poetry Month in Limerick 2019 festival. The prize winner of this year’s competition will be announced during April 2025 and will be invited to give a reading of his/her work during the 2026 festival. Entry fee applies.

The aim of the Desperate Literature Short Fiction Prize is to celebrate the best of new short fiction under 2000 words and to give winners the most visibility possible for their writing. This competition has teamed up with 16 different literary and artistic institutions to offer cash prizes and writing retreats, and to ensure that all shortlisters have the opportunity to be published in multiple print and online journals, have their work put in front of literary agents, and present their stories at an event. This is an international prize for innovative, boundary-pushing short fiction with a maximum length of 2,000 words.

The Rialto Nature and Place Poetry Competition 2026, in association with the RSPB, BirdLife International, Cambridge Conservation Initiative, and The University of Leeds Poetry Centre, is now open for submissions. Submitted poems can deal with any aspect of nature and place – these terms will be given a wide interpretation by the judge, Mona Arshi. In terms of submission guidelines, poems must have a title, must be no more than 40 lines, and must be written in English.