The Arts Council has announced details of recent awards under its Commissions and Projects schemes.

In the current funding round there were 94 applications to the Council for Commissions taking place in 2006, and 33 awards were made to the value of 235,928.

Commissions are ‘where one person or entity commissions another to create a new piece of artistic work or dynamic repertoire renewal, and where the creative results will be controlled by the commissioned artist(s). The commission will be undertaken over a stated period that will lead to a public performance/publication/exhibition or other dissemination of the commissioned work, one of which must be in Ireland.’

For the purposes of assessment, the applications were assessed by three panels: visual culture (visual arts, public art and film), MDA (dance, education, theatre and multi-disciplinary) and music (music and opera).

The Projects scheme offers funding for the development and/or production phases of an artist(s)-led creative project. Specifically the aims are ‘to assist artists in devising, exploring and implementing creative ideas in any artform(s)/discipline(s) or combinations of artform(s)/discipline(s). The award also aims to foster the creation of original and new work by encouraging experimentation, innovation and collaboration. The Arts Council also considers proposals which are for the creation of new work from an artist’s original re-interpretation of repertoire.’

There were 210 applications for this award representing a demand of 4,076,870. 90 applications were short-listed and 52 awards were made.

Further information from the Arts Council’s web site.

Posted: 6 October 2005