The £65,000 funding scheme will offer artists, working in music, visual arts, literature, and participatory arts, the opportunity to apply for a £5,000 bursary. The scheme will enable artists to boost their careers by partnering with a professional organisation to deliver new creative work. It is expected that up to 13 artists will benefit from this new investment between now and March.
The Artists’ Career Enhancement Scheme (ACES) will provide specialist mentoring and development opportunities, supporting career artists whose work is of a high quality, original, challenging and innovative. The money available could, for example, help an artist show their first major exhibition, create a significant new literary work, enable a musician to reach new audiences or increase interaction with community artists.
Thirteen professional partners have already pledged their support to the pilot scheme including The Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry at Queen’s University, The Millennium Court Arts Centre, Moving on Music and the New Belfast Arts Initiative.
The Arts Council will help showcase the successful applicants both when the award-winners are announced in the autumn and over the year of the award.
The launch of ACES follows the completion of a recent report ‘The Living and Working Conditions of Artists in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland’, in which artists revealed the challenges they face as they pursue their chosen career.
Roisin McDonough, Chief Executive of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, commented: ““Individual artists are the lifeblood of the arts community but often help and support is required to enable them to develop their career potential.
“These new awards are great news for the sector. Artists have told us that like other professionals they would benefit from ongoing training and development; this new award will address that need. By offering unique opportunities such as mentoring and internships, the scheme will enhance the funding opportunities we currently offer artists and provide a real boost to those at a pivotal point in their career.”
The creative industries are a major industry in Northern Ireland, employing 33,000 people and generating £582million annually to the NI economy.
ACES forms part of the Arts Council’s Support for Individual Artists Programme, a collection of schemes designed to meet the needs of individual artists. As part of the programme, two major awards of £15,000 will also be presented, as well as smaller general arts awards up to a maximum of £1,500.
Following on from the launch of the Arts Council’s Drama Training Bursary last year, drama professionals can apply once again for awards up to £2,000 to attend short courses, masterclasses and professional development training opportunities.
Applications for all of the awards detailed here open today and close on 2nd September 2010.
URL: http://www.artscouncil-ni.org/news/2010/new03082010.html
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