Calling All Dublin Artists: Community Development Grant 2024
The Dublin City Arts Office has announced the launch of the Community Development Grant 2024. Following a significant increase in Arts Grant funding from €550K to €800K, this initiative aims to bolster arts programming within local communities through targeted capacity building.
The City Arts Office is initiating a two-year pilot scheme, allocating €250K to empower arts organisations, artists, and community development practitioners alike. This initiative seeks to foster meaningful collaborations that enhance community engagement with the arts, aiming to integrate lessons learned into future neighborhood grants.
Dublin City Council aims to foster collaboration and synergy between the arts and community development, encouraging the emergence of new initiatives and partnerships. The council acknowledges that while not a new concept, these endeavors have proven successful over many years through the efforts of individuals, organisations, and agencies.
The pilot grants scheme prioritises three key elements: cultivating local audiences, fostering local participation in projects or programs, and ensuring the engagement of professional artists collaborating closely with community development professionals and/or voluntary organisations.
The Dublin City Arts Office is inviting community development practitioners, groups, organisations, as well as artists and arts organisations, to join forces in applying for this pilot scheme fund. Each administrative area of Dublin City Council will receive €50K, with funding ranging from €5K to €20K per application.
“For the purposes of this application Community development refers to the process of empowering and improving the quality of life within a specific group or neighbourhood. It involves collaboration and collective action among community members, organisations, and local authorities to address social, economic, and environmental challenges.
“Community development aims to enhance the well-being, resilience, and self-sufficiency of the community by promoting social cohesion, economic opportunities, sustainable infrastructure, and access to essential services. It often includes initiatives such as education and skill-building, healthcare, affordable housing, job creation, environmental sustainability, and cultural enrichment.
“The Arts refers to the production and expression of the nine Art Forms set out in the Arts Act 1973 namely, arts” means any creative or interpretative expression (whether traditional or contemporary) in whatever form, and includes, in particular, visual arts, theatre, literature, music, dance, opera, film, circus and architecture, and includes any medium when used for those purposes.
“Although some Artists are already involved in socially engaged practice, Artists are not always primarily focused on the community development outcomes of their project or programme. For the purposes of this grant scheme the combination of Artistic development and community empowerment is sought in the project or programme proposed.”
Applications open on Monday, July 29th. To assist applicants, Zoom Q&A sessions with the Arts Office will be held on June 25th at 11 a.m. and June 26th at 4 p.m. where detailed guidance on the application process will be provided.
Don’t miss out on this opportunity to innovate and collaborate across arts and community development in Dublin! For more details and to apply, visit the application form linked below.
Register by choosing a session below.
Zoom Question and Answer Session - Tuesday 25th June 11 a.m.
Zoom Question and Answer Session - Wednesday 26th June 4p.m.
The application form will go live on Submittable (link below) on Monday 29th July. The deadline for the scheme is 12 noon on Friday the 6th of September.