Ards & North Down Borough Council: Individual Artist Grant

Overview

Who is eligible?

To be eligible you must meet all the following criteria:

• Resident or professionally based* within the Ards and North Down Borough Council Area
• A practicing professional artist in any art form including; visual art, applied art, multimedia, music, dance, drama, literature, etc.
• Applying to or have been accepted or invited onto a course/residency/development opportunity.

* an artist who has their own studio in the borough OR is resident in a shared or membership studio space and can show that a substantial majority of their professional practice happens within the borough

The applicant must be able to:

• Demonstrate a quality professional practice.
• Have sufficient experience in their creative art form.
• Be able to clearly show what the course/residency/development opportunity will involve, by providing the course programme, details of facilitators and its benefits to the applicant.
• The course/residency/development opportunity cannot start before 1 April 2022 and must be completed by 31 March 2023.

Please provide the following essential documentation with your application:

• Up-to-date CV
• Support materials of your artistic practice (Images* and other supporting materials where applicable: publications/examples of writing, audio recordings for examples of music, short video footage of performances, etc).
• Course/residency/development opportunity programme/information
• Receipts/invoices/evidence of costs
• Further information relating to the course/residency/development opportunity such as: course facilitator biography/venue information, advertisement, acceptance letter, or invitation.

It is recommended that you compile the essential documentation in the following formats before completing your application online, ready to be uploaded:

• Up-to-date CV (PDF document is preferable)
• Supporting materials in the following formats where applicable (Jpeg images no less than 1MB, audio files no more than 25MB, video files no more than 25MB, publications / examples of writing preferable as one PDF document)
• Course/residency/development opportunity programme/information (PDF document is preferable) • Receipts/invoices/evidence of costs (PDF document is preferable)
• Further information relating to the course/residency/development opportunity (PDF document is preferable)

* A maximum of 6 hard copy high quality images must be submitted for visual art/craft applicants. Images which show examples of artists’ work should be of high quality/resolution and clearly demonstrate the work. Images may be returned on request. If you require further information on photographing your artwork.

Failure to supply the requested essential documentation at time of application will result in your application not being assessed.

What type of course/training or residency is suitable?

Those:

• that improve technical skills which relate to the artist’s professional art practice.
• that improve the artist’s ability to manage their professional art practice.
• that develop new skills which support the artist’s professional art practice.

Grant Guidelines

• Individual Artist Grants of up to a total of £250 max. are available to individual artists per financial year. The Individual Artists Grant can represent up to 90% of the total course/residency/development opportunity costs.
• Applications are welcome irrespective of an individual’s religious belief, political opinion, racial group, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, whether they have dependents or not, or whether they have a disability or not. Please be advised that those applicants who have indicated that they have a disability or a physical or mental impairment will be required to provide more detail if their application is successful to ensure their needs may be met through putting in place reasonable adjustments (if applicable).
• Grants awarded are subject to Covid-19 regulations and Government guidelines.
• Grants can be used in conjunction with other schemes, such as the Arts Council of Northern Ireland Professional Training Scheme but must be for different elements.
• Grants will not be given for costs relating to full time courses or annual membership.
• Grants are designed to be one-off payments; successful applications will not automatically lead to repeat funding in future financial years.
• Grants are not available for equipment.
• Grants may be used towards payment of travel and accommodation. Receipts/invoices/evidence of costs must be provided at the time of application.
• All funding must be used for the purpose for which the application was initially made, and in circumstances where this stipulation is not adhered to satisfactorily, Ards and North Down Borough Council will insist on full repayment of the funding allocated. If any change is to occur in relation to any of the projects for which funding has been received Ards and North Down Borough Council’s Arts Service must be informed immediately.
• Retrospective funding is not available.
• Applications received after the stated deadline will not be assessed.
• The course/residency/development opportunity cannot start before 1 April 2022 and must be completed, and all money must be spent by 31 March 2023.