Arts Council NI: Support for the Individual Artist Programme

Overview

The Artists’ International Development Fund (AIDF) is an annual programme jointly funded by the British Council and Arts Council of Northern Ireland and is open to individual artists and organisations.

Aims of SIAP and Available SIAP Schemes

The aim of the overall Support for Individual Artists Programme (SIAP) is to support artists across all disciplines to create work and develop their practice. Broadly, awards can be for specific projects, specialised research or personal artistic development.

Programme Aims

The programme will support early-stage international development opportunities for individual, freelance and self-employed artists and organisations based in Northern Ireland.

It will afford recipients the opportunity to spend time building links with artists, organisations and/or creative producers in another country.

Is your proposal timeframe suitable?

The Artists International Development Fund will only fund proposals that will take place between 1 October 2023 and 30 September 2024. All eligible expenditure must be incurred within these dates. If this is not the case for your proposal, you should NOT apply to this scheme as the Arts Council will not meet any costs incurred outside this period.

How much funding is available?

Artists and organisations are able to apply for small grants from £1,000 to £7,000.

Who can apply?

Eligible applicants to the Artists' International Development Fund are as follows:

• Although the Artists' International Development Fund is aimed primarily at individual artists, arts organisations who wish to take small scale work abroad can apply as can small groups of artists who normally collaborate in their work.
• Artists of all disciplines and in all types of working practice (including DJs) In a limited number of cases, individual technical staff/administrators of professional artistic companies may also be eligible.
• Emerging artists: The Arts Council particularly welcomes applications from emerging artists - an emerging artist is someone who is in the early stage of their career as a professional artist. They are developing their artist ‘voice’ and are in the process of establishing a reputation and recognition among critics, galleries, producers etc, and will have practised as a professional artist for less than 5 years.
• Employees of statutory bodies , undergraduates and postgraduates are eligible to apply but they must prove that the funds which they are seeking are for work/costs which are not properly the concern of their employer and/or are not related to their work or academic study. They must submit evidence of this in the form of a letter on headed paper from their Head of Department.
• In the case of post-graduate students, the letter must clearly state the title of the student’s PhD thesis and include a declaration by the Head of Department. This declaration must state “The project for which funds are being sought does not form part of any academic work undertaken in relation to the above-titled PhD nor will it be assessed as part of any academic course”.
• Applicants undertaking a Masters or a PhD must also include a separate statement which provides information on how the project applied for differs from their Masters or PhD work.

Eligible applicants must also be

• Have made a contribution to artistic activities in Northern Ireland for a minimum period of 1 year within the last 5 years.
• Live in Northern Ireland
• Be at least 18yrs old and not in secondary education.

In addition to the general eligibility criteria for the SIAP programme listed above, AIDF applicants must also

• have received recognition for their work in Northern Ireland;
• not have had extensive international experience;
• whose work will benefit from launching better international networks – either artistically or in terms of developing an audience for their work; and,
• who can demonstrate an interest in their work from an overseas partner/host.

Individual artists, including creative producers, curators and editors, can apply.

What artforms will be considered?

Your proposal can be in any of the following artforms:

• Combined arts
• Literature
• Music
• Drama
• Dance
• Visual arts
• Craft

What you can apply for

• Project assistance
• Art materials
• ”Buying time” to replace other earned income costs lost due to time spent on the intended project/creating new work.* Eg, if you were taking unpaid leave from work to spend time on the proposed project.
• Residency costs (NB. Only via specific schemes)
• Artistic or technical fees including those towards production or post-production costs associated with presentation or exhibition of work
• Venue hire e.g. rehearsal space
• Project-related travel costs, including mileage costs (@25.7p per mile) and air travel
• Subsistence costs @ £25 per day
• Technical equipment related to the project/proposal (equipment requests cannot comprise more than 50% of the value of your request
• IT Equipment**: (equipment requests cannot comprise more than 50% of the value of your request; a maximum contribution of £1,200 will be made towards laptops and pcs, and £500 towards tablet computers)

* If you are applying for loss of earnings the Arts Council acknowledges an average of up to £125 per day as a set contribution. They will not award a higher rate per day, so you should apply for costs on that basis if you are applying for replacement costs for up to 5 working days. If you are applying to “buy time” for a period longer than 5 working days you should set a weekly/monthly rate which reflects a lower per diem cost. You should set out clearly how you have costed your time. It is unlikely that the Arts Council will be able to cover the full value of the replacement costs but will aim to make a contribution towards it.

** If you are including costs for technical or creative equipment as part of your application it’s important you tell them:

• why the equipment is necessary for the project and appropriate for your needs
• why buying equipment is more appropriate than hiring it, where applicable
• your plans for continued use of the asset after the end of the project
• your plans for maintenance, storage and insurance, and any additional ongoing costs after the project ends

If you do not include this information, they may decide not to fund the equipment element of your request

See Guidance Notes for further information available on their website.