Creative Communities on a Shared Island

Overview

The Creative Communities on a Shared Island initiative seeks to build on the experience and expertise of local authorities’ existing strategic north-south and east-west (Ireland-Britain) ambitions and transform them into a collaborative network across the island of Ireland. It intends to recognise and utilise the inherent creativity of all who live on the island of Ireland.

Consistent with the aims of the Government’s Shared Island initiative to deepen beneficial cooperation and connections across the island of Ireland, the Shared Island dimension to the Creative Ireland programme is being implemented on the basis that the all-island or cross-border dimension is central to projects, with significant activity involving partners and people based in Northern Ireland, or in Britain.

A total of €2.25 million will be provided under the fund and it is envisaged that the following amounts will be allocated:

• Strand 1 : 4 x €250,000 (At least 1 grant will be awarded to a partnership specific to the border region)
• Strand 2 : 25 x €50,000

Eligibility

The Programme is seeking creative proposals of scale to be implemented between September 2023 – November 2025 from any of the 31 local authority Culture and Creativity Teams in the jurisdiction working in collaboration with partners across the island of Ireland or in Britain. The proposals should consolidate existing local authority networks or relationships, or be innovative in creating new local authority-led community/creative collaborations.

Applications must be submitted by one of the 31 Local Authorities in Ireland. The lead applicant must be a Local Authority based in Ireland. Applications with both East West (i.e. England, Scotland and Wales) as well as North South dimensions will be welcomed. Applications should ensure that funding is shared fairly with partners with meaningful activity on both sides of the border. However, they are looking for collaborative applications from them with (but not limited to):

• Arts and cultural organisations or institutions
• Creative organisations, networks and collectives including all-island networks
• Public sector bodies, including local authorities in Northern Ireland, or established networks
• Charities or not-for-profit organisations
• Social enterprises
• Community groups and networks
• Business, commercial companies
• Philanthropic and research bodies including universities
• Communities of place and communities of practice
• Individuals (in Strand 2 only)