Applications are now open for the Creative Ireland Creative Economic Fund 2023. This unique initiative reflects Creative Ireland’s commitment to collaboration; between central and local government, between culture and industry, between artists and policy makers to place creativity at the centre of public policy.

In 2022 Creative Ireland piloted the first Creative Communities Economic Action fund. This initiative supported eight local authorities with resources to grow the potential of local creative industries. These included support for animation clusters in Munster, immersive games development in Galway, the activation of design practice in wider industry across the North West, development of fabric production in Donegal, typography skills development in Kells Co Meath, the links between hairdressers and art in Leitrim and more. You can read more about these projects here.

The Creative Communities Economic Action Fund 2023 seeks to continue the work undertaken in the first round of funding to develop creative economies at local level. In particular we are asking local authorities, Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) and their partners to support projects in the following sectors:

• Design sectors including industrial design, product design, visual communications, graphic design, Ui/Ux (User-interface/User-experience) and interaction design, service design and strategic design;
• Digital creative sectors including software design and games sectors; and
• Content creation sectors including advertising and brand agencies, visual and audiovisual content for commercial social media, multimedia content for mobile applications (‘apps’), and content for newer and emerging platforms such as AR/VR/XR

A briefing note on the Creative Communities Economic Action Fund 2023 is available here.

An online briefing session took place on the 31st January 2023 and is available here.

The closing date for applications is 28 February 2023. Applications are invited through Submit.com.