Applicants have been invited to submit their interest from 20 May.

UPDATE: APPLICATIONS HAVE NOW CLOSED.

A panel of experts is to be selected to assist in assessing proposals under the new Creative Ireland Programme Scheme 2018/19.

The new 2018/2019 scheme aims to identify, support and collaborate with a range of strategic partners on projects that are genuinely innovative. This will significantly add value and/or scale to the implementation of the programme and will help inform policy and/or cross-sectoral development in the area of culture, creativity and wellbeing. Grants of €10,000 to €70,000* are available to individuals, organisations, community groups, colleges and cultural institutions, amongst others, from an overall fund of €500,000 for this year.

Themes

One of the priorities of the Creative Ireland Programme in 2018 is to develop strategic collaborations with a variety of organisations/individuals in order to identify and develop new initiatives that support the broad policies and objectives of the Creative Ireland Programme and to provide a strong network of partnerships that will bring a new level of innovation and invention to the Programme. It is expected that these strategic collaborations will become an important mechanism for the Programme, particularly in terms of policy development.

Three themes have been identified as areas of priority for the scheme: Individual and Collective Wellbeing, Innovation and Connecting Communities.

• Individual and collective wellbeing: This may include (but is not limited to) creativity-based projects and initiatives that support and advance policy development in the areas of (a) physical, psychological and mental health (b) social cohesion and (c) sustainable, inclusive and nurturing environments.

• Innovation: This may include imaginative and innovative projects in areas such as (but not limited to) architecture, fashion, heritage, the Irish language, video, film, animation, photography, music, performing arts, creative writing, visual arts, publishing, software/coding, radio and television and craft and design, development of creative clusters.

• Connecting communities: This may include projects and initiatives that address or explore how community challenges can be addressed through increasing participation to creativity, culture and the arts, particularly isolated, rural and disadvantaged communities and/or the diaspora.

Role of the Panel

The panel of experts to be established is required to evaluate proposals submitted to the scheme.

Experts applying can submit their expression of interest in relation to any one thematic area, a combination, or all three of them.

The first Creative Ireland Programme Scheme 2018/2019 call for applications is now open with a deadline of 8 June. It is anticipated that the first panel will be in place to assess these applications.