Ireland: Theatre Project Award (Round 1)

Deadline: 27-Jul-23

The Arts Council is seeking applications for the Theatre Project Award to support the development, generation, creation making and/or presenting of theatre to audiences.

Objectives and Priorities

• The award is open to professional artists and organisations with a demonstrable track record in theatre practice. Projects may be in collaboration with other artists and/or in partnership with existing theatre organisations, arts centres or festivals, as required, where that partnership is additional to, and separate from, that organisation’s core activity.
  • Theatre: The Arts Council’s definition of Theatre is either dramatic or post-dramatic work performed by actors in front of a live audience in the same space or location (which may or may not be a formal theatre space). This definition specifically excludes proposals to develop:
    • Audio-drama/radio plays
    • The recording of podcasts
    • Performance art or durational live art
    • Art installations
    • vents such as public interviews, talks, lectures that are not linked and intrinsic to the theatrical work itself in a pre- or post-show context
    • Any type of filmed/videoed performance, save where a performance in front of a live audience is being captured for live broadcast and/or future dissemination, and/or where public-health guidance prohibits the attendance of audiences at live events.
  • Professional theatre artist: An individual working professionally in a creative capacity within a theatre context – e.g. playwright, theatre-maker, director, actor, designer (incl. lighting, sound, set, costume) and/or creative producer).
  • Mentorship: One-on-one, regular, bespoke and structured support from an experienced artist or professional at a more advanced stage in their theatre practice or professional career than the applicant.
  • Mentor: An experienced individual practitioner who has a demonstrable track record as an expert in their field of theatre practice and whose ability to mentor is clearly defined and articulated.
  • Collaboration or collaborative process: A process where theatre artists from different areas of practice (e.g. actors, designers) bring expertise in different types of artistic practices and disciplines to work jointly towards the creation of a piece of theatre work.
  • Dramaturgical support: Focused dramaturgical engagement with the writer and the text over an extended period of development. This may include a dramaturg or a director or other experienced professional with the relevant skills.
  • Dramaturgical input: Feedback on a script or a proposal by an experienced artist (e.g. a senior playwright). This may be once-off or repeated, but not extended, engagement, as with dramaturgical support.
• Round 2 of the Theatre Project Award is offered across two strands, as follows:
  • Strand 1: Play Development
    • The objective of the Play Development strand is to enable the development of a new play or text for performance, in which the playwright is central to the creative process. This could be an application by the playwright themselves or an application by a third party who proposes to commission and support the development of the new play text.
    • Funding may be used to remunerate the playwright for time spent on writing the text and, where relevant, for remuneration of collaborators. The outcome of the process will be a script for performance. While presentation of a workin-progress of the resulting work to an audience is not a requirement for this strand, applicants may seek a contribution towards costs associated with the presentation of a work-in-progress or staged reading.
    • Priority will be given to proposals that:
      • Seek to write a new play or text for performance
      • Can demonstrate excellence, innovation and/or experimentation
      • Work in collaboration with more than one creative artist as part of the play-development process demonstrating ambition and excellence in the quality of dramaturgical support and/or collaboration proposed
      • Can demonstrate their feasibility by providing evidence of:
        • Realistic timelines and budgets
        • Appropriate pay for all artists, including collaborators where relevant to your proposal
        • Financial and/or in-kind supports from other sources where relevant to your proposal.
  • Strand 2: Theatre Creation
    • The objective of the Theatre Creation strand is to enable the devising of ideas for new work in a collaborative and interdisciplinary context. The emphasis of the award is on innovation and experimentation.
    • The concept behind a proposal can be non-text-based or based on a piece of new writing for the theatre, a pre-existing dramatic text, an adaptation from another literary form, or a translation or adaptation of a text from another language. The objective of the award is to enable the development of ideas over time through collaboration without the requirement to present to audiences.
    • Priority will be given to proposals that:
      • Seek to devise innovative and/or experimental new work through innovation, experimentation and collaboration. Such collaboration should be distinct from, and additional to, the typical collaboration between a director and actors in a rehearsal room.
      • Demonstrate ambition and excellence in the quality of dramaturgical support and/or collaboration proposed
      • Can demonstrate their feasibility by providing evidence of:
        • Realistic timelines and budgets
        • Appropriate pay for all artists including collaborators
        • Financial and/or in-kind supports from other sources where relevant to your proposal.
  • Strand 3: New Work
    • The objective of the New Work strand is the presentation of new theatre work to audiences. This can be the presentation of new plays by a single author, or innovative, collaborative and/or experimental work. The concept behind a proposal can be a piece of new writing, a collaborative piece, non-text-based, a pre-existing dramatic text, an adaptation from another literary form, or a translation or adaptation of a text from another language.
    • Priority will be given to proposals that:
      • Seek to present artistically ambitious new theatre work to audiences, either written by a single playwright, created by a theatre maker, or developed through a process of collaboration
      • Seek to present new work or existing repertoire in an innovative and/or experimental context
      • Demonstrate ambition and excellence in the quality of dramaturgical mentorship and/or collaboration proposed and
      • Can demonstrate their feasibility by providing evidence of:
        • Realistic timelines and budgets
        • Realistic audience targets and income projections appropriate to the scale of the presentation
        • Appropriate pay for all artists, including collaborators
        • Financial and/or in-kind supports from other sources.
  • Strand 4: Theatre Production
    • The objective of the Theatre Production strand is to enable the presentation of ambitious mid- to large-scale professional theatre productions by artists and/or producing entities with a demonstrable track record in the production of theatre for audiences on a nationwide basis.
    • Priority will be given to proposals from established theatre artists/companies, or those in partnership with such entities, that:
      • Seek to present high-quality, technically excellent and artistically ambitious theatre to audiences in partnership with existing theatre and/or arts organisations, where that partnership is additional to, and separate from, that organisation’s core-funded activity and
      • Can demonstrate their feasibility by providing evidence of:
        • Realistic timelines and budgets
        • Realistic audience targets and income projections appropriate to the scale of the production
        • Appropriate pay for all artists, including collaborators
        • Financial and/or in-kind supports from other sources.

Funding Information

• The strand you apply under should match your proposal type as described above and be commensurate with the scale of your proposal. There are two bands of funding available.
• There are four strands to the award:
  • Strand 1 – Play Development (up to €15,000)
  • Strand 2 – Theatre Creation (up to €26,000)
  • Strand 3 – Theatre Presentation (up to €80,000)
  • Strand 4 – Theatre Production (up to €175,000)

Eligibility Criteria

• The award is open to professional artists and organisations working in theatre.
• To be eligible to apply, applicants must:
  • Be resident or based in the Republic of Ireland. There are certain exceptions where the Arts Council may deem eligible applications made by those based outside the Republic of Ireland. However, before admitting as eligible any such application, the applicant would need to explicitly outline within the application how the outcomes of any such proposal would benefit the arts in the Republic of Ireland, and the Arts Council must be satisfied with same.

For more information, visit Arts Council.