Deadline: 24-Jul-25
The Theatre Project Award supports specific artistic projects in theatre.
It focuses on enabling individual artists and organisations to bring their ideas to fruition and create excellent artistic work.
Objective
- The objective of the Theatre Project Award is to support the development, generation, creation making and/or presenting of theatre to audiences. The award is open to professional artists and organisations with a demonstrable track record in theatre practice, in collaboration with artists and/or in partnership with existing theatre organisations, arts centres or festivals, where that partnership is additional to, and separate from, that organisations core activity.
Strands
- The Theatre Project Award is offered across four strands, as follows:
- Strand 1: Play Development
- The objective of the Play Development strand is to enable the development of a new play or performance text, 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 for performance.
- The strand is open for a playwright to apply for time to write/develop a play on their own.
- 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 where the playwright may or may not be the centre of the process. The emphasis of the award is on innovation, experimentation and collaboration. 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.
- Strand 3: Theatre Presentation
- The objective of the Theatre Presentation 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, or a new production of a pre-existing text. 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.
- 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.
- Strand 1: Play Development
Funding Information
- Strand 1: Play Development
- The amount available under Strand 1 is up to 15,000
- Strand 2: Theatre Creation
- The amount available under Strand 2 is up to 26,000.
- Strand 3: Theatre Presentation
- The amount available under Strand 3 is up to 80,000.
- Strand 4: Theatre Production
- The amount available under Strand 4 is up to 175,000
Who can apply?
- The award is open to professional artists and organisations working in theatre who are resident or based in Republic of Ireland.
- They may accept applications from applicants not resident in the Republic of Ireland.
Who cannot apply?
- Applicants who cannot apply include the following:
- Organisations currently in receipt of funding under the following Arts Council programmes: Strategic Funding, Arts Centre Funding, Partnership Funding though the involvement of such organisations as partners is welcome
- Organisations or individuals that have been awarded 2026 Arts Grant Funding
- Members of the Council of National Cultural Institutions directly funded by the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport
- Individuals or organisations that do not have a demonstrable track record as professional artists or organisations
For more information, visit The Arts Council.