Deadline: 11-May-23
The Arts Council, in partnership with Cork City Council Arts Office, is looking for interested parties to provide theatre development services in Cork City.
The Arts Council will work in partnership with Cork City Council (CCC) to identify a suitable entity to run and manage a Theatre Development Centre, capable of supporting the development of professional theatre in Cork City. The centre will be a resource for theatre artists, playwrights and makers to spend periods of time in a suitably equipped space to workshop, experiment and develop their ideas. While the space should be capable of hosting occasional public events, public performance is not required as its main function.
Objectives and Priorities
- Located in Cork city centre, the Theatre Development Centre will be expected to deliver capacity for independent theatre artists and entities in Cork and other parts of the country to avail of time and space to develop work and ideas. The expectation is that artists and their collaborators should be paid for their time in development, and also that an open and transparent application process is put in place to ensure access to as wide and diverse a cohort of artists as possible.
- Collaborative applications from partnerships/consortia are encouraged. Entities currently in receipt of Arts Council funding are eligible to apply. Applicant entities will be expected to provide a detailed budget outlining their approach as part of the application process.
- Funding will be available for a 12-month period, up to a maximum of €200,000, with the possibility of an extension for 12 further months. In addition, the Arts Council will undertake an evaluation of the project, and meantime undertake a study to determine the feasibility of enhancing production and presentation capacity in Cork City and surrounding areas.
- The emphasis of the award is to support the development of professional theatre. The Arts Council’s definition of theatre is dramatic (or post-dramatic) work featuring the work of actors in a live context. While inter-disciplinary and cross-disciplinary proposals may be supported, proposals primarily aimed at supporting other types of live performance (e.g. dance, music), or other types of non-live arts (e.g. visual arts, film, literature), are not the focus of this award.
- Priority will be given to collaborative proposals from established theatre artists/companies, or those in partnership with such entities, that can best demonstrate capability to provide the following:
- An appropriately equipped physical space, suitable for stage rehearsals, workshops, readings etc., within or close to Cork City centre (this may or may not be a space that has previously been used for this, or similar, purpose)
- Basic technical facilities such as lighting/sound equipment
- Track record for the management and running of an artist resource or other art-focused enterprise
- Capability of connecting artists to mentors and/or a process of critical feedback
- Capability of offering dramaturgical advice to playwrights
- An annual presentation of works-in-progress in a show-case production
- Please note that applicants may be asked to present themselves at a meeting with the selection panel for this award if deemed necessary by the funding partners.
Funding Information
- Applications will be considered up to a maximum value of €200,000.
Eligibility Criteria
- The award is open to organisations and individuals with a track record for professional work in theatre. Collaborative applications are encouraged where one named applicant will apply on behalf of a group of applicants.
- To be eligible to apply, applicants must be 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.
- Organisations currently in receipt of funding under Strategic Funding, Arts Centre Funding, Partnership Funding and Arts Grant Funding are eligible to apply – although the activity must be separate from activities already funded through the Arts Council of Ireland and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
Ineligible
- Applicants who cannot apply include the following:
- Individuals or organisations that do not have a demonstrable track record as professional artists or organisations
- Individuals currently in undergraduate education (including those undertaking foundation courses) or who will be during the period for which this award is offered.
For more information, visit Cork Theatre Development Funding.